2023 Festival

[Benj]

11 minutes ago, gfa said:

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

Depends on your definition of ‘festival’ I guess.

Ive been to the last 25 editions, so not someone put off by the changing music scenes

The next announcement will likely just confirm that we get the chance to saunter across the field to watch The Snuts. Glory days 🙌
 

I think it’s safe to predict there’s gonna be far less gagging for the next announcement than previous years!

Lets see how the tickets sell

Edited December 11, 2022 by Benj

[VCK]

14 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

Or Pearl Jam. The endless posts about how they were the only good thing about the 2006 line-up. 😂

You do make some points, and the two main stage thing has killed a lot of the festival's soul, as it's come at the expense of the NME stage, and the stage times make sure that people are at either one of the two stages. I did suggest once that if this is the way forward, why not devote one to the pop/rap/grime that he young 'uns love, and then have another filled with rock/indie/punk? Everyone's a winner. Instead it's just two stages full of artists that BBC Radio and Capital FM have decided are "cool".

However, would there be much complaints about the current state of the festival if they had the two main stage set-up and it was mostly rock a la the 00s/10s line-ups?

[Benj]

1 minute ago, VCK said:

Or Pearl Jam. The endless posts about how they were the only good thing about the 2006 line-up. 😂

You do make some points, and the two main stage thing has killed a lot of the festival's soul, as it's come at the expense of the NME stage, and the stage times make sure that people are at either one of the two stages. I did suggest once that if this is the way forward, why not devote one to the pop/rap/grime that he young 'uns love, and then have another filled with rock/indie/punk? Everyone's a winner. Instead it's just two stages full of artists that BBC Radio and Capital FM have decided are "cool".

However, would there be much complaints about the current state of the festival if they had the two main stage set-up and it was mostly rock a la the 00s/10s line-ups?

I don’t think there would be many complaints (certainly on here) but I imagine the festival would be half full.

I have little problem with the artists billed and willingly accept that much of it may not be to my taste. My only issue is not having alternatives to see, choices to make

[Benj]

12 minutes ago, VCK said:

You do make some points, and the two main stage thing has killed a lot of the festival's soul, as it's come at the expense of the NME stage, and the stage times make sure that people are at either one of the two stages.

It is depressing seeing half the east side of the arena empty coming out the FR tent then wondering up to MSW where there’s a half arsed crowd waiting to watch something they’re not interested in but have nowt else to see! #notafestival

[VCK]

3 minutes ago, Benj said:

It is depressing seeing half the east side of the arena empty coming out the FR tent then wondering up to MSW where there’s a half arsed crowd waiting to watch something they’re not interested in but have nowt else to see! #notafestival

Lollapalooza in America has a similar set up, where there's two main stages with alternating set times - but also there are plenty of other stages for people who don't fancy standing at one of the two stages.

[Benj]

Just now, VCK said:

Lollapalooza in America has a similar set up, where there's two main stages with alternating set times - but also there are plenty of other stages for people who don't fancy standing at one of the two stages.

Yup I have zero issues with 14 main stage acts being split as they are

It would’ve surely been a positive if it meant 4 extra acts a day as opposed to 16-20 less

Sadly after two iterations we now know the cost-

We get Imagine Dragons at the expense of The Pit, The Big Tent, Bicep at 5 in the afternoon…

Everyone who’s been to both formats knows it was an immeasurably better experience before 

 

 

[VCK]

4 minutes ago, Benj said:

Yup I have zero issues with 14 main stage acts being split as they are

It would’ve surely been a positive if it meant 4 extra acts a day as opposed to 16-20 less

Sadly after two iterations we now know the cost-

We get Imagine Dragons at the expense of The Pit, The Big Tent, Bicep at 5 in the afternoon…

Everyone who’s been to both formats knows it was an immeasurably better experience before 

 

 

Some of the greatest sets I've watched at Leeds have been NME headline sets, and the live show that works so much better in an intimate setting. Now those kind of acts will have to make do with playing in broad daylight.

[Benj]

2 minutes ago, VCK said:

Some of the greatest sets I've watched at Leeds have been NME headline sets, and the live show that works so much better in an intimate setting. Now those kind of acts will have to make do with playing in broad daylight.

Yup it’s a proper tragedy really, esp for the kids who won’t ever know what they’re missing

over the years I’ve been there-

SFA

Mansun

Muse

Travis

Ash

Bloc Party

Kasabian

Wolf Alice

They’ve dried up as I’ve got older (as they should’ve, should be a slot for kids to go to instead of the dinosaur on the main stage)

I remember going to all of those shows though, no chance I would if they were at 5-6pm on the main stage

A huge loss

 

 

 

[charlierc]

25 minutes ago, VCK said:

Lollapalooza in America has a similar set up, where there's two main stages with alternating set times - but also there are plenty of other stages for people who don't fancy standing at one of the two stages.

Mad Cool and Lollapalooza Paris do this with two big stages alternating and other stages scattered around the joint. Paris probably did it a little better where they had them angled alongside one another making it easy to hop from one to the other (or indeed have the sound war thing when Nekfeu over-ran and The Killers tried to chase them off, leading to a proper battle of the bands).

You can do this two stage set-up better than they've got, given there's the long traipse between the two but the loss of things like the NME Tent or Lock-up stage just feel a festival over-simplifying itself and becoming less interesting. And I say this as someone who barely scratched the surface on my two trips, given the main stages largely covered bases for me on my 2011 and 2017 day trips.

