Heavier bands at Reading

[Lewis Cato]

But at Download The Prodigy and Biffy Clyro already have an established following despite not being entirely conventional acts for a metal festival (The Prodigy headlined the second stage in '06 and '09 and Biffy Clyro have played in '04, '05, '07 and '08) those repeat bookings show a demand for those acts at the festival which Alter Bridge simply does not and will not have at Reading and Leeds.

[lightning1000]

Do not, arguably yes. Will not? I don't think so. If biffy or prodigy weren't booked that first time they wouldn't have had a chance to gain an audience at those festivals. Take soni last year, everyone was complaining about biffy playing, yet most reports afterwards were positive and I'm sure a lot of those people would be happy to have them back.

I think we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one sir, I think the audience for alterbridge at leeds is larger than you imagine. That's where the difference of opinion's originating haha.

[Lewis Cato]

Yeah fair enough, it's just because both The Prodigy and Biffy Clyro have far more crossover appeal and so have a flexibility to play both more mainstream and heavier (in The Prodigy's case more electronic) festivals; but it's all just speculation anyhoo

[Chavmeisterdeluxe]

I reckon Slash would go down pretty well. Especially with God fronting his band.

[LEMON_WOLF]

Slash Would go down a lot better then Alter Bridge at R/L, just cos everyone knows Slash and you have to be a fan of hard rock to know Alter Bridge really.

Mastodon could probably work just cos they've had a lot of media attention recently

[kev1664]

I would live alter bridge to play r&l. Also slash would be a treat. Stone sour would also be a good booking IMO. There are some bands that wouldn't cross over though, I just think the bookers of r&l can be unimaginative sometimes. Yet they also pull bookings off like dfa1979 which make you think they are very imaginative.

[RichieParf]

When Download lurch outside of their demographic its quite often a touch haphazard though - Feeder as headliners etc.

[LEMON_WOLF]

Feeder headlining was a long time ago, Download is much larger now and would never book a headliner of that size now. Also I think Stone Sour would be a great edition on the Foo Fighters day, 5/6th on main probably

[Hart Attack]

I find Download has a similar problem to an extent; you don't really see many bands there like Muse, Blink-182, Alkaline Trio, Panic At The Disco, Queens Of The Stone Age, Angels & Airwaves, New Found Glory, Placebo, Weezer and so on. They tend to dump a load of hard rock and metalcore onto the bill just like Reading does with indie, and it makes for a bit of a samey weekend at times.

I think both festivals should be more open to including different types of bands to those you usually see. While you don't want line-ups to be all over the place and unfocused, at the same time you don't want them to be aimed at too small a niche; I think diversity is necessary to continue drawing crowds and maintaining interest in both of them.

[kaosmark2]

I find Download has a similar problem to an extent; you don't really see many bands there like Muse, Blink-182, Alkaline Trio, Panic At The Disco, Queens Of The Stone Age, Angels & Airwaves, New Found Glory, Placebo, Weezer and so on. They tend to dump a load of hard rock and metalcore onto the bill just like Reading does with indie, and it makes for a bit of a samey weekend at times.

I think both festivals should be more open to including different types of bands to those you usually see. While you don't want line-ups to be all over the place and unfocused, at the same time you don't want them to be aimed at too small a niche; I think diversity is necessary to continue drawing crowds and maintaining interest in both of them.

[mrtourette]

So what would booking Metallica, Rage or slayer for Leeds be comparable to download booking? The prodigy? Chase & Status? Pendulem? Terrorvision? Biffy Clyro?

All festivals need to keep an open mind with bookings these days. The day Leeds stops booking at least some heavy bands is the day I stop attending. The audience for these bands at R+L is far bigger than you seem to be thinking.

[lightning1000]

I think it's different the other way round, it's easier for more specialist festivals to put mainstream acts on than it is for mainstream festivals to put less mainstream or specialist acts on. or rather they can do it but it's going to be more risky and therefore less likely to put them in similar slots to where they'd be at the specialist festivals and therefore it's a turn-off for the bands.

[Bobs]

I'm shocked Slash hasn't played yet tbh! This will be his 3rd summer in the UK doing his solo stuff, He's played Glasto, Tin The Park and Download now aswell as a few smaller festivals, his album is half decent, and with new stuff i thought they'd have tried to get him.

I quite liked Coheed and Cambria at Glasto in '10, so i'd like to see them back on.

[2rare2die]

When Download lurch outside of their demographic its quite often a touch haphazard though - Feeder as headliners etc.

[mrtourette]

It would be a turn off for some bands I agree. However most bands would see it as an opportunity to reach a new audience to create more fans and by this create more album sales or ticket sales to their own gig.

Look at frank turner playing v this year. You can't say he's an act that most people at v would know. I'd say more people that go Leeds would know who alterbridge are than people who go to v know who frank turner are.