Reading and Leeds festival 2015: what to expect

This year’s Reading and Leeds festival boasts an impressive line up featuring Mumford & Sons, Metallica, The Libertines and Alt-J. The simultaneously running festivals will kick off at the end of the month on August 28th-30th and will attract over 170,000 music fans over the weekend.

The prestigious festival is one of the few to host the same line up at both ends of the country, with the two sites at Bramham Park outside Leeds and Richfield Avenue in Reading. The festival has collected an impressive array of awards including the NME Award for Best Festival in 2013.

 

Historically a rock festival, the event held at Reading in particular has brought us countless iconic rock music moments over the decades from Kurt Cobain‘s wheelchair bound entrance of 1992 to Rage Against The Machine‘s Guantanamo prison suit clad performance in 2008. However, the festivals pride themselves on their musical diversity and their ability to create a festival any music fan can appreciate. This has been apparent in the evolution of its line up over the years, adding more and more hip-hop and rap artists.  They strive to create a festival with something for everyone, so whether you want to sing along to stadium rock on the main stage or rave away in the dance tent, Reading and Leeds will deliver constant entertainment.

Run by Festival Republic, the festivals have a range of stages each showcasing their own style of performers from some of the biggest names in rock playing the MainStage contrasted by dance tents blasting out music until 7am.

plasticmag got a chance to catch up with head of Festival Republic and festival organising veteran Melvin Benn to find out what we can expect from this year’s festivals. ‘Frank Turner will be playing this years Leeds and Reading festival, he just will not say no. No matter what he’s not doing or what he’s doing he always somehow intends to play Leeds and Reading festival and you know what? It’s fantastic that he does, it’s great. The Maccabees, The Cribs, Years & Years, Jamie xx, just a few of what will be a pretty impressive Friday, opening day.’

He continued to reel off the list of exciting acts to be expected, ‘Mumford & Sons, Alt-J, Knife Party, Run The Jewels, Wilkinson, New Found Glory, the amazing Django Django just a few of the Saturday. And of course Metallica. Metallica fresh from an extraordinary headline performance in Chicago this weekend and Lollapalooza – fantastic performance. It’s 7 years since Metallica last played and what an amazing band, they just keep delivering. Yorkshire’s own Bring Me The Horizon will certainly give them a run for their money as will Rebel Sound, Twin Atlantic, Wolf Alice, Catfish and the Bottlemen they’ll all make an incredible line up for that Sunday.’

‘I cannot wait, I can’t wait to see all you guys here. We’re going to have an amazing festival and I’m very much looking forward to seeing you all there in 2 weeks time.’

We got to ask Melvin some questions about the festivals this year.

Are you happy with the response to the Radio 1 Dance Stage by festival goers?

‘Yeah, I think what’s become apparent is that with the emergence of festivals like Creamfields, festivals like Download which have got very specific genres, they’re very focused in their singular genre area and they do very well. Leeds festival has always had a broader spectrum, its always had guitar music at its heart and it still very much has guitar music at its heart but it is able to accommodate Kendrick Lamar, it is able to accommodate Rebel Sound, it is able to accommodate Deadmau5 and I’m very pleased about that fact. I don’t think people listen to singular specific genres but more importantly, their mates quite often don’t listen to the same music as they do, there’ll be crossover, but not exactly the same. That’s really the essence of Leeds and Reading festival, being able to present fantastic music, music with incredible integrity, but across different genres.’

You said in a recent interview with Billboard that when you came to Reading in 1989 no one was really interested in festivals, but with festivals dominating the summer in nearly every continent, what do you think has changed since then?

‘There’s a whole range of things that a festival brings, among them is an escape from reality, where if you’re having a pint of beer at 8am no one will care. Despite a weekend ticket costing £200 it’s still incredible value for money and I think people really look for value for money. You get an atmosphere, that’s what you get and that’s why there’s been an explosion of festivals because I think in particular young people are under more pressure. There was no such thing when I was younger as the news reporting on whether the statistics for A-Level success has gone up or gone down, the news when I was young didn’t care whether anybody did well in their A-Levels or not. Now it’s this huge thing, there’s pressure on young people in a way that there wasn’t, trust me, when I was younger and actually you need that escape and a festival is a phenomenal escape. As wild as they are and as exciting as they are, they’re pretty safe. Why is there an explosion? Because people want to go to them, that’s why.’

So how do you respond to the criticism about the lack of female artists on the line up?

‘In a way this is almost a no win position. I don’t create bands, nor do I create what people are listening to. Actually what I do is reflect what people are listening to and the line up reflects what people are listening to. I’m not able to say that people should be listening to more female bands I’m able to judge what they are listening to and try to put them on. If there’s more of them that are female in a particular year than another year then that line up reflects it. I’m somebody that lives in a non-gender bias world. I have no gender bias in the same way I have no religion or race bias, it’s not a politically correct statement for the sake of it, it’s who I am. A festival line up reflects what people are listening to and no more than that, it would be wonderful if people were listening to more female acts which is the case in other years but this year it isn’t the case.’

Which artist are you personally most excited about playing this year’s Reading and Leeds?

‘Jesus, how long have you got? I mean it really is impossible to pick one. You can start anywhere really. I could start with Rebel Sound an act that more or less didn’t exist 6 months ago but they’re insanely good, really pleased that they’re here. Metallica, Mumford & Sons, Libertines of course why wouldn’t you be delighted, Alt-J why wouldn’t you be delighted? I could go through the line up with a reason why every single band should be there and why it’s really special for them and in a way that’s the case with every single band. You know, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Years & Years everyone wants to see those acts. Wolf Alice I think will grow and grow and really come through. Bring Me The Horizon – special for me. Special for me because they’re a band that have worked this festival over the years. They’re a band that consistently played, they never fail to deliver and they’re playing before the band that is the one to measure yourself up against which is Metallica. So in a way if I was going to pick a single band it would be Bring Me The Horizon, for that very reason because that gives them the rightful slot and a band that deserve to be so.’

 

The festival takes place August 28th-30th, tickets are available here.

More from Latest

---

Editor Picks

---