2024 Festival

[zak_khanna]

6 minutes ago, Chad888 said:

12/16

 You know if headliners are right?

[Tom Connolly]

surely jorja smith isn’t big enough to headline

[Andre91]

25 minutes ago, zak_khanna said:

 You know if headliners are right?

Chad knows nothing. Don’t listen to him. 

[Dukey]

Fontaines DC and Frank Carter are doing Hurricane / Southside in June next summer so could be around for R&L 

[stanh]

17 minutes ago, Tom Connolly said:

surely jorja smith isn’t big enough to headline

She's headlined Boardmasters and Primavera Sound, imo she's a good cheap option if the budget gets splurged on Eminem and Blink-182. If not, chuck her and Kings of Leon, bring in SZA and someone else. 

[Chad888]

1 hour ago, Andre91 said:

Chad knows nothing. Don’t listen to him. 

If you're naming people at reading 2024, 0/1 

[gblock]

Kings of Leon & Courteeners to headline? 2018 style. That would sell well… not. Pretty sure that even sold poorly back then.

Do they even have new music or touring plans, or have F1 just offered them ridiculous cash for a one off gig do we think? Be very surprised if they get booked either way 

[NorthernSoul52]

10 hours ago, Benj said:

What do you like about it?

Im trying to think of one thing I like about it and I’m not sure I can. 

The obvious potential advantage is there is always ‘something’ on, whether you like it or not, although I expect that would be the case anyway.

Otherwise, as you say, even the yo-yoing is annoying

 

Judging by your second paragraph you don’t seem too bothered about who’s actually playing, or perhaps even if no one is playing for a bit between acts?

Having attended another festival this summer we had a fair bit of downtime when there was nothing we wanted to see on. The difference being that there was other things to see/ do (art installations, cabaret acts etc), or indeed just nice places to hang out and wait.

I think that last point is one thing Reading (can’t talk for Leeds) lost with the new layout. While not ‘nice’ as such people did just hang out at/ near stages which created a bit of buzz despite there being no one on. That’s gone now too for whatever reason, bar maybe down by in between the 1extra and FR…

 

You've hit the nail on the head; it might be redundant, but I like the sense that there's always something going on. In a rather dull personal preference - but I imagine I'm not the only one - I'm also not a fan of tented stages. (I'm not sure why! Just never vibed with them.)

And more often than not, R+L will be a spur-of-the-moment booking for me on a headliner strength. I can often go to a festival and see half-a-dozen acts I had not planned to by sticking to only a few stages. (I have back issues, which means sitting down always works over standing up for me, though I will also concur I am a lazy bastard.) In a way, I like my festivals to bring me discoveries, if that makes sense.

I can't comment for Reading either, but I found Leeds to be mostly simplistic to navigate. There were occasional sound wash issues, but they were few and far between. That said, I didn't go this year - I've been living abroad for a few months, so I cannot pass judgement over whether this year was a logistical disaster!

[Benj]

5 hours ago, Chad888 said:

If you're naming people at reading 2024, 0/1 

Chad Knows Nothing would be a brilliant 2002ish pop punk band

...Made a massive comeback the last couple of years... 3rd on the mainstage?

[Benj]

2 hours ago, gblock said:

Kings of Leon & Courteeners to headline? 2018 style. That would sell well… not. Pretty sure that even sold poorly back then.

Do they even have new music or touring plans, or have F1 just offered them ridiculous cash for a one off gig do we think? Be very surprised if they get booked either way 

It absolutely pissed it down that day to be fair, so I suspect more people than usual effed off early/ didnt bother. Actually quite enjoyed them that night. My expectations were rock bottom though...
 

[Chad888]

1 hour ago, Benj said:

Chad Knows Nothing would be a brilliant 2002ish pop punk band

...Made a massive comeback the last couple of years... 3rd on the mainstage?

We're subbing Avril Lavigne, going into Foo Fighters next year.

No stages, just tents, lots of tents. 

It's all a giant campsite and the bands will play to individual attendees in their tent lobby.

[NorthernSoul52]

I know it's wildly unfashionable to say it, but honestly, not sure there's ever been a band who would so patently drop like flies at Reading and rise like dragons at Leeds like Courteeners, in terms of a crowd reaction.

[On The Blend]

1 hour ago, NorthernSoul52 said:

I know it's wildly unfashionable to say it, but honestly, not sure there's ever been a band who would so patently drop like flies at Reading and rise like dragons at Leeds like Courteeners, in terms of a crowd reaction.

They’re from the north don’t you know? Proper northern lads, love the north they do. It is subtle but they do sometimes bring it up…

[gfa]

18 hours ago, Benj said:

…Is what you said. The context being that the organisers shouldn’t worry about what non-16 year olds think about their festival as they’re not the market  

My point is that, while public perception may be that it’s a festival for 16 year olds. That perception is wrong and to try and perpetuate it here, where people should know better, just makes you look daft - Esp in the face of a load of evidence that the festival failed last year because this other audience have binned it off!)

 

 

My mistake - I more meant thats how its viewed by the british public

18 hours ago, Chad888 said:

If you watch sun sex and suspicious parents, and your 18 year old mates Instagram stories blackout drunk in Ocean Beach, you will think Ibiza is for drunken promiscuous idiots. 

If you go there and stay out of San Antonio, and Ocean Beach then you'll think its a stunning jewel in the Mediterranean ocean.

An entire island is quite different in scale to a field in Reading town centre to be fair

If you go to Reading, you can't hide from the 16 year olds vs ibiza where you can

17 hours ago, Benj said:

I think GFA as an anti-big tenter is simply trying to distract away from how much better that predicted lineup looked better in Big Tent format 

Stop trying to put words in my mouth.

It definitely did look better in that format, I just stated they have got rid of the big tent!

Just because something looks better doesn't mean it necessarily will happen.

[Dukey]

Am I reading too much into the emphasis on “NO place like Main Stage East”? 

[foolee]

9 minutes ago, Dukey said:

Am I reading too much into the emphasis on “NO place like Main Stage East”? 

Just came on here to post the exact same thing. Hint at a change maybe? Because it’s an odd thing to say. 

[gfa]

here comes another week of big tent conversation 😂

[Benj]

34 minutes ago, gfa said:

Just because something looks better doesn't mean it necessarily will happen.

Who said it was going to happen?

99.9% of the crap people talk about on here isnt going to happen…bar Blink headlining

Hang on you’ve kind of said it may happen…C😍R!

[Benj]

6 minutes ago, gfa said:

here comes another week of big tent conversation 😂

C😍R

[gfa]

20 minutes ago, Benj said:

C😍R

anyone else have no clue what this is meant to mean btw?

 

22 minutes ago, Benj said:

Who said it was going to happen?

Nobody - but i didn't say it wasn't and thats what you accused me of.

[Andre91]

37 minutes ago, gfa said:

anyone else have no clue what this is meant to mean btw?

 

Something boomery. 

[Guest]

44 minutes ago, gfa said:

anyone else have no clue what this is meant to mean btw?

😂

[Benj]

41 minutes ago, gfa said:

Nobody - but i didn't say it wasn't and thats what you accused me of.

I accused you of saying it wasn’t going to happen? Where? 

The only thing I accused you was of falling for the old trope that Reading is and was solely aimed at 16 year olds 

[andyrhodes24]

22 minutes ago, Andre91 said:

Something boomery. 

[Crews1]

Considering they did a similar post about MSW last week (https://www.instagram.com/p/CzJN8K-ohfj/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==) I wouldn’t look too far into this. The socials being particularly active to me suggests that we’re due an announcement in the next month or so, but that’s hardly a surprise either.