29 replies to this topic

[Sickboy74]

If you head over to the NME site there is a video of Melvin Benn describing this years headliners as 'Absolute Exclusives'. Would someone care to explain to me how the hell 'My Chemical Romance' are exclusives as they are appearing at T in the Park and are not even headlining there!!!!!
  One of the big sells of Reading is that the headliners are exclusives...surely having bands headline Reading that appear lower on the bill at other festivals is a shoddy way around that rule. I am not getting involved in whether or not MCR are valid headliners as it's all down to personal opinion, but I feel that the fans who have made this festival what it is have been sold tickets under false pretences. Melvin has done us proud with some awesome line ups in the past but has completely sold the festival, himself, and the fans well short this time round.........What the F..k does it say about Reading that we can't even book headliners capapble of headlining any where else??????

Rant over...enjoy the fest.

[j...rox]

Muse are a massive draw, The National are third down and headline Latitude and there are some big acts on the undercard ie. Deftones, 30STM, Pulp, Elbow, Interpol. Good variety, and they spent up on the Libs last year I imagine.

[fat_man_joe]

Exclusive to England

[chappiepunk]

I wouldnt say its 2nd division, its underachieved so far, like chelsea this season.

[allan14]

T in the park is in Scotland not England.... there goes your hole argument..
... also i like the lineup

[dannyv18]

what about pulp headlining wireless and headlining leeds? :| .... completely exclusive??? I THINK NOT!!!!! why lie to us melvin?

[theloveofmusic1]

dannyv18, on 21 March 2011 - 09:33 PM, said:

what about pulp headlining wireless and headlining leeds? :| .... completely exclusive??? I THINK NOT!!!!! why lie to us melvin?

the strokes are headlining ? pulp are subbing

[allan14]

they are swapping around for leeds

[she bangs the drums]

Muse have played every festival going over the past 5 years so they are hardly exclusive though out of the 3 headliners, they are the biggest by far.

MCR are a marmite band and have been bottled at R&L and Download plus as people have pointed out they are not even headliners at other festivals in the UK.

IMO the Strokes should not be a R & L headliner, they should be playing second to a big draw band and although they are good live they are not a massive appealing band. Pulp are playing every festival in Europe or so it seems.

Beady Eye are a poor NME headliner, one album, Liam is doing no harm to anyone enjoying his little mind making a Beatles style music but they are just a poor mans Jim Jones Revue and should not be playing that high.  The festival needed a big popular headliner to go up against MCR, personally I would have loved someone like Soundgarden but they probably wouldn't have shifted enough tickets  

Janes Addiction are a fantastic band but like bands like Faith No More who have played before them will probably only attract 10 men and a dog watching them.

2manydj's should be headlning the Dance Tent one night.  

The rest of the line up has the odd gem amongst a lot of new very average bands.

Festival Republic have taken the regular attendees for granted that they would pay £200 to watch a very average festival line up full of bands people are not that bothered about or repeat bookings and the public is voting with their feet. The fact is that the festival has not sold out a couple of hours after tickets went on sale and people could get onto the order tickets pages straight away for the first time in many a year which is even worse considering pre-sales and ticket touts buying them.

[chappiepunk]

she bangs the drums, on 21 March 2011 - 09:39 PM, said:

Festival Republic have taken the regular attendees for granted that they would pay £200 to watch a very average festival line up full of bands people are not that bothered about or repeat bookings and the public is voting with their feet. The fact is that the festival has not sold out a couple of hours after tickets went on sale and people could get onto the order tickets pages straight away for the first time in many a year which is even worse considering pre-sales and ticket touts buying them.

Agree with this, hopefully they will splash the cash and 2012 will be awesome

[dannyv18]

theloveofmusic1, on 21 March 2011 - 09:38 PM, said:

the strokes are headlining ? pulp are subbing

nope... pulp headline leeds wit strokes subbing... and this makes it non exclusive! stupid melvin!

