2021 Lineup

[gfa]

6 minutes ago, FestivalJamie said:

Haim and wolf Alice also are much stronger than catfish as headliners, I’ve said that before and I’ll say it again.

not for the target audience though,

they could do way better obviously but i'm not sure on the main stage a 50-50 split is possible for the headliners as theres only about 5 female headliners that could really do Reading and go down well with the audience (florence is probably a push at this point honestly as is paramore due to the lack of new music thats reached the mainstream) so for a 50-50 split the same headliners would be back every other year. Further down the lineup though a lot more could be done and this year is looking promising in that respect (although it definitely just looks like they announced most of the undercard for the sake of them being female)

edit: with 6 headliners paramore and florence would be fine but back to 3 im not so sure.

Edited September 2, 2020 by gfa

[Jericode]

2 minutes ago, FestivalJamie said:

It’s just one persons personal take on it, it’s not to say this is a good line up, it’s just to emphasise how many female musicians there are out there who could be booked.

Oh I'm agreeing, just saying for all they've put on there's still loads of other good names to put in the conversation.

Can easily put Paramore in headline contention or Hayley Williams further down the bill, and you could probably put Lorde on R1 stage with no issues.

[VCK]

Watching Nas' set from 2016 on iPlayer. I'm surprised the festival haven't done more to get classic hip-hop artists, because that was a brilliant booking.

[FestivalJamie]

Just now, gfa said:

not for the target audience though,

they could do way better obviously but i'm not sure on the main stage a 50-50 split is possible for the headliners as theres only about 5 female headliners that could really do Reading and go down well with the audience (florence is probably a push at this point honestly as is paramore due to the lack of new music thats reached the mainstream) so for a 50-50 split the same headliners would be back every other year. 

From my personal perspective, im not asking for 50/50 split, just looking for some female representation at headline/sub level. There hasn’t been a single female co-headline since 2014, and that to me speaks out in itself about a gender imbalance. Not saying it’s directly r&l’s fault, but it’s an issue which needs to addressed perhaps industry-wide, although Glastonbury always manages to get a much more diverse and balanced line up.

2 minutes ago, Jericode said:

Oh I'm agreeing, just saying for all they've put on there's still loads of other good names to put in the conversation.

Can easily put Paramore in headline contention or Hayley Williams further down the bill, and you could probably put Lorde on R1 stage with no issues.

For sure, paramore would definitely be up there as headliners. I also (personally) think lorde would be a perfect fit for reading, she’s so out there, unique and different and always puts on a great show, would have loved to see her on the line up this year.

[lighthouse]

49 minutes ago, Jericode said:

Marmozets > Big Moon > Wolf Alice > Florence is a decent run to be fair.

Charli XCX > Janelle Monae > Chvrches > Haim too. 

[CG31]

15 minutes ago, FestivalJamie said:

That’s not the point, the post isn’t saying “this should be the line up” it’s just pooling together potential female artists or bands with female members who could be booked.

It’s just showing how much variety and talent there is out there from women in the industry, yet year upon year a strong female demographic fails to get booked at a lot of festivals, R&L included.

Haim and wolf Alice also are much stronger than catfish as headliners, I’ve said that before and I’ll say it again.

And they’re both much more exciting live and haven’t reproduced the same song 33 times 

[VCK]

8 minutes ago, FestivalJamie said:

From my personal perspective, im not asking for 50/50 split, just looking for some female representation at headline/sub level. There hasn’t been a single female co-headline since 2014, and that to me speaks out in itself about a gender imbalance. Not saying it’s directly r&l’s fault, but it’s an issue which needs to addressed perhaps industry-wide, although Glastonbury always manages to get a much more diverse and balanced line up.

For sure, paramore would definitely be up there as headliners. I also (personally) think lorde would be a perfect fit for reading, she’s so out there, unique and different and always puts on a great show, would have loved to see her on the line up this year.

The thing is though, Reading and Leeds is a lot more niche music-wise than Glastonbury, which appeals to a more wide range of tastes, and there are some artists who have played Glastonbury who would just be out of the question for Reading and Leeds. Ed Sheeran, Miley Cyrus, George Ezra, Kylie Minogue, Chic, Katy Perry, ZZ Top, ELO, Adele being a few examples from recent years. So it's hard to draw a direct comparison.

