2023 Festival

[VCK]

2 minutes ago, TKOCF said:

The only good band to survive that genre was LCD Soundsystem. Possibly Hot Chip and Klaxons too.

LCD came out before the NME declared it to be a movement, and sound-wise they were a little different to it. Had more artistic credibility too of course. Same with, say, Bloc Party and landfill Indie.

[Benj]

3 hours ago, SomeoneListeningIn said:

Don’t think the lineup is that weird/different to normal. Feels similar to the reaction the 2018 lineup got when it dropped, which in hindsight now looks pretty fine imo.

If there was still the NME stage I could see it looking something like this. Again, just looks p standard R+L to me.

Main: Sam Fender // Foals (coheadline), Loyle Carner, Declan McKenna, Inhaler

NME: Slowthai, Lil Tjay

 

Main: Billie Eilish, Central Cee, Steve Lacy, Nothing But Thieves, Don Broco

NME: Bicep, Chase Atlantic

 

Main: The Killers, Lewis Capaldi, Wet Leg, You Me at Six, Tion Wayne

NME, Becky Hill, Trippie Redd

Instantly a much better festival

[gfa]

3 hours ago, SomeoneListeningIn said:

Don’t think the lineup is that weird/different to normal. Feels similar to the reaction the 2018 lineup got when it dropped, which in hindsight now looks pretty fine imo.

If there was still the NME stage I could see it looking something like this. Again, just looks p standard R+L to me.

Main: Sam Fender // Foals (coheadline), Loyle Carner, Declan McKenna, Inhaler

NME: Slowthai, Lil Tjay

 

Main: Billie Eilish, Central Cee, Steve Lacy, Nothing But Thieves, Don Broco

NME: Bicep, Chase Atlantic

 

Main: The Killers, Lewis Capaldi, Wet Leg, You Me at Six, Tion Wayne

NME, Becky Hill, Trippie Redd

Central Cee subbing is embarassing haha

No reason to bin off imagine dragons really, huge MSW get tbh

[thewayiam]

1 hour ago, gfa said:

Central Cee subbing is embarassing haha

No reason to bin off imagine dragons really, huge MSW get tbh

The headers they got are the best they have done in that format. Fender is also doing huge shows and would not co-headline with Foals. He is much bigger.

[SleepingGiants]

35 minutes ago, thewayiam said:

The headers they got are the best they have done in that format. Fender is also doing huge shows and would not co-headline with Foals. He is much bigger.

Still failing to see what Fender has done to warrant a MSE headline slot, after releasing two fairly critically acclaimed but not wildly commercially successful albums and headlining mid-size fests like Tramlines. It all lines up more with an MSW headliner imho.

Edited December 10, 2022 by SleepingGiants

[charlierc]

9 minutes ago, SleepingGiants said:

Still failing to see what Fender has done to warrant a MSE headline slot, after releasing two fairly critically acclaimed but not wildly commercially successful albums and headlining mid-size fests like Tramlines. It all lines up more with an MSW headliner imho.

Headlining Finsbury Park and drawing a large crowd to a Glasto sub-headline spot probably helps bump you up the running order imo. And this before his pair of shows at St James' Park, much as I'm aware that's a local phenomenon given he's from around there and indeed has a backing band all clad in Toon shirts.

[thewayiam]

23 minutes ago, SleepingGiants said:

Still failing to see what Fender has done to warrant a MSE headline slot, after releasing two fairly critically acclaimed but not wildly commercially successful albums and headlining mid-size fests like Tramlines. It all lines up more with an MSW headliner imho.

Because the likes of Tramlines was this year and the success of that takes you higher. If no act played a bigger slot off of playing smaller places etc then there would be no bump ups. As mentioned too, Finsbury Park puts you at least at MSW shall we say, at least and fair Newcastle is home town show but two nights. None of those other MSW headliners except for Imagine Dragons have done shows as big as him. 

The thing is too, I actually don't mind early ID. Had it not been Steve Lacey under Billie I may have gone.