[Sickboy74]

allan14, on 21 March 2011 - 09:26 PM, said:

T in the park is in Scotland not England.... there goes your hole argument..
... also i like the lineup

I never said 'Hole' were playing......or was that simply a grammar error. My point is that MCR are not considered big enough to headline T in the Park and that Reading looks weaker for having them headline. I am not necessarily slagging  off the line up (although I don't think it is the strongest) I just wish that they would drop the whole sham of exclusivity when they appear to be making the rules up as they go along. Technically Pulp are co-headlining (playing last at Leeds) it's just that the organisers aren't advertising them as headliners so that again they can get around the whole exclusivity thing (they are also playing IOW and Wireless).

I understand that this is an internet forum and therefor not really the place for reasoned argument but I feel that the organisers have sold the fans and the festival very short this year.

[allan14]

grammer !

diffrent festival diffrent target audience is why they can headline Reading but not T..
.. there would also be bands that could headline T but not reading

[chappiepunk]

allan14, on 21 March 2011 - 09:51 PM, said:

grammer !

diffrent festival diffrent target audience is why they can headline Reading but not T..
.. there would also be bands that could headline T but not reading

different

[mattl]

Personally, I don't give a damn about the Exclusivity of a festival, I didn't care when I watched Faith No More twice because they were absolutely amazing.

So what if these bands are playing elsewhere, even if they're not headlining? Whether or not you like it all three bands deserve their headlining spots.

My Chemical Romance shifted almost an entire generation of youth onto their type of music, one of the best underground bands before their explosion onto the world scene. Yeah they won't see much love on this forum but, believe it or not, they will draw a crowd and have done enough to warrent a Headlining spot.

The Strokes are the Indie Darlings of the New York Scene, the poster boys of the Indie revolution emerging in music when I was younger. Two of the most critically acclaimed albums of the last decade means they deserve to headline.

Finally, Muse. quite possibly the most critically and commercially acclaimed artists to come out of the UK in the last 20 years.

So, we have three influential, best selling artists Headlining a festival that caters to this audience. That's why they're headlining.

[JWC126]

That'd be a valid point if it weren't for the fact that they're UK Headliner exclusives.

[allan14]

chappiepunk, on 21 March 2011 - 09:51 PM, said:

different

Now you are just being fussy

[dannyv18]

have you ever just thought that t in the park just got really lucky getting them as sub and just got a good sub? ... if MCR signed for reading they might of been asked to headline but said "we cant headline but well sub for the same amount" and t paid it... maybe its not a bad booking for R+L but a good booking for t!

[Mariner]

If I was organising I would have went with one of the following instead of MCR to shift tickets:

Green Day
Foos
Beastie Boys
The Prodigy
REM
Daft Punk

Yes, not all of them would've been available, but still, one fo them must be. That's just headliners I can think of off the top of my head. There are literally a bunch of superior potential sub headliners. I don't know why it's so poor this year. I can't understand why they've optioned for MCR. It doesn't make sense to me.

Festivals around the world like Coachella, which is considered to have a weak line-up this year, totally shits over this Reading lineup.

Edited by Mariner, 21 March 2011 - 10:11 PM.

[MEGABOWL]

Mariner, on 21 March 2011 - 10:10 PM, said:

If I was organising I would have went with one of the following instead of MCR to shift tickets:

Green Day
Foos
Beastie Boys
The Prodigy
REM
Daft Punk

Yes, not all of them would've been available, but still, one fo them must be. That's just headliners I can think of off the top of my head. There are literally a bunch of superior potential sub headliners. I don't know why it's so poor this year. I can't understand why they've optioned for MCR. It doesn't make sense to me.

Festivals around the world like Coachella, which is considered to have a weak line-up this year, totally shits over this Reading lineup.

I'm not sure any of them are available to be honest. I dunno what the Prodigy are doing UK-wise this year but the others are either doing nothing or exclusive to another fest