2024 Festival

[andyrhodes24]

44 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Long weekend huh

Not especially, I’m just old 😂

 

48 minutes ago, Andre91 said:

We decided on Saturday that we were going to come home Sunday night, so we stayed sober yesterday and ate LOADS of food 😂 we left on the last done of Fred’s set. Got slightly delayed because my fiancée dropped her phone (luckily it’s been found now but that’s another story) so we got to the car at 11:40pm. We didn’t get home until just before 3:00am and we live 40 mins away. They closed the gate we were parked right next to so we ended up at the back of the bloody queue. I think a car had broken down and held everyone up on our row as we were stationary for an hour and 15 mins whilst AA vans were coming and going. We eventually squeezed into a different row and got out. 

Security told me last night they shut the exit between 12-1am for whatever reason, I set off to the car at 06:25 this morning thinking it’d take ages to get out much later. Turns out I was home by 06:45. Piccadilly was still going when I got up, Rule The World was the last tune 😂 

Edited August 26 by andyrhodes24

[RandomEnglishPerson]

Overall for myself I found it a very memorable weekend, id probably put it as the most fun Reading festival I've had out of the 5 I've been to, apart from the rain on the Saturday it was overall a 8/10

 

the top five sets of the weekend for myself were

1. Pendulum

2. Spiritbox

3. Viagra Boys

4. Blink 182

5. Loathe

 

Hopefully next year the issues involving sound are fixed and the comeback of heavy acts at the festival continues

 

roll on 2025 

[Andre91]

14 minutes ago, andyrhodes24 said:

Not especially, I’m just old 😂

 

Security told me last night they shut the exit between 12-1am for whatever reason, I set off to the car at 06:25 this morning thinking it’d take ages to get out much later. Turns out I was home by 06:45. Piccadilly was still going when I got up, Rule The World was the last tune 😂 

RIP Piccadilly. 

[Supreme2]

Don’t know if it’s just me but seem to get a lot more people in front pits who know nothing of an artist but just want to be at the front pushing the way through (understand they’ve paid their ticket and can do what they want) but doing that and then moaning / leaving straight after the set

Edited August 26 by Supreme2

[RandomEnglishPerson]

2 hours ago, Supreme2 said:

Don’t know if it’s just me but seem to get a lot more people in front pits who know nothing of an artist but just want to be at the front pushing the way through (understand they’ve paid their ticket and can do what they want) but doing that and then moaning / leaving straight after the set

exactly the issue with pendulum, many didn't know how to act so were just throwing gun fingers up in the air like it was bru c, indeed i went into the front section for bru c and 21 savege just to see if they would exceed my low expectations (they didn't) but at least i was stood on the fringes, not right at the front 

[TornShaun]

Had a great weekend at Reading! Seen some bands i got recommended and really enjoyed, like Lambrini Girls, Destroy Boys, Barry Can't Swim! Found some great acts on the BBC Intro, JayaHadADream,Jodie Langford and Noisy, both were great! Really enjoyed Pendulum, Skrillex, Catfish, Neck Deep, Kid Kapachi and 4am Kru! Blink were my fav though the whole weekend! Bit gutted on watching Lana, with the noise from the Pepsi stand and Chevron Stage! Didn't find the youngsters to be as annoying this year, only one 16 year old came up to me on Friday and asked if i got my Tee-Shirt from the sale in Zara, thinking he was funny, where as i had so many people asking to take pics of it, it was the Blink Family Reunion Tee! Did find the way they set us up in the White Camper area was rubbish this year, everyone was parked all over the place, and the toilets in the camper area never seemed cleaned this year! All round a brilliant weekend though, now recovering!