[gfa]

1 hour ago, thewayiam said:

The headers they got are the best they have done in that format. Fender is also doing huge shows and would not co-headline with Foals. He is much bigger.

did you reply to the wrong comment? bit confused 

[thewayiam]

54 minutes ago, gfa said:

did you reply to the wrong comment? bit confused 

Nope as Imagine Dragons and Fender are both headliners. 

[Huwey]

9 hours ago, foolee said:

Ouch

As bad as me watching glasvegas over the Prodigy! Got a great view, probably not even 500 people tho

[SleepingGiants]

6 hours ago, thewayiam said:

Because the likes of Tramlines was this year and the success of that takes you higher. If no act played a bigger slot off of playing smaller places etc then there would be no bump ups. As mentioned too, Finsbury Park puts you at least at MSW shall we say, at least and fair Newcastle is home town show but two nights. None of those other MSW headliners except for Imagine Dragons have done shows as big as him. 

The thing is too, I actually don't mind early ID. Had it not been Steve Lacey under Billie I may have gone.

MSW Leeds is probably a bigger slot than Tramlines headline. Also I'm pretty sure that means that only one of the MSW headliners hasn't done a show as big as the Newcastle and Finsbury Park gigs (surely Foals have done similar as well)?

Edited December 10, 2022 by SleepingGiants

[VCK]

They got it right in 2019. That main stage was like a combination of the new direction the festival was moving in, with pop and more rap, but also plenty of traditional indie/rock/punk fare. There was something for everyone.

Now the festival has completely turned its back on its roots and tradition. "Diversity" means adding to what you already have, not just throwing away what you already have to make room for something else.

Edited December 10, 2022 by VCK

[losing44]

Although I am fully aware that this festival is no longer for me, and hasn’t been for a few years, I always keep track as a regular festival goer (as well as a Reading resident, so I always would love a desirable lineup) - have to state the obvious that this is an appalling lineup. Can we ever see the likes of the super massive bands play R&L again? (E.g GNR, Metallica etc). I get the new direction, and they have had exciting acts in the recent years, but this lineup feels like it will do more harm than good. Also understand that the acts depend on touring cycles etc, but R&L probably have a much wider pool of acts to chose from than other festivals like Bloodstock, Download and so on - most of which have strong lineups this year! 

[FeverDream]

18 minutes ago, losing44 said:

Although I am fully aware that this festival is no longer for me, and hasn’t been for a few years, I always keep track as a regular festival goer (as well as a Reading resident, so I always would love a desirable lineup) - have to state the obvious that this is an appalling lineup. Can we ever see the likes of the super massive bands play R&L again? (E.g GNR, Metallica etc). I get the new direction, and they have had exciting acts in the recent years, but this lineup feels like it will do more harm than good. Also understand that the acts depend on touring cycles etc, but R&L probably have a much wider pool of acts to chose from than other festivals like Bloodstock, Download and so on - most of which have strong lineups this year! 

I really can’t see us getting Metallica or Guns N Roses ever again. Sure, we had RATM booked for 2020 and 2022, but that felt different; they’re Melvin’s bucket list booking (along with Travis Scott as said in an interview once), so I think they were booked off a personal desire rather than what was right for the festival. Given there’s 6 headline slots now there is absolutely no real reason they shouldn’t be going for bands like Metallica and GNR to full 1 of the 6, but I think the heaviest bands a similar size to them we’ll get in the near future are the likes of Foo Fighters, Green Day and MCR. Metallica would be tasty though. 
 

Edit: I think it also comes down to the fact R&L is late summer. It seems most large bands tend to do June/July run for festivals in Europe. I mean it’s taken them 15 years to get the Killers back and I don’t for one minute believe they haven’t tried to get them back post-2008. You look at their touring schedules the past years and rarely have they done late summer since 2008.

