Benj

Last Angel and Airwaves album is v good. Would happily have them somewhere on the lineup. Again perhaps a loss due to no more Big Tent

It was utterly mobbed when he played

Pretty much like for like then…

Yeah, that is properly shite!

Although to be fair Tyler and the weekend would be much bigger than Tyler and the Killers basically there’s 3 big pop acts on the list and one more out there choice

I don’t think Tyler and the weekend will have much crossover at all. One massively mainstream, full of pop hits, the other big but pretty niche Reckon if you did a Venn Diagram you’d find a much bigger Killers - Weekend cross over than Weekend - Tyler

I randomly watched him at Lolapalooza last year, having never heard of him and not being a rap fan in general, and thought he was ace. He has loads of good tunes and it’s all pretty easy listening stuff as rap goes, so reckon he’ll be huge after a little more exposure in the U.K.

They’re paying for 45 or so less acts over the weekend now. Probably saving as much in additional costs as any artist fees. …And on paper the lineup looks stronger, even though we all know ultimately it is not. The main loss of the R1 and the second smaller tent, is the loss of so many bands that otherwise simply have no appropriate spot on the lineup. Plus of course also the atmosphere was better in there for smaller acts than plodding them on the main stage at 12pm

I’m not saying it won’t shift tickets. On paper it definitely looks stronger and to be fair to the casual fan it may well be what they’re after. Ultimately though a lessening of choice is never a good thing, I’m not a huge Arctic Monkeys fan and would like a choice of who else to see instead, if I’m not feeling it. In this case the ‘Quality’ for most is ‘meh’ for me and the beauty of a Festival, as opposed to just a big live gig, is that it should offer choices for all. My choices at Modern Reading have been cut by 2/3rds, which is not a good thing. …and will be the same for the kids with zero internet in RATM

I disagree on the lack of quantity thing. Obv you want quality, you don’t just want 10 big acts and no alternative elsewhere I think it was pretty much perfect before the change to the second main stage, I can’t think of many occasions in the last 10-15 years where there was not a single act I wasn’t interesting in seeing on one of the 4 stages, geared towards me. Theres now basically 12-15 less acts a day to choose from, more so when you consider the 2 main stages offer no actual alternative choice at all, so if you’d don’t like what’s on on the main stage, while you previously had 3 other options, you now have one…it’s shit. There needs to be a place for new bands to play. I don’t want to see just established acts, it’s not what I go to Reading for

On what basis? They don’t even fill the single dance stage with dance acts anymore. It’s a quasi FR at times now…. I think they should bring back 3 days of the FR, which can genre hop a fair bit itself and as there is so much ‘urban’ music now, represented elsewhere on the lineup, rebrand the 1extra tent as a second alternative stage that features new/ more niche urban stuff alongside heavier/ punk guitar music. …or as Foolee above says just bin off the Alternative stage as I’m not interested in it 😝

Would be decent programming vs RATM

Would seem a little foolish to pull out of a festival due to someone with opposing views was playing, allowing them to preach to your fans while not trying to convert there’s. RATM should be trying to play Trump rallies really

Not Glastonbury?

QOTSA aren't MSE sized. The Sunday would look incredibly weak with them topping the bill