2012 Lineup

[Mouseboy11]

I called Bullet playing a while back, Although I think they're too heavy to play really they are one hell of a live band.

Regarding Taylor Momsen of the pretty reckless she did flash her tits on stage once.

[VCK]

Stick coming your way. Viva Brother are one the worst bands to have emerged in the last few years. If they'll don't play this year then I can't see when they will again, going to go the way of The Twang.

[OneTwo]

Has anyone come across this, Melvin interviewed about this years lineup

AT: With there being no Glastonbury in 2012, was there any pressure to form a more classic or more inclusive line-up?

MB: No, absolutely not. Glastonbury’s a different festival and I always believe that Reading and Leeds has the greatest line-up of any festival in any part of the world, in any year. It doesn’t really make a difference to us whether Glastonbury’s on or not. It’s an amazing festival, but it’s very different to us.

AT: So what would you say it is about Reading and Leeds this year that gives music fans something that they can’t find elsewhere?

MB: This is the most extraordinary line-up that will appear at any festival this year, as far as I’m concerned. The Cure, Kasabian, Black Keys, Foo Fighters, Florence and the Machine, Paramore – all incredible. The Cure are playing Reading Festival for the first time since 1979, and I was there. The excitement around The Cure and being around the same space and in the same field and being able to listen to Robert Smith is incredibly special. Paramore before them will work wonderfully well.

Sunday with Kasabian, Florence and the Machine and The Vaccines – that’s the Brits taking the stage and that’s us completely and utterly dominating it. I think the first time I saw Kasabian was at Leeds Festival. It was chaos, it was carnage and it was fantastic. I felt then that they would become a headliner, and they have and they deserve to be. It’s their first proper headlining slot at Leeds and Reading and I’ve got no doubt that it will be an amazing night.

The Kaiser Chiefs, Black Keys and Foo Fighters – that’s just a wonderful night for people that love music really, isn’t it? Leeds and Reading are music festivals. There are no clowns, no fire-eaters, no jugglers, no baby-areas. They are music festivals and that’s why we always have amazing line-ups.

AT: The Cure played for nearly three hours at Bestival last year. How long will their set be at Reading and Leeds?

MB: It was just under three hours at Bestival and we’re still talking about times. I want them to play a good set and they want to play a good set, but it won’t be a short set by any means. I’m sure it will be at least a two-hour set.

AT: As soon as you mentioned the beer and burger scheme to the press, was there a backlash from the rest of Festival Republic or are they fully behind you?

MB: It’s fair to say that I think Festival Republic are always behind whatever I come up with really! Times are tough. Festivals are a wonderful value for money way of having an extraordinary weekend where you hang out with like-minded people, you have a few beers and you have an occasional bite to eat and an even less occasional amount of sleep whilst seeing the best bands in the world. Of course, I run a business, but I have a view that I always want to try and give things back. I don’t know why I came up with it but I said it before I’d really costed it out. There’s not much sign of it at the minute but I hope that the sponsors will pay for it, and if they don’t then we will. I think it’s a wonderful thing and I rather suspect that one or two other festivals may follow in the future.

Here is the link just incase anyone wants it

http://www.worksopguardian.co.uk/news/interview-reading-and-leeds-festival-boss-melvin-benn-this-is-the-greatest-line-up-of-any-festival-anywhere-1-4339868

[mrtourette]

He seems like such a nice chap, but clearly delusional.

[Hart Attack]

8. Hart Attack would get a nice surprise - referring to Paramore, it wasn't clear at the time but he guessed what I was on about straight away so it wasn't completely ambiguous.

[Spud001]

Yeah he seems like a good man all in all. And also good to hear that The Cure are getting a longer set surely this means that no more acts can be announced for their day?

[JT436]

Wow, loving the possibility of a set even longer than 2 hours for The Cure! Would be a first for the festival, but definitely a welcome one.

[gazza_20]

Just done a bit of working out guys. Put some times what I believe to be fairly accurate keeping Kasabian as 1hr 30 with flo 55-1hr. I always thought that The Vaccines clashing with Tenacious D would be an odd one as I can't see anywhere else they'd go. The Cure day had 9 bands, won't be anymore due to The Cure set length and Cancer Bats defo won't player above that, what they're bloody doing anyway there god knows. Foo's day is full too obviously.

Tenacious D would be the kind of band that would clash with Billy Talent in the tent and the time difference between Billy starting and Ten D starting would be around 10 mins, adds up to me.

I see it as :-

21:00 Foo Fighters

19:20 The Black Keys

18:00 Kaiser Chiefs

16:50 B4MV

15:45 All Time Low

14:45 The Gaslight Anthem

13:40 EODM

12:45 Band Of Skulls

12:00 Pulled Apart By Horses

22:00 Justice

20:40 Two Door Cinema Club

19:30 The Horrors

18:25 band TBC –Tribes?

