Benj

Why’s that a problem? How is it any different from journalists at NME and some lads in the pub thinking Oasis were cool?

And again this is where this probably just becomes completely subjective, I don’t get the Florence thing at all bar the vocals… Not listened to much Florence mind. Should really

Yup. LDP are v good. I wouldn’t be surprised if we get some more copy cats in future that are less good pushed our way. It’s far more of a meritocracy than it used to be either way…

Aye love them both (as they’re ver similar 😶)

I’m sorry they’re hugely similar and I listen to a HUGE amount of female indie They are nothing like Boy Genius, Alvvays, Feeble little horse, Slow pulp, Samia, Mitski, Ethel Cain, they are VERY much like Wet Leg though (a bit like Mitski too in parts actually) just going through my Spotify stats and Jock Strap are another one that’s v similar

Far more bands with record deals fail than make it

How on earth are they different 🤣?! Quirky, female led indie pop, Nothing Matters and Sinner are basically Wet Leg songs without the chatty bits

If you want to go industry plant on the wet leg front, then The Last Dinner Party are obv being pushed due to We Leg’s success… Thats the traditional record company move with these things. Push copycats of what becomes big, not create the big thing in the first place, which is normally far more organic

She quit her label due to the fact they were forcing her down a creative path she didn’t want to take. At least that’s what she banged on about between every song when I saw her She did not get properly big until she went independent, suggesting algorithms etc or not, that she’s not exactly a label plant…

Saw her live last year. I enjoyed the performance, even though it’s not really my kind of thing Crowd got going more for here ‘early’ dance stuff that she seems to hate but I guess that’s always gonna go down well at a festival

No ‘info’. Just v strong evidence. They have not been announced for any other UK festivals but are touring festivals in August, with Reading weekend free…

Fontaines DC look nailed on

But they have far more ‘popular’ songs If they’re not popular with all, that Sunday is sh*t then for the weekend kids

You don't reckon theyre one of those bands that everyone's happy to see now, pretty much any age? A la Killers etc... Its not like theyre super heavy or anything

Sorry, was referring to 2024 with the Sunday comment, hence then referring to Fred... The dark fruiters are rioting at that predicted 25 line up, other than MSW on the Friday. My confusing point was that its impossible to please Weekend ticket holders, while also producing a lineup attractive to people just going for the day. The beauty of old Reading was that you could appeal to everyone. It's far harder to do now, with the loss of 7-8 big slots and a niche tent That Sunday is actually pretty much as good as you can get I reckon. Foo Fighters will likely appeal to pretty much all, BMTH for the 'Rock' Element and then Chase and Status for dance... No one is going to have too long being bored

Tomorrow 6pm. Radio one

Thinking about it this way, it clearly looks like they're trying to get an older crowd back in on weekend tickets. I can't see huge swathes of weekend kids being too hyped about ending their nights at Blink or Gallagher. I certainly wouldn't at 18. Hopefully the dance tent will meet their needs on those nights

I’ll be over sometime in the summer anyway, to see my fam! It’s more the convincing my local mates! They want to fly the other way to Life is Beautiful in Las Vegas again. The lineup there will deffo be worse than Reading, the festival itself offers far more value for us though (assuming they don’t move the location which looks likely)

Yes, it may, or indeed may look significantly worse... I believe my original point was to counter that “the line up is good”, the point being we have no idea whether it’s good or not yet, or more importantly if “we” as individuals will like it. As it stands for me and my friends, we’re not going despite the “strong lineup”, the undercard on the poster is going to have to do some VERY heavy lifting to get us there. With the 2 stage format, I’m not sure it’s able to. We’re not yo-yoing between the stages watching sh*t we have no interest in again, 2 years was enough to show us it was poor value for money, whoever it is who ends the night

It’s very simple. Something can be very, very good but very, very over priced. At 220 quid Reading is good value at 50% more than that it is not…

some good stuff here, assume they’re all ruled out

90% of the lineup isn’t out yet (actually these days we’ve probably got about 75% already 🤣) Its a reasonably good set of headliners (the 3 who’ve not played in the last 3 years anyway), the quality of the lineup is very much still TBD As it is for me personally, there are 4 acts I’m interested in seeing… it’s deffo not a good lineup from where I’m sitting at the mo

Fred and Del Rey selling well shows the value in relatively exclusive bookings Blink would have sucked up a lot of demand with their shows last year, Gallagher’s not really stopped since he last played Reading Guess Cinnamon has been quiet for ages but does anyone really give a f**k? CATBM never that big but will have some pent up demand Theyre all solid bookings I guess, no real wow factor though

Yup. Line up is decent. Value for money is not… Ultimately that’s why I suspect I won’t be there for the second year in a row. Reading has never been a good ‘festival’, it always had good balanced lineups, with loads of choice that provided great value. That value has now long gone. I’m not paying £300 to stand in a field to watch 21 Savage, CATBM and Liam Gallagher one night. There will be loads thinking the same for the Blink night and the Fred night. The lower bill is gong to have to do A LOT of heavy lifting to get people to commit to a weekend.

They’re trying to maximise revenue, they say it’s sold out every year whether they do or not…