2025 R&L Festival

[Benj]

3 hours ago, gfa said:

well clearly - these are two different sized slots!

 

and of course i wouldn't pay £80, never said i would

That was my point.
 

There are no (very few if we’re being pedantic) 20 somethings into Shania Twain, who are going to spend money to see her, which was the suggestion I responded to. 
 

You are not into Shania Twain. You’re looking forward to her playing a couple of hits for ironic nostalgia value.

 

The interesting question is who, of an appropriate size for the time of day, would you need on another stage to drag you way?
 

[NorthernSoul52]

I don't want to dismiss MW because we did have M&S once.

 

One man's cheddar is another man's chunder, et al.

[Benj]

2 hours ago, NorthernSoul52 said:

I don't want to dismiss MW because we did have M&S once.

 

One man's cheddar is another man's chunder, et al.

Mumford and Sons are/ were not country music

[charlierc]

There's definitely a sense that country is having a moment given I see lots of artists releasing country-inflected songs and events growing in scope.

 

Is it enough for Reading to do another pivot and jump whole-heartedly behind that as a trend? I don't know. Probably not.

[RandomEnglishPerson]

3 hours ago, charlierc said:

There's definitely a sense that country is having a moment given I see lots of artists releasing country-inflected songs and events growing in scope.

 

Is it enough for Reading to do another pivot and jump whole-heartedly behind that as a trend? I don't know. Probably not.

hopefully not

[NorthernSoul52]

13 hours ago, Benj said:

Mumford and Sons are/ were not country music

Come off it, surely a bit of country in I Will Wait.

[charlierc]

56 minutes ago, NorthernSoul52 said:

Come off it, surely a bit of country in I Will Wait.

I'd say it's more of a sound based off English folk music rather than American style country and western.

[Benj]

21 minutes ago, charlierc said:

I'd say it's more of a sound based off English folk music rather than American style country and western.

Yup, I’ll concede that it has a vaguely similar sounding aesthetic (mainly due to the banjos in Mumfords case) but is not Country music. 
 

If you want to compare them to American bands, Lumineers, Wilderado, Caamp, maybe even Grouplove are far closer contemporaries.  Indie-folk/pop. Not country 

[charlierc]

1 minute ago, Benj said:

Yup, I’ll concede that it has a vaguely similar sounding aesthetic (mainly due to the banjos in Mumfords case) but is not Country music. 
 

If you want to compare them to American bands, Lumineers, Wilderado, Caamp, maybe even Grouplove are far closer contemporaries.  Indie-folk/pop. Not country 

I think there's similarities but even listening to the country-style music on Maggie Rogers' new album, for one example (not even that big a one but it's one she's doing atm), it's not quite the same world to folk stuff.

 

Then again I've never been that fond of the Mumfords. And I say this as someone who once involuntarily watched them when they were musical guests on an episode of The Last Leg that I was in the audience for.

[Benj]

1 hour ago, charlierc said:

I think there's similarities but even listening to the country-style music on Maggie Rogers' new album, for one example (not even that big a one but it's one she's doing atm), it's not quite the same world to folk stuff.

 

Then again I've never been that fond of the Mumfords. And I say this as someone who once involuntarily watched them when they were musical guests on an episode of The Last Leg that I was in the audience for.

They're clearly closer than say country and folk, and heavy metal or hip hop

There's a still a clear divide, in sound, themes and aesthetics though.

Mumford are far closer to Bob Dylan than they are Garth Brookes. Bob Dylan is not country...

[FrogLobster]

I think they are going to bin off the '6 headliner' nonsense; especially with the 2nd main stage seemingly binned off this year.

Paramore (Coming off of Eras Tour and being sold as the 'alternative rock' headliner)
Dua Lipa (Huge Pop Star and will have done Glasto)
Eminem (Legend/Rap) or maybe Travis Scott/Kendrick if Eminem is too pricey.

Olivia Rodrigo seems more likely for Glasto especially with how her show was recieved last time she played.
Foo Fighters are probably too expensive now and don't fit the current demographic.
Mumford and Songs and Kings Of Leon? Sure, seems like the MOR thing for R&L to book in the 'rock' slot.

Edited June 5 by FrogLobster

[charlierc]

4 hours ago, FrogLobster said:

Foo Fighters are probably too expensive now and don't fit the current demographic.

I mean, they played in 2019 and went down well. Has R&L strayed that far?

[Andre91]

6 hours ago, FrogLobster said:

I think they are going to bin off the '6 headliner' nonsense; especially with the 2nd main stage seemingly binned off this year.

Paramore (Coming off of Eras Tour and being sold as the 'alternative rock' headliner)
Dua Lipa (Huge Pop Star and will have done Glasto)
Eminem (Legend/Rap) or maybe Travis Scott/Kendrick if Eminem is too pricey.

Olivia Rodrigo seems more likely for Glasto especially with how her show was recieved last time she played.
Foo Fighters are probably too expensive now and don't fit the current demographic.
Mumford and Songs and Kings Of Leon? Sure, seems like the MOR thing for R&L to book in the 'rock' slot.

