Reading and Leeds Festivals
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festival is held at Little John's Farm on Richfield Avenue in central Reading, near Caversham Bridge. The Leeds event is held in Bramham Park, near Wetherby, the grounds of a historic house. Headliners and most supporting acts typically play at both sites, with Reading's Friday line up becoming Leeds' Saturday line-up, Reading's Saturday line-up playing at Leeds on Sunday, and Leeds' Friday line-up attending Reading on Sunday. Campsites are available at both sites and weekend tickets include camping. Day tickets are also sold.
"Leeds Festival" redirects here. For the 1858–1985 festivals, see Leeds Festival (classical music).Reading and Leeds Festivals
The Reading Festival, the older of the two festivals, is the longest-running popular music festival in the UK.[2] Many of the biggest bands in the UK and internationally have played at the festival over five decades. The festival has had various musical phases over the years, but since the current two-site format was adopted in 1999, rock, alternative, indie, punk, and metal have been the main genres featured in the line-up. More recently hip hop has comprised an increasing proportion of the lineup, including headline sets by artists such as Kendrick Lamar and Post Malone.
The festivals are run by Festival Republic, which was divested from Mean Fiddler Music Group.[3] From 1998 to 2007, the festivals were known as the Carling Weekend: Reading and the Carling Weekend: Leeds for promotional purposes. In November 2007, the sponsored title was abolished after nine years and the Reading Festival reclaimed its original name.[4]
In 2011, the capacity of the Reading site was 87,000,[5] and the Leeds site was 75,000,[6] an increase of several thousand on previous years.[7]
Main Stage – major rock, indie, metal and alternative acts.
Dance tent – dance music acts, previously sharing a day with the Lock Up stage, now a stand-alone 3-day stage.
Lock Up Stage (also known as Pit Stage) – underground punk and hardcore acts. Due to demand, from 2006 this stage took up two days rather than previous years where it was only one day.
[28]
stage – acts with less popular appeal and breakthrough acts.
Festival Republic
1Xtra Stage – new stage for 2013 that stages Hip-Hop, RnB and Rap artists.
Stage – Typically unsigned/not well known acts. (Formerly known as the Topman Unsigned Stage at the Leeds site).
BBC Introducing
2023: , Foals, The Killers, The 1975 (replacing Lewis Capaldi), Billie Eilish, Imagine Dragons[34]
Sam Fender
2022: , Megan Thee Stallion, Arctic Monkeys, Bring Me the Horizon, The 1975 (replacing Rage Against the Machine), Halsey[35]
Dave
2021: , Biffy Clyro (replacing Queens of the Stone Age), Stormzy, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Post Malone, Disclosure[31]
Liam Gallagher
2016: /Disclosure (Co-headline), Red Hot Chili Peppers, Biffy Clyro/Fall Out Boy (Co-headline)[40]
Foals
1985: No festival held
Punk band , featuring ex-Damned guitarist Brian James, were booked on an otherwise 100% heavy metal line-up on the Friday of the 1980 Festival and left the stage in less than a minute following an assault of cans, bottles and pork pies. "I Canned The Hellions at Reading" T-shirts were on sale at souvenir stands within the hour.[51]
The Hellions
In 1983, reggae act left within moments of arriving on stage under an avalanche of missiles launched by punks and rockers waiting to see The Stranglers.
Steel Pulse
and the No Brakes Band quit the stage on the Saturday of the 1986 festival when their drummer was hit in the head by a 12" vinyl disc.
John Waite
In 1988, completed her set despite being pelted with bottles and turf. The same day's headliner Meat Loaf left 20 minutes into his set after being hit by a full two-litre cider bottle. After an initially positive reception Meat Loaf angered the audience by berating them for their treatment of his friend Bonnie Tyler earlier in the day, then stormed off stage when met with a volley of burgers and bottles. He eventually returned shouting "Do you wanna rock 'n' roll or do you wanna throw stuff?" Ten seconds later the cider bottle struck him in the face, at which point he left the stage permanently.
Bonnie Tyler
In 2000, were scheduled on the main stage for a short two song set and were bottled throughout.[52]
Daphne and Celeste
In 2003, stopped their set 20 minutes short and encouraged the crowd to throw bottles all at the same time after a count of three after being pelted by bottles throughout their set.[53]
Good Charlotte
In 2004, was pelted with bottles, mud and an inflatable paddling pool during his set.[54] 50 Cent was on stage for just under 20 minutes before throwing his microphone into the crowd in anger. The Rasmus were also bottled off after one song.[55]
50 Cent
In 2006 at Reading, lead singer Brendon Urie was struck in the face with a plastic bottle and fell unconscious, forcing the rest of the band to stop mid-song as he lay on the floor. Urie received medical treatment from his road crew for several minutes before regaining consciousness, and the band subsequently continued the song from the point at which it was interrupted.[56] The same year, My Chemical Romance were heckled by a small group of angry audience members. Lead singer Gerard Way encouraged the crowd to throw bottles at them instead, and the band were pelted with golf balls and bottles of urine, among other items.[57]
Panic! at the Disco
In 2008, a crowd of approximately 3,000 people attended the "BBC Introducing" Stage at Reading to see unsigned band 'The FF'ers' following rumours that it would actually be a secret gig, and the band were subjected to a large amount of abuse from the audience, including several bottles launched at the band.[58]
Foo Fighters
In 2016, of Twenty One Pilots was attacked and robbed as he attempted to crowd-surf in the Radio One Tent. Reacting unfavourably to his behaviour, the hostile audience threw him to the ground, ripped off various items of his clothing and stole his ski-mask. Joseph was eventually rescued by security guards, who carried him to an elevated platform where he announced that the band's set was over.[59]
Tyler Joseph
Bottling acts off stage (being forced off stage by a barrage of audience-thrown bottles and cans) is a frequent occurrence at the festival.[49] During the 1970s and 1980s, there were often mass-participation can and bottle fights, and unpopular bands have been bottled offstage throughout the festival's history since the first large-scale "cannings" of 1973 and 1974.[50] Examples include:
List of historic rock festivals
Love Not Riots
Reading and Leeds Festivals line-ups
List of music festivals in the United Kingdom
Carroll, Ian (2007). . Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. ISBN 978-1-905287-43-7.