2021 Lineup

[VCK]

13 minutes ago, Andre91 said:

It doesn’t help the wider perception of rock and metal music when the UK’s biggest festival of that kind is stuck in the past, booking the same bands in the biggest positions year on year and stubbornly refusing to put faith in the younger, exciting bands who are the future. Sky Arts coverage of Download is dire year on year and if any young person who is into festivals was to flick it on on the off chance they wanted to see what Download as a festival was like, they would be greeted with the same old shit and think that nothing worth getting excited about has happened in the worlds of rock and metal for decades. 

All correct. I loved going to Download in 2019, a friendly festival with a great atmosphere, but their problem is that they rarely take risks. I think the only times they've took gambles on an unconventional headliner by their standards were Feeder in 2005 and The Prodigy in 2012, so, years ago. They should be looking at what R&L is becoming and planning to overtake it as the UK's premier rock festival rather than just appealing to a very particular niche demographic of guitar music fans.

Likewise, TRNSMT could become the number one rock festival if they just branched out from Radio X Indie type stuff. Both festivals need to think outside the box a little. R&Ls move away from rock has blown the market wide open.

Edited September 7, 2021 by VCK

[rivalschools.price]

1 hour ago, VCK said:

It's no co-incidence that R&L started moving more towards pop music after 2017, when V Festival was cancelled. The festival is simply filling the void in that particular market.

R&L has always booked genres that are popular among the youth. The problem is that despite the amount of great rock bands to have come out the past five years or so, the music press does very little to promote them. They've been pushing this idea that rock is old, stale, boring and archaic. When there is quite clearly a market for rock music among young people. The occasional band that gets promoted, like Royal Blood and IDLES, seem to excite younger people.

The strange part is that R/L was always more successful than V festival.

Why would they aim to be more like the least successful of the festivals?

[foolee]

33 minutes ago, rivalschools.price said:

The strange part is that R/L was always more successful than V festival.

Why would they aim to be more like the least successful of the festivals?

This is what I don’t understand, when V and T started going more pop is was the start of their downfall as pop music doesn’t have much loyalty but I suppose R&L doesn’t need loyalty if it’s sim is a school/college leavers because there is always a new audience. 

[Hugh Jass]

12 hours ago, foolee said:

This is what I don’t understand, when V and T started going more pop is was the start of their downfall as pop music doesn’t have much loyalty but I suppose R&L doesn’t need loyalty if it’s sim is a school/college leavers because there is always a new audience. 

Exactly, Reading isn't a "rock" festival anymore, certainly not in way those of us over the age of 30 remember. It's positioned itself as something for the "yoof" and as such its lineups will reflect what's popular amongst the kids right now, which at the moment is pop stars and rap singers.

[jump]

The difference between V and R&L is that V would book any pop chart shit like Pink and Little Mix thinking it's what the kids like, R&L is booking the pop shit the kids actually like.

[Andre91]

3 hours ago, jump said:

The difference between V and R&L is that V would book any pop chart shit like Pink and Little Mix thinking it's what the kids like, R&L is booking the pop shit the kids actually like.

Have you just called Pink shit? 

[jump]

4 minutes ago, Andre91 said:

Have you just called Pink shit? 

Was she one of the Spice Girls?

[devilman]

T failed because they thought that getting rid of an eclectic mix and aiming purely at the popular music would bring in more people. It did and they stayed in the campsite till their favourite band was on, getting wasted and fighting. They spent nothing on bars and merch and the bad press from the campsite shenanigans and drug deaths meant that parents stopped tehir kids from going. The older crowd had moved on and wren't interested in coming back. TRNSMT started with a promise of not being like that but is kinda heading that way although the no camping thing and drug searches have kept the negative press away for now. R/L will head the same way on its current trajectory. 

[VCK]

4 hours ago, jump said:

The difference between V and R&L is that V would book any pop chart shit like Pink and Little Mix thinking it's what the kids like, R&L is booking the pop shit the kids actually like.

Kids do like them, they just don't quite have the "cool and artistic" credibility the music press has assigned to the sort of pop acts R&L book.