I think they’ll bin off the six headliner format too. 
 

Foo Fighters will always fit the demographic and I would put money on then headlining. Their first official festival over here without Taylor will be Reading & Leeds. 
 

No chance of Mumford & Sons. 
 

 

Edited June 5 by Andre91

[Andre91]

At the moment, I’m going for: Twenty One Pilots, Dua Lipa & Foo Fighters. 

[charlierc]

I'll predict Paramore, Dua Lipa and Foo Fighters.

 

I look forward to it being none of them.

[northernangel]

13 minutes ago, Andre91 said:

At the moment, I’m going for: Twenty One Pilots, Dua Lipa & Foo Fighters. 

I think as a 3 headline only selection this is a very strong and decent stab. Very strong feeling of Dua Lipa and Foo Fighters. 

[Benj]

16 minutes ago, Andre91 said:

At the moment, I’m going for: Twenty One Pilots, Dua Lipa & Foo Fighters. 

Twenty one pilots are a little small as a single headliner. 
 

They could easily go back to  co-headliners on a singular day though

[nathanh]

I think we will get 4/5 headliners to slowly go away from the 6 headline setup. Cant imagine the response of people saying "Your upping the price and cutting the headliners in half wtf" especially after not the best sales in the last couple years. Only way they could do 3 is if they are all AAA headliners who will sell it out just because they are there (like AM did in 2022)

[Andre91]

16 minutes ago, Benj said:

Twenty one pilots are a little small as a single headliner. 
 

They could easily go back to  co-headliners on a singular day though

Do you think? They’re doing 2 nights at the O2, one at the AO Arena, Birmingham, Glasgow and Belfast. That’s about 100k. The new album seems to be really popular so I don’t think they’d look weak at all, especially alongside two mammoth acts like Dua & Foos. 

Edited June 5 by Andre91

[nathanh]

Who could cohead 2025 year though? Who are artists big enough to headline but not big enough to do it outright?

[Benj]

6 minutes ago, Andre91 said:

Do you think? They’re doing 2 nights at the O2, one at the AO Arena, Birmingham, Glasgow and Belfast. That’s about 100k. The new album seems to be really popular so I don’t think they’d look weak at all, especially alongside two mammoth acts like Dua & Foos. 

Everyone does that these days don’t they?

 

Also given that they’ve doing that tour, how many people are they then gonna encourage to come and watch them in a field in the middle of nowhere?

 

With the poor sales last year and this, on the days with artists who’ve toured extensively, I think they’ll try to get people a little more exclusive in.  Who that is, who knows?

 

 

[Andre91]

Just now, Benj said:

Everyone does that these days don’t they?

 

Also given that they’ve doing that tour, how many people are they then gonna encourage to come and watch them in a field in the middle of nowhere?

 

With the poor sales last year and this, on the days with artists who’ve toured extensively, I think they’ll try to get people a little more exclusive in.  Who that is, who knows?

 

 

Not everyone does two nights at the O2, no. And you could say that every year; they always book artists who have been on tour the year before. 
 

OOPS. Didn’t realise their arena tour is May 2025. Yeah, it might not be them. Wouldn’t rule it out completely though, especially because it’ll sell out well, well in advance. 

[FrogLobster]

3 hours ago, charlierc said:

I mean, they played in 2019 and went down well. Has R&L strayed that far?

5 years including pandemic is an entire R&L target audience shift. Especially as they have spent last few years focusing on this '6 headliners' business which is mostly acts who are too big for sub but too small as a 'traditional R&L' headliner.

[Benj]

36 minutes ago, Andre91 said:

Not everyone does two nights at the O2, no. And you could say that every year; they always book artists who have been on tour the year before. 
 

OOPS. Didn’t realise their arena tour is May 2025. Yeah, it might not be them. Wouldn’t rule it out completely though, especially because it’ll sell out well, well in advance. 

 

Well lets have a look at whos booked at the mo

Doja cat is doing 3 nights

Killers 8 (amazingly)

Noah Kahan 2

Chris Stapleton 2 (to fuel the country fire again)
Nick Cave 2
Cigarettes After Sex 2
Sleep Token 5

Slipknot 2
Billie Eilish 8

There are lots of acts doing just the 1, they're local, perennial tourer types though, James, Snow Patrol etc...

I think 2 nights at the o2 is pretty much par for a decent sized artist these days. To be honest, given they've not been to the UK in a while and seeing what others are doing, 2 nights may even be a little lame.

I think Twenty One Pilots could deffo top a night at Reading, I think they'd have a v solid second though and, as you say, no chance they book them in the same year as they tour a load of sheds in city centers.

Are they a bigger draw now when they were second headliner in 2018 or whenever it was?


 

[p0sterb0y]

1 hour ago, nathanh said:

Who could cohead 2025 year though? Who are artists big enough to headline but not big enough to do it outright?

QOTSA, Central Cee, MGK, Skepta, Yungblud, Capaldi and maybe Florence and the machine

 

Id personally go for...

Friday: Noah Kahan + Chase and Status

Saturday: Dua Lipa

Sunday: Foo Fighters