2023 Festival

[Paul ™]

1 hour ago, Benj said:

No, there is no entrance to the site on that side these days. Don’t think there has been for 15 odd years

Technically there is, the coach drop off in Loverock Road come in via Orange Gate, but that's Wed/Thur for coach customers only.

[wro_lap]

20 hours ago, jonnyisRFC said:

Frank Turner only has a 30 min main stage slot. Wouldn’t be surprised to see him do a set in that 70 minute gap between Jesse Jo Stark and Games We Play on the FR stage. 

Could see that happening at Reading. He loves the festival and hasn't played in a while. Sadly has another show on the evening of the Leeds day

[Benj]

55 minutes ago, Paul ™ said:

Technically there is, the coach drop off in Loverock Road come in via Orange Gate, but that's Wed/Thur for coach customers only.

Hmmm Almost makes it a really good reason to take the coach. 

We used to always park over there on the good ol days

[Andre91]

2 hours ago, Dukey said:

Manchester is the Thursday before now though 👀 

Yeah but I’m away and can’t make it so NOBODY SHOULD BE SEEING THEM. 

[captainricebox]

15 hours ago, nathanh said:

Hi guys, my friends are staying in eco white this year, can you let me know is it accessible from the other side of the river if they get the train into tilehurst instead of walking from Reading station?

No, the only way into the site from the south is via the red or green entrances. To get to white you either need to walk down that posh road in caversham, or enter way out to the north and drive down the roads. You can technically walk from red or green to white, but only through the campsite.

 

There used to be an entrance into Orange campsite until 2013, but that's a long time ago.

 

I guess in short, that temporary bridge is in the site and you can't get to it from the tilehurst end .

[Jack.194]

Where are the secret set slots for Leeds?

[andyrhodes24]

4 hours ago, Jack.194 said:

Where are the secret set slots for Leeds?

One less than Reading as usual, and the BBC Introducing will likely close at about 19:30

[ArmitageRed]

Does anyone know which gate you drive into or how you get to the East Car Park at Leeds? Can never seem to find it and then we randomly found it 2 years ago but no idea how we did… 

[gfa]

On 8/18/2023 at 2:57 PM, Benj said:

🤔

So they’ve reduced camping capacity AND still not sold it out

Worse that’s thought then

Also…they’ve not managed to sell out a single day, or indeed a single ticket category, including early birds

I wonder how bad sales actually are!

If they've moved more tickets to day tickets vs weekends then it would be slower to sell days out tho

Do you reckon they make more off 3 day tickets (+associated spending) or 1 weekend ticket - surely 3 day tickets right? probably by a considerable amount too i reckon

On 8/18/2023 at 4:25 PM, VCK said:

Makes me wonder if the festival will still be around in 5-10 years time, or at least in the incarnation as we know it.

What happens when you shed your roots in favour of TikTok trends and just book a bunch of pop acts.

see below

On 8/18/2023 at 4:40 PM, jonnyisRFC said:

This. Wouldn’t be surprised to see them scrap Leeds in the next couple of years. 

Its had one bad year - bit early to say Leeds is on the chopping block 😂

They've just had 2 record years, the momentum could clearly not be kept up but they will re-evaluate and sort it out if its really that bad. Festivals do not have to sell out to make ££, just look at APE!

[Benj]

5 minutes ago, gfa said:

If they've moved more tickets to day tickets vs weekends then it would be slower to sell days out tho

Yes, given that they’ve not sold out LESS camping tickets and traditionally they sell out well before day tickets, I think it’s safe to assume day tickets have not sold well either…

The talk of death is massively exaggerated, they’ll need try a different approach though.  

With the campsite issues, they can’t rely on a load of teenagers to sell out the festival whatever.  

They’ll need to adjust the format/ lineup to be more attractive to the more discerning demographics too. TikTok memes to not a good music festival make

Edited August 20, 2023 by Benj

[gfa]

2 minutes ago, Benj said:

Yes, given that they’ve not sold out LESS camping tickets and traditionally they sell out well before day tickets, I think it’s safe to assume day tickets have not sold well either…

Not sure - that other guy who clearly knows whats up said its better than you think.

Killers is definitely going to suffer from the train strikes - hoping to try and pick up a proper cheapie and get down potentially.

[andyrhodes24]

32 minutes ago, ArmitageRed said:

Does anyone know which gate you drive into or how you get to the East Car Park at Leeds? Can never seem to find it and then we randomly found it 2 years ago but no idea how we did… 

It’s this but by all accounts you can just come off at the A64 if you’re coming from the south as well

[Benj]

1 hour ago, gfa said:

Not sure - that other guy who clearly knows whats up said its better than you think.

