2024 Festival

[thatTFBguy]

Booking blink-182 with their dependable track record of cancelling shows screams The 1975 stepping in for a third year in a row! 

[Andre91]

30 minutes ago, jonnyisRFC said:

It was busy at Reading I thought? Maybe 80% full. I Still can’t put my finger on that band, the crowd surprised me too, loads of people filmed the whole thing on their phone, unusual to see that in the FR tent! Are they big on TikTok or something? 

I know someone who was a Reading and they said it was about half full at the start of their set and it got less busy as it went on. There was a hardcore section at the front though going mad. They’ve got a very, very obsessive fan base who follow them everywhere. 

[CG31]

1 hour ago, Hart Attack said:

Everyone's predicting Blink or Paramore as the rock headliner, but not seeing much talk around My Chemical Romance.

I’m listening.

Gerard the Fab name change might have come too soon

[Galactus]

Sad to say its

Post Malone - Little Simz

Travis Scott - Kasabian

Royal Blood - Doja Cat

 

 

[Josnton]

Think the most rammed I've seen the Big Tent is when Green Day did their secret set in there. 

However, with the AJ Tracey talk about the tent, it seems he was small enough for 2020 (until Covid at least) 

[CG31]

20 minutes ago, Galactus said:

Sad to say its

Post Malone - Little Simz

Travis Scott - Kasabian

Royal Blood - Doja Cat

 

 

Meh, not sure the credibility but I don’t mind it tbh. Simz deserves it my god she’s incredible

[Benj]

2 hours ago, Andre91 said:

Sleep Token didn’t even half fill the FR tent this year. They aren’t headlining a bigger tent.
 

They are not going to cross over to pop music fans. They just aren’t. ‘They’re a metal band for pop fans’ no, no they aren’t. They’re a pop band for metal fans. It’s amazing they’ve sold Wembley out but they are not penetrating the mainstream like some people have been saying. Their songs are too long and too ‘odd’ for pop music fans. It isn’t happening. 

Could they not with a more varied line up attract their fans to the festival?

Or are there fans METALZ ONLY types?

[Chad888]

19 hours ago, gblock said:

As long as you didn’t get the football top from Kavos you’re alright apparently 🤷‍♂️

Also this idea that a blink-182 crowd would be primarily 30+yr olds with skateboards is a bit misinformed, they’re still a relatively popular band among younger people that like guitar music, which isn’t as small a proportion of RandL attendees as some like to make out. Be an excellent booking imo

Did you not see the response for RATM? The majority kids either had no idea who they were, or thought they were for the long haired till jockeys at CEX.

Blink are the same stock.

[Benj]

1 hour ago, Josnton said:

Think the most rammed I've seen the Big Tent is when Green Day did their secret set in there. 

However, with the AJ Tracey talk about the tent, it seems he was small enough for 2020 (until Covid at least) 

Greenday was nowhere near as rammed as even Mumfords as they shut down access before it was even possible

I listened for a bit from behind a cordon annoyed as there was still deffo room left 

[Benj]

1 hour ago, Galactus said:

Sad to say its

Post Malone - Little Simz

Travis Scott - Kasabian

Royal Blood - Doja Cat

 

I think it’s safe to say we should wait till resale again then next year lads

[Benj]

2 minutes ago, Chad888 said:

Did you not see the response for RATM? The majority kids either had no idea who they were, or thought they were for the long haired till jockeys at CEX.

Blink are the same stock.

Blink are far more mainstream and accessible

[Andre91]

21 minutes ago, Benj said:

Could they not with a more varied line up attract their fans to the festival?

Or are there fans METALZ ONLY types?

Nah, not a chance. That big tent would be empty. And yeah, pretty much, they are a metal band who exist very much within the metal world. Their fans are more likely to also like bands like Architects, Peripheey and a whole slew of modern metalcore bands than they are the stuff on show at R&L. Some of their fans might like to think they are a poppy band who will bring ‘normies’ in but 6 minute long songs with Meshuggah breakdowns and screamed vocals isn’t going to do that. 

[Andre91]

Blink are far more easy on the ears than Rage and have probably 3 songs uni aged kids would recognise from rock and indie nights (All The Small Things, I Miss You, What’s My Age Again), whereas I would wager that Killing In The Name would be the only RATM song they even maybe recognise. 
 

R&L also does still book a crop of bands every year who would certainly appeal more to Blink fans than they do RATM’s crowd. Look at the past few years years: 

 

2021 - YUNGBLUD, Neck Deep, Hot Milk, Boston Manor, Yonaka, IDK How, Creeper, Holding Absence, KennyHoopla (MGK too but he pulled out close to the festival)

2022 - All Time Low, You Me At Six, As It Is, Cassyette, Sueco, Waterparks

 

2023 - You Me At Six, Don Broco, Palaye Royale, Yonaka, Magnolia Park, Games We Play, KennyHoopla, Hot Milk 

Lots of those bands are likely to have some fan base crossover with each other but, more importantly, almost certainly also be fans of Blink-182 as well, far more so than Rage Against The Machine. 
 

Also, Rage were at the peak of their powers in the early to mid 90s, whereas Blink were in the early to mid 00s. It’s only a decade but I would think that it makes Blink more likely to be a band younger people have been exposed to in some capacity at some point more than RATM. Whether that is through club nights, parents, older siblings or other kids at school because yes, believe it or not, there are still kids in secondary schools who are very much into bands like Blink, Green Day, MCR, FOB and Paramore (I’m speaking from experience of teaching in 3 different, big schools in 3 very different locations over the last 7 years). 