Edited December 10, 2022 by FeverDream

[Chad888]

Within 36 hours, Reading drop that dross and England crash out the world cup 

[FeverDream]

13 minutes ago, Chad888 said:

Within 36 hours, Reading drop that dross and England crash out the world cup 

Don’t quite know what’s worse - R&L lineup or the state of that referee

[VCK]

To play devil's advocate but Imagine Dragons' set in 2016 looked really good and they seemed to upstage RHCP (not that upstaging the Chilis is a difficult thing to pull off).

I'm not a fan at all but they seem like the kind of act that were made to perform in front of festival crowds. They're like an American Bastille.

[nathanh]

on the whole everything that the lineup isnt awful but then again, I'm in my late teens which I know it's a lot younger than most of you so I see why your complaining and for the most part it's valid

[WhoOdyssey]

Yeah I reckon ID will put on a great show. This is their setlist from a festival this year, I imagine it'll be fairly similar next Summer given I doubt they'll release another album before then:

1. It's Time
2. Believer
3. Polaroid / Hopeless Opus
4. Thunder
5. Amsterdam
6. Shots
7. Birds
8. Follow You
9. Lonely
10. Natural
11. Whatever It Takes
12. It's Ok
13. Demons
14. Enemy
15. Bones
16. Walking the Wire
17. Forever Young (Alphaville cover)
18. Radioactive

[VCK]

22 minutes ago, nathanh said:

on the whole everything that the lineup isnt awful but then again, I'm in my late teens which I know it's a lot younger than most of you so I see why your complaining and for the most part it's valid

The old timers on here who used to post in the 2000s will remember two users called Olivavu and Cultseeker, two Gen Xers who were huge on grunge and would constantly lament about how the festival had lost its way. Every topic would feature at least one of them complaining about how the line-up is worse than how it would be in the '90s. They got dismissed as oldies who just didn't "get" what youngsters were into.

Point is that the festival has always been a young person's festival, and people such as myself, now that we're in our 30s, feel like we're too old to get it, and now I feel like how those two posters felt. They spent their teen years following musical trends, as did I, and now those trends are long dead. To quote Abe Simpson, "I used to be with it, but they changed what 'it' was and now I'm no longer with it."

In 15 years time, you can bet that there will be thirty something zoomers who will lament that the festival just isn't for them any more, and how they miss the days of the festival booking the likes of Charli XCX, Megan Thee Stallion and Yungblud.

[gfa]

19 hours ago, SleepingGiants said:

MSW Leeds is probably a bigger slot than Tramlines headline. Also I'm pretty sure that means that only one of the MSW headliners hasn't done a show as big as the Newcastle and Finsbury Park gigs (surely Foals have done similar as well)?

Gotta start somewhere

17 hours ago, losing44 said:

Although I am fully aware that this festival is no longer for me, and hasn’t been for a few years, I always keep track as a regular festival goer (as well as a Reading resident, so I always would love a desirable lineup) - have to state the obvious that this is an appalling lineup. Can we ever see the likes of the super massive bands play R&L again? (E.g GNR, Metallica etc). I get the new direction, and they have had exciting acts in the recent years, but this lineup feels like it will do more harm than good. Also understand that the acts depend on touring cycles etc, but R&L probably have a much wider pool of acts to chose from than other festivals like Bloodstock, Download and so on - most of which have strong lineups this year! 

More likely they'd go to Download - Reading will continue to book one big act each year for indie/rock, The Killers being it this year clearly.

[Benj]

17 hours ago, losing44 said:

Although I am fully aware that this festival is no longer for me, and hasn’t been for a few years, I always keep track as a regular festival goer (as well as a Reading resident, so I always would love a desirable lineup) - have to state the obvious that this is an appalling lineup. Can we ever see the likes of the super massive bands play R&L again? (E.g GNR, Metallica etc). I get the new direction, and they have had exciting acts in the recent years, but this lineup feels like it will do more harm than good. Also understand that the acts depend on touring cycles etc, but R&L probably have a much wider pool of acts to chose from than other festivals like Bloodstock, Download and so on - most of which have strong lineups this year! 