Edited August 27 by TornShaun

[andyrhodes24]

11 minutes ago, TornShaun said:

Had a great weekend at Reading! Seen some bands i got recommended and really enjoyed, like Lambrini Girls, Destroy Boys, Barry Can't Swim! Found a couple of great acts on the BBC Intro, Jodie Langford and Noisy, both were great! Really enjoyed Pendulum, Skrillex, Catfish, Neck Deep, Kid Kapachi and 4am Kru! Blink were my fav though the whole weekend! Bit gutted on watching Lana, with the noise from the Pepsi stand and Chevron Stage! Didn't find the youngsters to be as annoying this year, only one 16 year old came up to me on Friday and asked if i got my Tee-Shirt from the sale in Zara, thinking he was funny, where as i had so many people asking to take pics of it, it was the Blink Family Reunion Tee! Did find the way they set us up in the White Camper area was rubbish this year, everyone was parked all over the place, and the toilets in the camper area never seemed cleaned this year! All round a brilliant weekend though, now recovering!

Might be for the best, we were parked about 15 metres away so the toilets being cleaned, combined with the

wind, was truly horrendous at times!

 

We did have a few comments that the cost of the van field is extortionate these days, not like you’re getting more for your money.

[gfa]

On 8/25/2024 at 12:16 PM, Andre91 said:

Also, R&L is now just a dance festival. It’s all you hear at the after hours stages, at the vendors, over the PAs. It’s those acts who are drawing the biggest crowds. All I’ve heard walking through the campsites all weekend is Drum n Bass coming from somewhere. 

mental take

 

1/6 headliners dance, with most years not having a single one

[Galactus]

4 minutes ago, gfa said:

mental take

 

1/6 headliners dance, with most years not having a single one

 

Agree. Fake news 💩

 

They've basically jacked up the dance stage to now become the second stage and now he thinks the whole festival has gone dance.

[gfa]

19 hours ago, Andre91 said:

There was some sound bleed from the Chevron to the Main Stage during Fred’s set at times, especially on the left hand side. It could have been the wind bringing it down but we kept getting the odd massive blast of noise from behind. 
 

Lana’s crowd was HUGE. It started raining during Fred’s set and it thinned out a hell of a lot compared to when he started. Saw loads of people in waterproofs and ponchos walking off? Odd. 

 

Last trains + weather + being done with the weekend after bad weather in general

 

There's still many people who don't "believe" in dance music that go as well

 

18 hours ago, andyrhodes24 said:

Leeds 2024 thoughts:

Overall another great weekend despite the weather and the stage closures (see photo looking towards front of the tent). Gutted to miss Destroy Boys but good on FR for shuffling round Wombats, Jorja Smith and Wunderhorse among others.

 

Drinks prices were crazy, £6-7 a pint wasn’t bad but £9.50 a spirit and £10.50 a Four Loko was mental if you wanted something a bit stronger.

 

Took absolutely no notice of the crowd this year, it was busy but didn’t see any trouble or any divs all weekend.

 

Chevron was also class, overheard so many people of all ages say it was a great idea. It felt properly indoor.

 

Top five acts:

1. The Wombats (perfect way to end the weekend)

2. The Prodigy

3. Militarie Gun

4. Catfish and the Bottlemen

5. Kid Kapichi

Those drinks prices are standard for spirits

 

Pints on the cheaper side to be fair

 

Four Loko seems to be Dragon Soop?

17 hours ago, andyrhodes24 said:

Ah yeah I also have a Foos/Melvin Benn 2025 update: Bumped into Benn again during Jorja Smith in Leeds. Said there wasn’t a lot they could do about the stages closures which is obviously understandable. No chance of fixing the damage the same weekend.

 

Also asked about 2025 and if they’ve booked next year’s headliners - “sort of” was his answer. He remembered our group from last year (he gave my mate free tickets as he wears a hat with all 24 of his Leeds weekend wristbands sewn on), he remembered that we asked for Foos last year and said unprompted 2025 will be 30 years since Foos first played Reading - “we’re working on it [Foos]” is what he said.

They make a lot of sense for next year to be honest, its been a while and they've done most other suitable places recently

[Andre91]

16 minutes ago, gfa said:

mental take

 

1/6 headliners dance, with most years not having a single one

Yeah I was being a bit hyperbolic. 

