The Reading Festival is one of the world’s oldest and most popular music festivals which have survived the tests of time. The festival gathers its name from the location of the gala that is Reading in the United Kingdom. The hosts of the festival are the Festival Republic. The festival usually makes it appearance during the August bank holiday weekend of Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
· NME/Radio 1 stage – Acts which are not so well known but are trying to make the headlines are staged here.
· Main stage – Rock and indie can be seen at its best; other alternative acts may take place.
· Alternative tent – DJs are accompanied by comedy and interesting cabaret acts.
· Festival Republic stage – Those acts with less appeal can be seen here along with others which are trying to breakthrough.
· Radio 1 Lock Up Stage – This stage has taken up two days of recent times, due to high demand. If you love underground punk and hardcore acts, this is the right place for you!
· Dance Tent – Dance music acts take place here on days when the above stage is not in action.
· BBC Introducing Stage – Unsigned impromptu acts take place here.
The Reading site can hold up to eighty thousand people at a time. The music flows from the festival which is held at Little John’s Farm on Richfield Avenue. The location is right at the centre of Reading in the vicinity of the Caversham Bridge. Both day tickets and weekend tickets are available. Since campsites are available, the weekend tickets include camping absolutely free of charge!
The 1970s saw the festival take a pattern of blues, heavy metal and progressive rock. On the other hand, punk rock made an appearance at the festival when Sham 69, Penetration and The Jam played. Since the festival tried to balance new punk bands and traditional rock acts, the attempt was unsuccessful as clashes broke out between the two sets of followers. Eventually the focus shifted back to rock and heavy metal acts.
In the mid 1980s, the festival was banned by the Conservative Party-led council. The site was reclaimed for ‘development’ and grant licenses were refused for alternative locations for the festival within the Reading Area. However once the Labor had taken over the council in 1986, permission was granted for the festival to take place in the fields next to the original site. The following year saw broken attendance record at what has always been thought of as the last of the “classic” rock years. Prime highlight acts of the year were Alice Cooper, The Mission and Status Quo.
Although there was a slight slump in 1988 when an attempt was made to get the festival going in the direction of mainstream commercial pop, the festival’s future brightened up from 1992. The festival has broadened its musical policy ever since and now enjoys a healthy and growing attendance.
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