Killers is definitely going to suffer from the train strikes - hoping to try and pick up a proper cheapie and get down potentially.

I’m sure that’s the word they’re putting out and he didn’t clarify what we thought. It could still be  a long way from sold out

The fact that camping capacity has been reduced, it’s still not sold out and it’s the fact they’re having to put out the word “it’s not that bad” suggests it’s very much worse than they at least hoped.

It will be interesting to get reports on the ground from Friday as to how busy the arena seems compared to normal

Edited August 20, 2023 by Benj

[andyrhodes24]

1 hour ago, Benj said:

I’m sure that’s the word they’re putting out and he didn’t clarify what we thought. It could still be  a long way from sold out

The fact that camping capacity has been reduced, it’s still not sold out and it’s the fact they’re having to put out the word “it’s not that bad” suggests it’s very much worse than they at least hoped.

It will be interesting to get reports on the ground from Friday as to how busy the arena seems compared to normal

At Leeds the map is the same as it was in 2019 and 2021. I believe it was smaller in 2018 and bigger in 2022. Still felt busy in the arena every time, especially since they introduced MSW 

[Benj]

11 minutes ago, andyrhodes24 said:

At Leeds the map is the same as it was in 2019 and 2021. I believe it was smaller in 2018 and bigger in 2022. Still felt busy in the arena every time, especially since they introduced MSW 

It will be interesting to see if you notice any differences this year

It’s been the other way round at Reading since the format change. It has felt half empty at most times the last couple of years (bar the MSE headliners) 

[ArmitageRed]

2 hours ago, andyrhodes24 said:

It’s this but by all accounts you can just come off at the A64 if you’re coming from the south as well

Thank you mate!

[wro_lap]

Just picked up a weekend ticket for £155. I’ve spent more on tickets for the artists I want to see on the Sam Fender day alone in the last couple of years. Pretty pleased with that

[Andre91]

44 minutes ago, wro_lap said:

Just picked up a weekend ticket for £155. I’ve spent more on tickets for the artists I want to see on the Sam Fender day alone in the last couple of years. Pretty pleased with that

That’s an amazing price.

[andyrhodes24]

1 hour ago, Benj said:

It will be interesting to see if you notice any differences this year

It’s been the other way round at Reading since the format change. It has felt half empty at most times the last couple of years (bar the MSE headliners) 

Only times when I’ve thought it’s been dead have been anytime I’ve been in the FR tent and by the introducing stage, other than that it’s been normal from what I’ve seen. I did think there was loads of space in the front pit at BMTH last year though, they didn’t close that at any point

[charlierc]

4 hours ago, gfa said:

Its had one bad year - bit early to say Leeds is on the chopping block 😂

They've just had 2 record years, the momentum could clearly not be kept up but they will re-evaluate and sort it out if its really that bad. Festivals do not have to sell out to make ££, just look at APE!

Maybe if we have 5 years or so in a row like this, we'll be having that discussion. Doing so on the back of one year does feel like a stretch.

[dhtjmnd12]

Quick thought - boygenius for a secret set, or Phoebe Bridgers guest appearance for 1975? Have a gap on the Saturday before Connect in Edinburgh

[Tyler_Durden]

5 hours ago, ArmitageRed said:

Does anyone know which gate you drive into or how you get to the East Car Park at Leeds? Can never seem to find it and then we randomly found it 2 years ago but no idea how we did… 

Come off at A1 j44 onto paradise way and follow the blue arrows to get to east car park, problem is its not signposted the normal directions just try to direct you to the other car park but that's how we get to it every year, there's normally one guy in a hi viz sat in a chair but you can just drive straight past him, best car park if you looking to camp in brown or green, less of a trek!

[Crews1]

4 hours ago, andyrhodes24 said:

Only times when I’ve thought it’s been dead have been anytime I’ve been in the FR tent and by the introducing stage, other than that it’s been normal from what I’ve seen. I did think there was loads of space in the front pit at BMTH last year though, they didn’t close that at any point

Wouldn’t have guessed it being in the front, felt absolutely rammed up there.

[ArmitageRed]

13 hours ago, Tyler_Durden said:

That is class, thank you mate! :))

[gfa]

13 hours ago, dhtjmnd12 said:

Quick thought - boygenius for a secret set, or Phoebe Bridgers guest appearance for 1975? Have a gap on the Saturday before Connect in Edinburgh

Boygenius would be a pretty big secret set - cannot see it tbh

Their few dates are with  Live Nation already so i think they'd have been announced as a late addition if they were playing to flog some more tix