Well, I did it. I finally went to Reading Festival, the beloved, ever so hyped festival in the UK. I have wanted to go since I was a young teen and finally, got that moment thanks to my career. I met The Last Dinner Party (my favourite band) and interviewed musicians on the NME couch! My experience, I'm aware, was very different to the every day camper. The camping life, frankly, is not for me, as much as I know it's part of the experience. Which leads me to what I actually did experience outside of the luxury press and guest area...
Loads and loads and LOADS of teenagers. Like way more teenagers than people my own age. I'm twenty-one and I felt old. The structure of the festival itself was... confusing. Great food, great fun, and accessibility, of course. But it was TINY and for the small space it was in, it had several stages which you could hear from any other stage in the area. In all honesty, I couldn't understand anything about the hype apart from one thing.
Ah, music. Sweet, sweet music. Yeah I know, it's a music festival, but you'd be surprised - most people I saw were there for the drugs and fucking, for lack of any other way to put it. But as always, music saved the entire weekend. Yonaka, whom I'm actually working with, were amazing with an electric stage presence. The Killers had an awful set list but still performed magically well. Wet Leg were a crowd pleaser and Foals were atmospheric. But my favourite, and the best set list (of all the ones I were able to see from Friday to Saturday), was the 1975. My god, what a beautifully fantastical performance - better than when I saw them live many years ago. The random people I met in the crowds, the smell of vape and chips... I understand now the integrity of the entire experience. Undoubtedly, without the music, this would be the most useless experience of anyones lifetime - it may as well be a playground in a secondary school. But the festival for what it is on paper, performed and arguably exceeded my expectations.
Do I recommend going? Yes, if you're not camping and you have artists you want to see there and you're not alone. Being there with my colleagues made it so much more fun and otherwise I wouldn't have felt as safe as I did; equally, people left early Sunday to avoid the tent-on-fire tradition young teenage boys like to abide by. And, there's a cheap hotel round the corner which will save you from a percentage of the aches and pains (which you'll still get, just not as bad). Friday didn't have many artists I wanted to see so it wasn't as good as Saturday for me; so if you're not into a bit of indie, rock, or hardcore garage DJ sets, it's probably not going to be your cup of tea (and that's totally okay).
I'm going to hand you over to the lovely Angel who has been working for me this month on a brief historical background on where the Reading and Leeds festival came from.
Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of festivals annually taking place on the Saturday, Sunday, and Monday of each August Bank Holiday. Held at Little John’s Farm, and Bramham Park, in Reading and Leeds, respectively, headliners and supporting acts typically play at both sites, alternating lineups between each festival day.
Initially beginning as the National Jazz Festival in 1961, Reading Festival is the older of the two and is actually one of the oldest live music festivals still active today. The two-site format was adopted in 1999, and since then the. festivals have grown exponentially, with festival goers coming from far and wide for the experience.
Traversing a multitude of genres, both festivals have seen success in their attempts to cater to a diverse range of listeners, with notably Hip-hop making a significant contribution to the atmosphere of the festival in recent years.
Written by Mia Caven and Angel Oseghale
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