[Benj]

17 minutes ago, charlierc said:

I say this as someone who barely scratched the surface on my two trips, given the main stages largely covered bases for me on my 2011 and 2017 day trips.

I guess that’s the problem. Reading is not Glastonbury.

Most people buy tickets for Reading based on the names with the biggest font, not on the reliance that they’ll be loads to see/ do if they don’t like the names in the biggest font.

I wouldn’t be surprised if it sells well, I think it’s a strong set of headliners on paper.

I also wouldn’t be surprised if a load of regulars jib it

[Will b]

Assuming Yungblud is the special guest we could have had something like this: 

Friday:

Main stage: SAM FENDER / FOALS (co-headline) > Loyle Carner > wet leg > lil tjay

r1: Bicep > Trippie redd

Saturday:

Main stage: THE KILLERS / imagine dragons / nothing but thieves / chase Atlantic 

r1: central Cee / slowthai 

Sunday: 

main stage: BILLIE EILISH > Lewis Capaldi > Steve Lacy > Declan McKenna

r1: yungblud  > Becky hill

 

Edited December 11, 2022 by Will b

[wghennessy]

On 12/9/2022 at 11:22 AM, Benj said:

I do actually love that one to be fair 🤣

Anyone know how to block people on this website?

[VCK]

4 hours ago, Benj said:

I guess that’s the problem. Reading is not Glastonbury.

Most people buy tickets for Reading based on the names with the biggest font, not on the reliance that they’ll be loads to see/ do if they don’t like the names in the biggest font.

I wouldn’t be surprised if it sells well, I think it’s a strong set of headliners on paper.

I also wouldn’t be surprised if a load of regulars jib it

With GNR, Arctics, QOTSA, Paramore, Pulp, Royal Blood and The Prodigy all rumoured, Glasto looks more like a traditional R&L line-up than this year's R&L does!

[jumperofftheshelf]

325 for Early Entry Weekend is absurd

[she bangs the drums]

6 minutes ago, jumperofftheshelf said:

325 for Early Entry Weekend is absurd

Similar price to Glastonbury, just the 50/60 other stages and night areas differences between the two, not to mention you can take your own alcohol wherever you want for the weekend! 

[she bangs the drums]

Little wonder one has hundreds of thousands trying to buy tickets when they go on sale, and the other had 28 people in the queue when they went on sale!

[andyrhodes24]

Anyone managed to get a campervan pass for Leeds? Been trying since Friday but there’s been none at all, no chance they’ve sold out

[nathanh]

Weekend ticket confirmed

[she bangs the drums]

13 minutes ago, andyrhodes24 said:

Anyone managed to get a campervan pass for Leeds? Been trying since Friday but there’s been none at all, no chance they’ve sold out

They were available right up to the festival this year's festival and that was for a sold out weekend, no chance this line up sells out for next year. 

Edited December 12, 2022 by she bangs the drums

[thetime]

17 hours 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

The festival needed to be updated, its had the same format since I stared going from the mid 90s( main, nme, carling). People were crying out for the second stage to be open for years. 

Do I think the current set up works? No, went in 2021. But it did need updated to freshen it up.

[gfa]

46 minutes ago, she bangs the drums said:

Similar price to Glastonbury, just the 50/60 other stages and night areas differences between the two, not to mention you can take your own alcohol wherever you want for the weekend! 

More like 90/100 less stages

45 minutes ago, she bangs the drums said:

Little wonder one has hundreds of thousands trying to buy tickets when they go on sale, and the other had 28 people in the queue when they went on sale!

28 is surely a joke? is that for this year really because that is horrendous

8 minutes ago, thetime said:

The festival needed to be updated, its had the same format since I stared going from the mid 90s( main, nme, carling). People were crying out for the second stage to be open for years. 

Do I think the current set up works? No, went in 2021. But it did need updated to freshen it up.

Good point here, it definitely needed a freshen up. 2021/22 did sell very well, people just don't like this lineup i think off this board most people don't care about the change to 2 main stages

[she bangs the drums]

You can already tell this has sold badly given no queues for tickets, and it sold out last year when they went on sale within a few hours.

I tried to sell my ticket when Rage pulled out and tickets were going for £150/£160 so I ended up attending the festival and made the best out of it. I appreciate that had an impact, however I reckon given cost of living crisis etc they will sell for much less than face value next year. 

[Nestacres]

3 minutes ago, gfa said:

More like 90/100 less stages

28 is surely a joke? is that for this year really because that is horrendous

Good point here, it definitely needed a freshen up. 2021/22 did sell very well, people just don't like this lineup i think off this board most people don't care about the change to 2 main stages

Glastonbury has around 60 stages - lets not get carried away here. At least half of them play to about 20 people. I got a Friday only ticket this morning and there were 8000 people ahead of me in the queue, but Foals/Fender/Wet leg day tickets were always going to be popular

Edited December 12, 2022 by Nestacres

[she bangs the drums]

3 minutes ago, gfa said:

More like 90/100 less stages

28 is surely a joke? is that for this year really because that is horrendous

Good point here, it definitely needed a freshen up. 2021/22 did sell very well, people just don't like this lineup i think off this board most people don't care about the change to 2 main stages

The 28 was not a joke, i received an email so had a look and straight in.  There were no queues at all by 9.30!

[thetime]

11 minutes ago, gfa said:

More like 90/100 less stages

 

You got a list?