17:20 SBTRKT

21:30 - 23:00 Kasabian

19:50 - 20:50 FATM

18:35 - 19:25 –band TBC - Tenacious D ?

17:30 - 18:15 The Vaccines

16:25 - 17:10 Enter Shikari

15:20 - 16:05 The Shins

14:20 - 15:00 Odd Future

13:30 - 14:05 Mystery Jets

12:45 - 13:15 band TBC – Twin Atlantic?

12:00 - 12:30 Blood Red Shoes

22:00 At The Drive-In

20:40 The Cribs

19:30 band TBC – NoFX?

18:25 Billy Talent

17:20 Miike Snow

21:45 Metronomy

20:40 Katy B

19:20 Azealia Banks

18:15 Jaguar Skills

21:00 The Cure

19:20 Paramore

18:00 Bombay Bicycle Club

16:50 YMA6

15:45 Crystal Castles

14:45 Angels and Airwaves

13:40 Coheed and Cambria

12:45 Cancer Bats

12:00 Deaf Havana

22:00 The Maccabees

20:40 Foster The People

19:30 The Courteeners

[gazza_20]

Also slightly surprised by no Garbage as they seemed a bet but I'm not a big fan.

[ArcticDan]

Im a big Cure fan, but anything longer than 2-hours would be just too long.

[Vieuphoria]

lies!

[the wonderwhy]

I know its unlikely, but, The Cure & Crystal Castles playing on the same stage on the same day?

How awesome would that be?!

[the wonderwhy]

Does the NME stage really start at 17:20? Or are there more acts to announce?

[Vieuphoria]

way more acts to be announces. Normally about 10 or 11 I believe?

[gazza_20]

Does the NME stage really start at 17:20? Or are there more acts to announce?

[gazza_20]

15 bands I'd say I can think I'd make a point of seeing, based on what is announced as not what people may expect. Still got Refused as SR though so Neil must have a good idea they'll still come up.

[Prufrock]

Can we just abolish the undercard on the Friday and have The Cure play a 12 hour set?

[ArcticDan]

Just no more bands more times m8. Only put amount of bands per times.

Looking also at the Kasabian day though. It's easy to tell that more than one band will be slotted in and if it's Ten D is a FNM style way it makes sense, as there is would say The Shins for 6th and down are as high a place as them really.

[eFestivals]

Still got Refused as SR though so Neil must have a good idea they'll still come up.

they're defo doing another UK fest, it's likely to be R/L.

[kaosmark2]

For better or for worse, the "seasoned festival goer" is changing. The group that went in the 80s and 90s is growing ever smaller, and those that go now largely grew up with this kind of music. If FR appealed mainly to the "seasoned festival goer", they'd hemorrhage money. They have to attract new fans, and that means booking bands that the wider public will want to see. If that means the festival selling slower, so be it. As long as it makes money, I'm sure FR are happy.

[kaosmark2]

I did drop hints on specific bands but some of them were ambiguous or disguised as guesses (although reading between the lines people should have assumed that after I said I knew the line-up that the guesses were anything but), I didn't have the balls to post the whole announcement but everything I said was correct.

1. Bloc Party weren't playing.

2. Bombay Bicycle Club would be on the main stage (obviously I knew where but that would have been giving away too much).

3. SBTRKT wouldn't be headlining any stage.

4. Gaslight Anthem were playing.

5. BFMV were playing (although I deleted this post and only KingOfTheRodeo saw it he still got it).

6. ATD-I were headlining the tent opposite Kasabian.

7. kaosmark PM'd me about this (he was the only one to PM me surprisingly), so I confirmed it and said that The Cribs were subbing with Billy Talent also playing under them.

8. Hart Attack would get a nice surprise - referring to Paramore, it wasn't clear at the time but he guessed what I was on about straight away so it wasn't completely ambiguous.

9. Two of the bands high up would attract criticism for being too high - referring to Bombay Bicycle Club and The Vaccines (obvious now), but yeah it could have been anyone.

10. When that other guy released some of the bands and it was pointed out that The Cribs wouldn't be as low as he put them I said that he had the right bands but they were in the wrong order or on different stages, which was correct (fuck knows about Keith Allen though).

Like I said I can't take any credit like the other guy can as I wussied out of revealing everything (I was tempted to just before 7pm but gave up on the forums for the night due to the server issues) but I do feel vindicated slightly given the doubters (I may be a smartarse but I'm not a troll).

[kaosmark2]

I know its unlikely, but, The Cure & Crystal Castles playing on the same stage on the same day?

How awesome would that be?!

[Spud001]

Does anyone not think that Tenacious D could do a mid day Special Guest slot? Much like Madness last year?

[dip]

At least two hours? Yeaaaaaah

[The Mean Bean]

What kind of muppet puts Crystal Castles on an outdoor stage during daylight hours in summer time?