Hopefully not in GnRs case. Not a Reading band in my view, X it never went down the hair metal route did it

Edited December 11, 2022 by Benj

[nathanh]

I'm lucky in the sense of I'm fairly diverse in music tastes i can go anywhere for Rap to Ballads so there is always something for me on a poster like Reading. If you stick to one style its only really a matter of time until thats not present on a poster. 

Edited December 11, 2022 by nathanh

[Benj]

29 minutes ago, VCK said:

The old timers on here who used to post in the 2000s will remember two users called Olivavu and Cultseeker, two Gen Xers who were huge on grunge and would constantly lament about how the festival had lost its way. Every topic would feature at least one of them complaining about how the line-up is worse than how it would be in the '90s. They got dismissed as oldies who just didn't "get" what youngsters were into.

Point is that the festival has always been a young person's festival, and people such as myself, now that we're in our 30s, feel like we're too old to get it, and now I feel like how those two posters felt. They spent their teen years following musical trends, as did I, and now those trends are long dead. To quote Abe Simpson, "I used to be with it, but they changed what 'it' was and now I'm no longer with it."

In 15 years time, you can bet that there will be thirty something zoomers who will lament that the festival just isn't for them any more, and how they miss the days of the festival booking the likes of Charli XCX, Megan Thee Stallion and Yungblud.

TLDR - It’s not us getting old, it’s the fact it’s no longer a festival without choice. 
 

I don’t think that’s it at all. They were just a couple of one eyed ponies, who just discounted anything that was less alt than NIN

There was always good representation of all types of genres though (under the Alterntive umbrella anyway) at Reading and that’s why the likes of me (same gen as Olivavu (and indeed still reference him in my sig) have always liked it.

I don’t want to listen to the same old crap over and over for the rest of my life.

I like change, I enjoy multiple genres, I’ve always enjoyed Reading.

…That is until 2021. Yes it’s deffo gone MUCH more poppy, alternative music is pretty much dead in the Spotify world.

That I could accept while there were plenty of other options (and I love a lot of good pop), when you could pick and choose, who to see when  

They’ve killed the diversity and excitement of the festival by removing any kind of self curation.

You can no longer make the festival your own, choose who you want to see. YOUR lineup is now dictated to you by the two main stages and removal of any choice.

And that’s why we’re all non plussed now, the lineup is not exciting as we have no control. The headliners are the headliners, we don’t have to decide whether to see Killers or Central Cee, Eilish or Bicep, they’re all forced upon us, as a massive compromise not benefit. 

And that is why the festival is dead. It’s not that we’ve finally got old, it is because it’s no longer a festival

Edited December 11, 2022 by Benj

[gfa]

4 minutes ago, Benj said:

TLDR - It’s not us getting old, it’s the fact it’s no longer a festival without choice. 
 

I don’t think that’s it at all. They were just a couple of one eyed ponies, who just discounted anything that was less alt than NIN

There was always good representation of all types of genres though (under the Alterntive umbrella anyway) at Reading and that’s why the likes of me (same gen as Olivavu (and indeed still reference him in my sig) have always liked it.

I don’t want to listen to the same old crap over and over for the rest of my life.

I like change, I enjoy multiple genres, I’ve always enjoyed Reading.

…That is until 2021. Yes it’s deffo gone MUCH more poppy, alternative music is pretty much dead in the Spotify world.

That I could accept while there were plenty of other options (and I love a lot of good pop), when you could pick and choose, who to see when  

They’ve killed the diversity and excitement of the festival by removing any kind of self curation.

You can no longer make the festival your own, choose who you want to see. YOUR lineup is now dictated to you by the two main stages and removal of any choice.

And that’s why we’re all non plussed now, the lineup is not exciting as we have no control. The headliners are the headliners, we don’t have to decide whether to see Killers or Central Cee, Eilish or Bicep, they’re all forced upon us, as a massive compromise not benefit. 

And that is why the festival is dead. It’s not that we’ve finally got old, it is because it’s no longer a festival

Pretty dramatic to declare its no longer a festival isn't it 😂

Give it a week and everyone will be gagging for the next announcement, its the same every year