I said before that it's clear as day R&L have been trying their best to address the perceived imbalance but maybe their hands have been tied in this instance. For all we know they could have tried to get a female headliner but for whatever reason it wasn't happening this year. Both Dua Lipa and Billie Eilish, the two names I've seen bandied about the most, went down incredibly well when they last played, they're huge names, and Festival Republic first and foremost is a business (not a symbol of "the patriarchy" or whatever), so I just can't realistically picture the organisers actively avoiding getting them back. As I've said I'd have liked Florence but it's been nearly a decade since she last played now so maybe, like a lot of artists, the organisers feel like she's "not really a Reading and Leeds act" any more. Or maybe they did try her but she turned it down for whatever reason.

I have a feeling Post Malone was brought in as a backup option. Maybe he's there because a female headliner turned it down?

Edited September 2, 2020 by VCK

[gfa]

9 minutes ago, FestivalJamie said:

From my personal perspective, im not asking for 50/50 split, just looking for some female representation at headline/sub level. There hasn’t been a single female co-headline since 2014, and that to me speaks out in itself about a gender imbalance. Not saying it’s directly r&l’s fault, but it’s an issue which needs to addressed perhaps industry-wide, although Glastonbury always manages to get a much more diverse and balanced line up.

Much more can be done but R&L has their work cut out vs Glastonbury which has a far more diverse, international, older and also larger audience with more main stages too. Its pretty hard to compare them i think in this aspect (none of glastonbury's recent female headliners since Florence in 2015 who got bumped up could do Reading and before that i got bored searching for a potential headliner). Only recently with Emily under control have glastonbury started pushing for 50-50 and i think it won't be too long before reading follow suit (although they get constant criticism every year and still no change so idk)

@VCK hit the nail on the head really

Edited September 2, 2020 by gfa

[lighthouse]

1 minute ago, VCK said:

I have a feeling Post Malone was brought in as a backup option. Maybe he's there because a female headliner turned it down?

Would the biggest name on the lineup be a backup option?

[CG31]

1 minute ago, lighthouse said:

Would the biggest name on the lineup be a backup option?

He may be the biggest name but he was there 3 festivals on the trot now. I can see them saying my if we can’t get x,y or z get Postie coz we know he’ll sell 

[FestivalJamie]

Just now, gfa said:

 (although they get constant criticism every year and still no change so idk)

But this is exactly it. When we had the 2019 announcement it was extremely unbalanced (albeit better than this one), myself and many others lobbied for change, prayed for change for the 2020 line up and then the gender split got worse!!

I then campaigned again along with many others, sent emails to the organisers etc trying to address the gender imbalance, of course they didn’t bother to respond to me.

With all the rumours about Billie and Dua being possible for this year I thought we might finally see some female representation at headline level. But nope, same again. 

The movement is stronger this time though, I’ve done a personal post on social media which almost has 2000 likes, others have done posts, we’ve got people going on bbc radio 1 Berkshire to discuss the gender imbalance at R&L every year. The push for female representation is most certainly stronger this year but is it enough to finally get through to R&L. I don’t think so!

As said above it looks like this first announcement has been loaded up with females on the undercard to avoid it looking male dominated, but it hasn’t worked. Take away the headliners and subs and you’re practically left with an empty poster, sure there’s 6 or so female names at the bottom but the poster looks bare. There are so many names R&L could have pushed this year which are female or have female representation but once again the campaign has fallen flat on its face.

[VCK]

5 minutes ago, lighthouse said:

Would the biggest name on the lineup be a backup option?

Maybe they ran out of options and just thought "fuck it, let's gamble on getting Post Malone again". I'm sure they took into consideration that he had only headlined just last year.

Edited September 2, 2020 by VCK

[FestivalJamie]

3 minutes ago, lighthouse said:

Would the biggest name on the lineup be a backup option?

Exactly. He is obviously what sold the tickets for 2019 so that’s where they spent their money. 

Its boring and unoriginal but clearly profits is their number one focus, especially in pandemic times. Although I’m not sure how well this line up is going to sell the tickets.

Im not going to go, I don’t like the line up and had there been a big female artist I would have felt more inclined to support the festival for pushing for gender equality. But the line up is pretty bland to me, the only people I like are catfish and I can just go and see them elsewhere.

[VCK]

You know who else is always under represented on the line-up? Australians.

Address this and get them in, Melvin.

[Jne15]

12 minutes ago, VCK said:

 

I have a feeling Post Malone was brought in as a backup option. Maybe he's there because a female headliner turned it down?

They tried to get Haim and Billie Eilish and couldn't.. so possibly that's why he's headlining again 

[CG31]

1 minute ago, FestivalJamie said:

But this is exactly it. When we had the 2019 announcement it was extremely unbalanced (albeit better than this one), myself and many others lobbied for change, prayed for change for the 2020 line up and then the gender split got worse!!