[nathanh]

Did anyone here go see Gerry at Reading. I'm interested to know how big his crowd was?

[Benj]

34 minutes ago, nathanh said:

Did anyone here go see Gerry at Reading. I'm interested to know how big his crowd was?

It was decent if not huge where we were.
 

There were a lot of people quite into it

[TornShaun]

46 minutes ago, nathanh said:

Did anyone here go see Gerry at Reading. I'm interested to know how big his crowd was?

I watched at little bit before going off to Neck Deep, seemed pretty decent to me

[Stuielooie]

On 8/25/2024 at 12:14 PM, Andre91 said:

I have a lot of gripes about a lot of the young kids at the festival this year. And it isn’t that they’re nasty or destructive etc like in the past; they’re just SO f**king boring and take themselves way too seriously. Just groups of lads stood there looking miserable as f**k trying to look aloof who then look at you like you’re some sort of mutant when you’re dancing about and singing. It’s a music festival, not a funeral. Crack a f**king smile. Groups of girls stood there looking and laughing at people enjoying themselves whilst they stand and talk throughout the whole set. 

 

On friday, the crowd near me was sh*t for Two door, so I left to go somewhere else. As I was walking out, some girl said "oh my god thats a grown man!"

Both the main stage and chevron headliners formed before I was born ffs

[CG31]

Completely different point, but thought the internet was much better this year, maybe due to a lack of people in the arena for some bands, but was also to keep an eye on football and cricket all weekend

[andyrhodes24]

10 minutes ago, CG31 said:

Completely different point, but thought the internet was much better this year, maybe due to a lack of people in the arena for some bands, but was also to keep an eye on football and cricket all weekend

For my group it was awful at Leeds. Had nothing round the camp except for the day I woke up at 6am, and only tiny spells in the arena. In previous years I’ve been able to stream football in the arena between sets 😂

[Andre91]

28 minutes ago, CG31 said:

Completely different point, but thought the internet was much better this year, maybe due to a lack of people in the arena for some bands, but was also to keep an eye on football and cricket all weekend

 

I noticed how great the signal was too! I had 5g basically all weekend. Friday was a bit crap but I put that down to the weather. 

[TornShaun]

1 hour ago, CG31 said:

Completely different point, but thought the internet was much better this year, maybe due to a lack of people in the arena for some bands, but was also to keep an eye on football and cricket all weekend

Mine was pretty much non existent for the whole time! Friends with me though on 3 had amazing signal and let me hotspot connect when needed!

[efcfanwirral]

On 8/26/2024 at 6:19 PM, Galactus said:

Chevron Stage is a fantastic addition. Absolutely loved it. Obviously they will have to sort the noise carrying onto the main stage as it was very noticeable for a lot of sets , especially LDR .

Can’t wait to see who they get on there next year!

That's an understatement for me, it basically overtook the main stage sound (at Reading) if you weren't in the front pit, and you could still hear and feel it in there between songs. The whole place was a sound bleed nightmare really, including the fairground and R1 stage when it was busy enough for people to be stuck outside. 

[glastorome]

Went to Leeds on the Sunday with some friends who are dance heads who'd never done a festival, they said it was the best weekend away they'd ever had. 

 

Spent pretty much all day at he Chevron, what a stage, and what a fantastic atmosphere, everyone absolutely loving the dj's, incredible addition, Sonny Fodera was insane. 

 

Biggest surprise of the day was how much fun Barry cant Swim was.

 

Fred Again was incredible, glad they'd got the sound sorted by the time he came on as you could hardly hear Raye earlier in the day. 

[JayA5]

Feel like this year was so much closer to getting the festival back to what people on here want...

