Over 100 new names added for the weekend! A whole new look revealed…
It was clear that Reading Festival was shaping up a little bit differently this year. Locking up some of the biggest acts in the world on exclusive deals is never going to be cheap. Arguably, it has cut back on a few of the more usual middle ranking artists. This opens the door to promoting a whole range of exciting new talent. There is a huge amount of it sprinkled about this year, alongside some returning favourites.
The Main Stage looks very strong each day. Lambrini Girls have gone from an early slot on The Festival Republic Stage last year, to opening the Main Stage on Saturday. With the excellent South Arcade following them this is exactly what I mean by talent being given a chance to shine. The Royston Club have had a similarly dramatic Festival Republic to Main Stage surge on Friday.
We now have confirmation of the stages and their line-ups. We already knew The Chevron Stage would be back, after the meeting between Festival Republic and Reading Borough Council earlier this year. We also know from that conversation that some sort of covering is going to be used for it. This is clearly because a) The ceiling of lights was next to useless in the daylight and b) The loud open stage caused huge issues for Main Stage artists and caused a huge number of complaints. Without timings it remains to be seen if the Main Stage and The Chevron will be in direct competition, or more staggered as in the days of the East/West split. It is not entirely dance music focused this year. Soft Play, Wunderhorse and Lola Young are all set to appear on it.
The Radio One Tent is no more. The Festival Republic Stage (Reading Indie Life’s Reading Festival happy place) is next on the billing. So, has it been upgraded to the bigger tent? Will it stay as it was? Or will we get an entirely new tent configuration? As always it has an exciting range of up-and-coming bands and mid-sized veteran outfits.
Next comes The Smirnoff Stage. Again, we don’t know which space this is taking over or whether it will be something entirely new. What we do know is that it is dedicated to underground dance acts. With the Chevron still mostly dance focused, this new stage confirms the festival has realigned further towards dance music.
The BBC Introducing Stage returns. Leaping out of the confirmed acts are The Pill and Cliffords. I’m sure we will find more gems among the rest.
The Aux stage is back with a range of podcasters and social media personalities. The After Hours arrangements have altered significantly. There is no Chevron After Hours on Saturday or Sunday, though there is on Thursday and Friday. The Festival Republic Stage is hosting After Hours events on all four nights. Again, this is suggesting it has been upgraded to the old Radio One tent.
In terms of hideous clashes, the potential for Chappell Roan, Rudim3ntal and High Vis overlapping (or being in direct competition), is not good. However, they could have put Radiohead on the Chevron Stage and Reading Indie Life would still be camped out for Chappell Roan, so tough luck anybody else! Becky Hill going up against Bring Me The Horizon feels disappointing. She puts on a great show. The absolute worst situation looks like Wunderhorse, House of Protection and Enter Shikari all being in a similar window. That seems bizarre as they are going to appeal to a similar crowd. Hopefully it shakes out better once the stage times are out.
We will be going in depth into every stage, on every day, over the next two months!
Reading Indie Life 
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