I then campaigned again along with many others, sent emails to the organisers etc trying to address the gender imbalance, of course they didn’t bother to respond to me.

With all the rumours about Billie and Dua being possible for this year I thought we might finally see some female representation at headline level. But nope, same again. 

The movement is stronger this time though, I’ve done a personal post on social media which almost has 2000 likes, others have done posts, we’ve got people going on bbc radio 1 Berkshire to discuss the gender imbalance at R&L every year. The push for female representation is most certainly stronger this year but is it enough to finally get through to R&L. I don’t think so!

As said above it looks like this first announcement has been loaded up with females on the undercard to avoid it looking male dominated, but it hasn’t worked. Take away the headliners and subs and you’re practically left with an empty poster, sure there’s 6 or so female names at the bottom but the poster looks bare. There are so many names R&L could have pushed this year which are female or have female representation but once again the campaign has fallen flat on its face.

I can’t imagine they’ve tried their complete hardest to book one of the 5 female headliners we’ve mentioned, they have 6 slots and not one female and that is the gaping thing. Looking at it so far and what predictions I’ve seen on here, 2 of the 18 top acts on the Main Stages will be female(Doja Cat and Mabel) and I’m sorry but that is not acceptable and no one can tell me they have tried their hardest to get some sort of balance between genders. Booking fucking Capaldi and AJ Tracey for what will be his, is it 5th festival in a row is fucking pathetic 

[FestivalJamie]

Just now, Jne15 said:

They tried to get Haim and Billie Eilish and couldn't.. so possibly that's why he's headlining again 

Evidence?

[VCK]

Just now, Jne15 said:

They tried to get Haim and Billie Eilish and couldn't.. so possibly that's why he's headlining again 

It's no less feasible of an idea than "it's because they hate women!"

[CG31]

2 minutes ago, Jne15 said:

They tried to get Haim and Billie Eilish and couldn't.. so possibly that's why he's headlining again 

And Dua Lipa plays golf does she?

[FestivalJamie]

Just now, Gerard the Fab said:

I can’t imagine they’ve tried their complete hardest to book one of the 5 female headliners we’ve mentioned, they have 6 slots and not one female and that is the gaping thing. Looking at it so far and what predictions I’ve seen on here, 2 of the 18 top acts on the Main Stages will be female(Doja Cat and Mabel) and I’m sorry but that is not acceptable and no one can tell me they have tried their hardest to get some sort of balance between genders. Booking fucking Capaldi and AJ Tracey for what will be his, is it 5th festival in a row is fucking pathetic 

It’s just laziness to be honest. I’m interested to see what happens when other festivals announce their line ups for this year and whether they manage to get female bookings or not; will give us a much better representation of who was available on the market.

But with such a vast pool of strong female artists who could have played at headline/sub level, it definitely feels like they haven’t tried their hardest to push for female representation as you say.

[FestivalJamie]

2 minutes ago, VCK said:

It's no less feasible of an idea than "it's because they hate women!"

No one is saying that they hate women. The problem is they aren’t actively lobbying for change the industry for the better.

There hasn’t been a female co-headline for 6 years, doesn’t that speak up to you in itself? Sziget is booking a female headliner every year!

 

[VCK]

Just now, Gerard the Fab said:

And Dua Lipa plays golf does she?

Or, she could be an exclusive elsewhere. Or she might not have much plans for next year. Or she turned it down for another reason.

 

[theesundayroast]

7 minutes ago, VCK said:

You know who else is always under represented on the line-up? Australians.

Address this and get them in, Melvin.

Get Hockey Dad and Dune Rats on there as well

[VCK]

6 minutes ago, FestivalJamie said:

No one is saying that they hate women. The problem is they aren’t actively lobbying for change the industry for the better.

There hasn’t been a female co-headline for 6 years, doesn’t that speak up to you in itself? Sziget is booking a female headliner every year!

 

Sziget, like Glastonbury, is less niche than Reading and Leeds is. In my post above I've said that at least R&L have been trying in recent years. Does the balance in the industry not overall even itself out over festivals as a whole anyway?

Either way though, if female representation is something you genuinely feel strongly about and it's a determining factor of what makes a festival line-up good in your eyes, there are plenty of festivals where you can get your fill of female acts. Vote with your feet.

Edited September 2, 2020 by VCK

[VCK]

3 minutes ago, theesundayroast said:

Get Hockey Dad and Dune Rats on there as well

King Gizzard