 

Pros

 

Chevron stage looked great, not my sort of music but was visually good (i agree with the point of having it more multi-genre for the right acts because Wombats were class being on there)

 

The one main stage just works so much better than the 2 stage format

 

Done well to work around the stage closures at Leeds - the acts I wanted to see managed to reschedule bar 2 that ended up doing gigs in the City Centre (which we couldn't make but it was a nice touch)

 

Cons

 

Silent disco was a disaster, what happened to cheesy/indie music and the 2 channel system? hopefully they look at the feedback and fix that for next year because its usually one of the best parts.

 

Between that and no TPD at Piccadilly the Thursday at Leeds was a little dead this year, every place we went was just playing dance music (unless we went to the festival republic but we didn't want to have to watch Bilk pretend to be musicians)

 

For the chevron, I'd be interested to see them go for a more Creamfields / Coachella approach and have the lighting display inside a hangar type of structure (think this would make the daytime acts look better).

 

Overall

 

Think they done well this year and seemed to please a wide range of people which is what it's all about.

Would've loved to got to see a couple of acts on the R1 stage, but nothing they could do about that sadly.

 

They've definitely got enough now to work with and build on, personally think the introduction of Chevron and (sort of) re-introduction of R1 tent is things they are going to grow and currently just testing the waters to see how they'll be able to make them better and even more appealing in coming years.

[Benj]

39 minutes ago, JayA5 said:

Feel like this year was so much closer to getting the festival back to what people on here want...

 

Pros

 

Chevron stage looked great, not my sort of music but was visually good (i agree with the point of having it more multi-genre for the right acts because Wombats were class being on there)

 

The one main stage just works so much better than the 2 stage format

 

Done well to work around the stage closures at Leeds - the acts I wanted to see managed to reschedule bar 2 that ended up doing gigs in the City Centre (which we couldn't make but it was a nice touch)

 

Cons

 

Silent disco was a disaster, what happened to cheesy/indie music and the 2 channel system? hopefully they look at the feedback and fix that for next year because its usually one of the best parts.

 

Between that and no TPD at Piccadilly the Thursday at Leeds was a little dead this year, every place we went was just playing dance music (unless we went to the festival republic but we didn't want to have to watch Bilk pretend to be musicians)

 

For the chevron, I'd be interested to see them go for a more Creamfields / Coachella approach and have the lighting display inside a hangar type of structure (think this would make the daytime acts look better).

 

Overall

 

Think they done well this year and seemed to please a wide range of people which is what it's all about.

Would've loved to got to see a couple of acts on the R1 stage, but nothing they could do about that sadly.

 

They've definitely got enough now to work with and build on, personally think the introduction of Chevron and (sort of) re-introduction of R1 tent is things they are going to grow and currently just testing the waters to see how they'll be able to make them better and even more appealing in coming years.

Yup, was deffo the best one since 2019 vibe wise, actually felt like a festival again rather than a big migration back and forth with no time to pause and enjoy where you were. 4 distinct stages, providing 4 very different experiences

 

Sort out the Chevron > Main stage sound clash issues and they’re on to a winner again, esp if they could bring back one more niche stage. 

 

Fixing the screen problem in the R1 tent made that a proper venue too
 

 

[JayA5]

15 minutes ago, Benj said:

Yup, was deffo the best one since 2019 vibe wise, actually felt like a festival again rather than a big migration back and forth with no time to pause and enjoy where you were. 4 distinct stages, providing 4 very different experiences

 

Sort out the Chevron > Main stage sound clash issues and they’re on to a winner again, esp if they could bring back one more niche stage. 

 

Fixing the screen problem in the R1 tent made that a proper venue too
 

 

100%

 

Hoping they do bring back the lock-up or something similar but that's probably me being selfish with my music taste ha.

 

similar sort of thing with the Wunderhorse introducing set at Leeds and Chevron being too loud, but tbh not much they can do with the sound cause one stage is much bigger than the other and you're not really going to be 10 or more rows back from the introducing unless it is a secret set.

[jonnyisRFC]

https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/reading-and-leeds-festival