Edited September 1, 2023 by Andre91

[Chad888]

7 hours ago, gfa said:

Please can some people from the UK back me up that AJ Tracey is a big draw for the school leavers crowd - he may not be a headliner but almost all of that lot will want to see him

Lets not stoop to spotify listener comparisons...

I think people underestimate how stupid and easy to please these kids actually are.

They see a rap act that people put on tik tok or Instagram and they also have to see it.

AJ Tracy will absolutely pack out despite not having a big song since Ladbroke Grove, and never actually making any waves in the UK rap scene.

[Andre91]

6 minutes ago, Chad888 said:

I think people underestimate how stupid and easy to please these kids actually are.

They see a rap act that people put on tik tok or Instagram and they also have to see it.

AJ Tracy will absolutely pack out despite not having a big song since Ladbroke Grove, and never actually making any waves in the UK rap scene.

Reached your gammon years, have you, Chadmeister? Jesus Christ. You sound like one of those ‘You think you have it hard? When I was growing up, we didn’t have central heating and had to share cold baths in a tin tub’ lunatics. 
 

People said the exact same thing when I was a teenager except it was MySpace and video games (Tony Hawk, Guitar Hero). 

Edited September 1, 2023 by Andre91

[Andre91]

Also, 16 year olds are not the majority at this festival. There are far more 18 year olds. 

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, Chad888 said:

I think people underestimate how stupid and easy to please these kids actually are.

They see a rap act that people put on tik tok or Instagram and they also have to see it.

AJ Tracy will absolutely pack out despite not having a big song since Ladbroke Grove, and never actually making any waves in the UK rap scene.

This is also categorically not true.

[Andre91]

1 minute ago, SomeoneListeningIn said:

This is also categorically not true.

I don’t see why discovering music on social media is such an issue? It’s not as if these kids are turning up to see AJ Tracey, for example, and aren’t actual fans. They go nuts, they know all the words. What does it matter that they discovered certain artists on a social media platform? It’s no different to me discovering bands from podcasts or Twitter. Weird vendetta to have. 

[Benj]

5 hours ago, Andre91 said:

Neither of which were particularly rammed. 

Yup, nothing on Mumfords or Catfish in there

[Benj]

2 hours ago, Andre91 said:

Nah, not a chance. That big tent would be empty. And yeah, pretty much, they are a metal band who exist very much within the metal world. Their fans are more likely to also like bands like Architects, Peripheey and a whole slew of modern metalcore bands than they are the stuff on show at R&L. Some of their fans might like to think they are a poppy band who will bring ‘normies’ in but 6 minute long songs with Meshuggah breakdowns and screamed vocals isn’t going to do that. 

Oooh How about Architects in the tent, against a rapper type that would re-up the Rich creds

[WhoOdyssey]

5 hours ago, jonnyisRFC said:

It was busy at Reading I thought? Maybe 80% full. I Still can’t put my finger on that band, the crowd surprised me too, loads of people filmed the whole thing on their phone, unusual to see that in the FR tent! Are they big on TikTok or something? 

They had one song go semi-viral on TikTok earlier this year. Not massive, but it’s racked up decent streaming numbers. 

[Andre91]

1 minute ago, Benj said:

Oooh How about Architects in the tent, against a rapper type that would re-up the Rich creds

Architects are exclusive at Bloodstock. I can’t see them getting booked any time soon, anyhow. 

[Chad888]

11 hours ago, Andre91 said:

Reached your gammon years, have you, Chadmeister? Jesus Christ. You sound like one of those ‘You think you have it hard? When I was growing up, we didn’t have central heating and had to share cold baths in a tin tub’ lunatics. 
 

People said the exact same thing when I was a teenager except it was MySpace and video games (Tony Hawk, Guitar Hero). 

 

Yep and it was definitely true for our age. We thought certain bands were absolutely huge because they'd be featured on Tony Hawks Underground, or because they played on Top of the Pops.

I remember 14 year old me in 2005 thinking that Panic at the Disco were absolutely huge because they were charting and everybody was talking about them/singing their songs. 

A year before that was Kasabian. Everybody round the playground doing the Clubfoot chant. And when Queens of the Stonage Go With the Flow music video was voted as best music video of all time by 4music I thought they were insanely huge.

 

All 3 of those are MSW headliners NOW. Back then they were bands getting features and viral moments. 

The point is, teenagers now see the feature on a Spotify playlist and think that is one of the biggest artists ever because they're getting this recognition.

31 year old me now sees that those features are the starting point for acts to use the wave and release huge things.

Stormzy, Dave, J Hus etc all did that and went strength to strength. AJ Tracy hasn't.

[Chad888]

12 hours ago, Andre91 said:

Also, 16 year olds are not the majority at this festival. There are far more 18 year olds. 

I'm curious what would you see as the age split amongst attendees?

I'd have said:

10% celebraring GCSE results 16 year olds

50% instead of a kavos/malia/zante holiday 17-20 year olds

30% back from uni and trying to relive their youth 21-24

10% music enjoyers that want to see a cracking lineup and good music with beers in the sun 25+

[gblock]

14 hours ago, Chad888 said:

Did you not see the response for RATM? The majority kids either had no idea who they were, or thought they were for the long haired till jockeys at CEX.

Blink are the same stock.

The few hundred responses on Twitter or Instagram isn’t at all representative of the entire festival though is it, that’s a tiny echo chamber of people that want AM Drake and Taylor Swift to be booked every single year.
As others have said, Blink are not the same stock anyway.