Memories of Reading Festival

The Reading festival is one of the oldest and most popular music festivals which are still alive and thriving. This annual music festival takes place in Reading during the August bank holiday weekend and feature a variety of genres of music with rock, alternative, indie, punk and metal having a tendency to dominate the entire festival.

The 1970s contained some great memories of change with the line-up of the festival’s acts inclining towards the pattern of progressive rock, heavy metal and the blues. In 1978, the festival did have a brief affair with punk rock as well when bands such as The Jam, Penetration and Sham 69 played. The clashes between fans of traditional rock acts and those of new punk bands would be quite unforgettable.

A decade later, Reading fans were caught off guard when Starship, Bonnie Tyler, Squeeze and Meat Loaf played and were later bottled off stage. Fans certainly weren’t pleased in 1988 when the festival organizers tried to take the festival in a mainstream commercial pop direction.

1991 was a fantastic year for rock fans as the Reading festival started to pick up after the slump of the late 80s. Reading was the location of one of the two maiden performances of Nirvana. It was also the year of entrance for the first Britpop bands such as Suede and Blur.

The year 1992 was one of the most infamous years in the history of the Reading Festival. Nirvana played their ever-famous and last UK concert in this year. Kurt Cobain appeared on stage in a wheelchair as a mocking reply to the rumors about his mental condition. However, he later continued with a variety of old and new numbers. During the show, Cobain told the crowd about the recent birth of his daughter and soon the crowd was chanting “Courtney, we love you!” in unison; a truly memorable year!

The Stone Roses played for the final time at the festival in 1996 and 1998 saw the infamous clash between The Beastie Boys and The Prodigy regarding the song “Smack my Bitch Up.”

The Reading Festival last year gave up some unexpected disappointments. Slipknot pulled out of the festival because of Joey Jordison’s broken ankle. Avenged Sevenfold pulled out of Reading irrespective of the signing event which fans were greatly looking forward to. Unexpectedly The Pigeon Detectives played on the BBC Introducing Stage on the first night!

The event of forcing bands off stage with a barrage of plastic bottles and cans thrown by the audience has been a famous tradition in Reading. Although it has somewhat subsided since the 1970s and 1980s, Steel Pulse probably suffered from the worst of this tradition in 1983. The reggae act disappeared off stage within moments of their appearance! However, in 1988 Bonnie Tyler finished her entire set despite the rain of bottles, litter and turf which came at her. Shockingly 50 Cent was pelted with bottles too in 2004, after which he threw the microphone into the crowd and went off stage.

It’s not only incidents which make it to the newspapers that are the most memorable; attending the festival is a fantastic memory in itself!

A Brief Introduction to the Reading Festival

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.

This music festival which has a global following has gone through a variety of music phases with different genres dominating the festivals. However, the festival typically provides the stages given below:

·         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.