[TKOCF]

42 minutes ago, VCK said:

Kids do like them, they just don't quite have the "cool and artistic" credibility the music press has assigned to the sort of pop acts R&L book.

After watching Mabel and Becky Hill, I’m convinced Little Mix would go down a storm. 
 

So would Dua tbf but she’s a lot more revered by the music press. 

[Andre91]

If you’re gonna go big, go big: GET ME LADY GAGA HEADLINING THE MAIN STAGE. 

[Benj]

1 hour ago, TKOCF said:

After watching Mabel and Becky Hill, I’m convinced Little Mix would go down a storm. 
 

So would Dua tbf but she’s a lot more revered by the music press. 

Mabel was utterly fucking shit from the 10 mins I saw. 
 

average singing bit of a dance, then a forced, oh look I’m having so much fun smile, before some more average singing and a bit of a dance. 
 

repeat x 10 over the 10 minutes

[Benj]

2 hours ago, VCK said:

Kids do like them, they just don't quite have the "cool and artistic" credibility the music press has assigned to the sort of pop acts R&L book.

Exactly this. Reading has stayed ‘cool’

[Andre91]

58 minutes ago, Benj said:

Mabel was utterly fucking shit from the 10 mins I saw. 
 

average singing bit of a dance, then a forced, oh look I’m having so much fun smile, before some more average singing and a bit of a dance. 
 

repeat x 10 over the 10 minutes

I didn’t see Mabel but I’ve seen videos of her performances before.
 

I did see Becky Hill and, fair play to her, she was excellent. Full backing band and singers, she seemed so, so genuine on stage too and was almost moved to tears by the crowd.

 

More stuff like that and less stuff like Mabel.  

[andyrhodes24]

22 hours ago, Hugh Jass said:

Exactly, Reading isn't a "rock" festival anymore, certainly not in way those of us over the age of 30 remember. It's positioned itself as something for the "yoof" and as such its lineups will reflect what's popular amongst the kids right now, which at the moment is pop stars and rap singers.

Melvin's right in that R&L has got to keep up with what's popular but institutions like R&L are responsible for dictating what's popular. Take rock music off the lineup and it has a direct impact, flood the lineup with chart music and you're fuelling the fire. The best we can hope for a is a rock day tailored to day ticket holders like the Foos day in 2019, what a day that was.

In any interview you read Melvin continues to peddle the line that it's a festival for the kids and school leavers which, to be fair, have made up a large proportion of ticket holders for years. However, I don't believe for one minute that 2005-era school leavers were listening religiously to the likes of Pixies and Pearl Jam as two of the headliners.

[Benj]

3 hours ago, andyrhodes24 said:

Melvin's right in that R&L has got to keep up with what's popular but institutions like R&L are responsible for dictating what's popular. Take rock music off the lineup and it has a direct impact, flood the lineup with chart music and you're fuelling the fire. The best we can hope for a is a rock day tailored to day ticket holders like the Foos day in 2019, what a day that was.

In any interview you read Melvin continues to peddle the line that it's a festival for the kids and school leavers which, to be fair, have made up a large proportion of ticket holders for years. However, I don't believe for one minute that 2005-era school leavers were listening religiously to the likes of Pixies and Pearl Jam as two of the headliners.

I remember when they bought in the 1extra stage, loads were like - 'who listens to that'

5-6 years later...

Once we have a 3 day pit back we'll know things are on the turn.

Traditionally things have been cyclical music wise, things may have changed with streaming but you'd assume kids in 5-6 years time wont want to be listening to the stuff being made now. We'll see what replaces it then

[andyrhodes24]

54 minutes ago, Benj said:

I remember when they bought in the 1extra stage, loads were like - 'who listens to that'

5-6 years later...

Once we have a 3 day pit back we'll know things are on the turn.

Traditionally things have been cyclical music wise, things may have changed with streaming but you'd assume kids in 5-6 years time wont want to be listening to the stuff being made now. We'll see what replaces it then

Still hoping the Pit/FR mashup was due to Covid but I think I'm in denial there. 

If it wasn't bad enough losing a day of the Pit, losing two days of the FR was arguably worse overall. So many of the main stage bands this year like Catfish and the Bottlemen, The Wombats, Wolf Alice, Tom Grennan, Sports Team, Easy Life, Sea Girls, The Snuts to name a few have all come through the FR. The Pit might not be so relevant right now but the FR is essential. I kn0w Stormzy came through the 1xtra but the humble guitar is completely outnumbered now and it's sad to see

[TKOCF]

4 hours ago, Benj said:

I remember when they bought in the 1extra stage, loads were like - 'who listens to that'

5-6 years later...

Once we have a 3 day pit back we'll know things are on the turn.

Traditionally things have been cyclical music wise, things may have changed with streaming but you'd assume kids in 5-6 years time wont want to be listening to the stuff being made now. We'll see what replaces it then

Honestly the rise of pop punk with acts like MGK, Olivia Rodrigo, Yungblud and Kenny Hoopla making big songs, would not surprise me to see a second pop punk explosion and rock coming back into the forefront.

[Andre91]

18 minutes ago, TKOCF said:

Honestly the rise of pop punk with acts like MGK, Olivia Rodrigo, Yungblud and Kenny Hoopla making big songs, would not surprise me to see a second pop punk explosion and rock coming back into the forefront.

#Paramore2022

[thewayiam]

25 minutes ago, TKOCF said:

Honestly the rise of pop punk with acts like MGK, Olivia Rodrigo, Yungblud and Kenny Hoopla making big songs, would not surprise me to see a second pop punk explosion and rock coming back into the forefront.

I've not listened to Kenny but the other four aren't punk.

[jump]

10 minutes ago, thewayiam said:

I've not listened to Kenny but the other four aren't punk.

it's quite sad that punk as a scene was meant to be less of a precise genre style and more of an attitude and spirit of those artists.

There is lots of non-punk music that fits with being punk but really who gives a shit if it's not this perfect image of pop punk middle aged men singing about how hard it is to be a teenager like Sum 41 or mohawked nonsense like The Sex Pistols as it seems anti-punk for it all to be so cookie cutter shaped as each other.

[thetime]

On 9/6/2021 at 10:05 AM, FloorFiller said:

Not sure if it was already debunked but looks like the rumours of Catfish breaking up aren’t true, or at least not yet anyway:

 

nearly a hundred quid a ticket. 😬

On a side note, thought catfish were brilliant at reading.

Edited September 9, 2021 by thetime

[Andre91]

15 minutes ago, thewayiam said:

I've not listened to Kenny but the other four aren't punk.

You conveniently left out the pop part. 
 

Punk is an approach. Lots of grime and drill is punk af in its approach. 
 

 

[Benj]

3 hours ago, thetime said:

On a side note, thought catfish were brilliant at reading.

I thought they were good too. A constant decent racket, you don’t always need some wit and repartee to go with your music, or endless pandering to how great the crowd is. Just got with it. 

Only shit thing was their screens.

[foolee]

14 hours ago, TKOCF said:

Honestly the rise of pop punk with acts like MGK, Olivia Rodrigo, Yungblud and Kenny Hoopla making big songs, would not surprise me to see a second pop punk explosion and rock coming back into the forefront.

 

13 hours ago, thewayiam said:

I've not listened to Kenny but the other four aren't punk.

 

13 hours ago, jump said:

it's quite sad that punk as a scene was meant to be less of a precise genre style and more of an attitude and spirit of those artists.

There is lots of non-punk music that fits with being punk but really who gives a shit if it's not this perfect image of pop punk middle aged men singing about how hard it is to be a teenager like Sum 41 or mohawked nonsense like The Sex Pistols as it seems anti-punk for it all to be so cookie cutter shaped as each other.

 

13 hours ago, Andre91 said:

You conveniently left out the pop part. 
 

Punk is an approach. Lots of grime and drill is punk af in its approach. 
 

 

What jump and Andre have stated. If you listen to these artists and see the attitude they have they all actually are very punk. Punk is a attitude and to say someone isn’t punk is the most unpunk thing. Bob Vylan also another rising punk artist that I can see doing well.