Entertainment
I don’t even care who is playing at Reading Festival this year – I’ve bought a ticket anyway
The year was 2008 and I was an avid reader of NME.
You could still discover bands on MySpace, I was obsessed with Florence and the Machine after hearing Kiss With A Fist in the big Topshop on Oxford Street, and Foals’ debut album had just come out.
Of course, that summer, I convinced my parents to let me go to Reading Festival. I had no idea though, that over a decade later, I’d still be going back – or that the mere thought of returning would get me through what are hopefully the final months of a pandemic.
That first year, I was beyond excited to see The Killers (who ended up being a let down) and on the Friday, my then-boyfriend dragged me to see Rage Against The Machine (RATM), who had a huge impact on my impressionable teenage self.
I was soaked in beer and desperately trying to remain upright as the crowd surged forward but you couldn’t have paid me to be anywhere else.
Thirteen years later and the boyfriend is long gone, but I never quite shook off my love for Reading. My dream weekend is still one spent sleeping in a tent (though I can no longer survive without an airbed) and inevitably missing the musical moment of the weekend while drinking tinnies and listening to mid-noughties indie hits on a crap speaker at the campsite.
After attending my 10th Reading in 2018 (I took an ill-timed year off in 2012), I swore I was done. Your late twenties do not make you ancient by any stretch, but at Reading it is easy to feel like you’re about to be handed your free bus pass and I was painfully aware that the acts I’d watched ascend the bill were on their way back down the running order.
I fired up the group chat and bought a ticket, even though I don’t 100% believe I’ll get to use it
Then in 2020, the line-up included RATM, the band that made it so special in the first place. Add to this that Reading falls on my birthday weekend and it was impossible to resist… until Covid-19 hit and cancelled absolutely everything.
Before the pandemic I was an avid planner, scrawling things in my diary until every blank page was filled. During it, I accepted that literally all of the good stuff was cancelled. As the economy took a nosedive, I lost a job that I loved and my summer plans, including holidays, Glastonbury, Reading and social occasions in between, disappeared.
With deaths in the UK now over the 100,000 mark, and as thousands of others face huge struggles, I feel thankful this is all I’ve had to say goodbye to.
When 2021 approached and the vaccine rollout kicked off, I refused to be drawn into optimism. The news that Reading and Leeds will go ahead was met with a mixture of shock, disbelief and excitement online and, sitting in the flat I’ve barely left for a year, I’ve cycled through all of these emotions in the past 24 hours.
The cancellation of Glastonbury, for the second-year running, is something I was mentally prepared for, but the news that Reading isn’t postponed? Not so much.
The defense mechanism I’ve relied on for a year – essentially ‘do not look forward to anything’ – is something I’m not quite ready to shake. As it turns out though, the push I needed was the prospect of a festival.
My pessimism is still there but a similarly unshakeable FOMO has crept back and last night, I fired up the group chat and bought a ticket, even though I don’t 100% believe I’ll get to use it.
The line-up was announced last August and features loads of acts I’m looking forward to seeing but to be honest, I couldn’t care less who is playing at this point.
This year, Reading is a glorious chance to pretend I’m at the other end of my twenties still, and drink warm ciders in the sun with the friends I love and miss. While these are admittedly frivolous activities in the grand scheme of things, for many others festivals are far more important.
For an industry which has been on its knees for 12 months – while receiving very little help or reassurance from the Government – Reading and Leeds is a lifeline.
In 2019, festivals added £1.76billion in value to the UK economy. Each one directly employs hundreds of people, but the total number of jobs festivals in the UK support is around the 85,000 mark.
Event organisers, sound engineers, bar staff, stage crews, caterers, stewards, drivers, merch manufacturers; after the cancellation of Glastonbury, and with question marks still hanging over many other events, there’s a Reading and Leeds-shaped light at the end of the tunnel for people who rely on festivals for employment.
Greg Parmley, chief executive of Live – a trade body for the live music industry – has hailed the news as for providing ‘hope of better times to come’ while offering a stark warning that Reading and Leeds isn’t a magic fix.
‘There is still a large amount of uncertainty ahead of us,’ he said. ‘With the Government only committing to provide a week’s notice on the lifting of all restrictions, this will mean for many it will just be too late and we will see further cancellations.
‘This is why, despite the good news today, the Government must commit to further sector-specific support for our industry in the Budget as we start our long road to recovery.’
The fact Reading and Leeds are going ahead is testament to the sheer willpower of the people working frantically behind-the-scenes.
While I won’t believe it’s happening until I’m standing in front of the mainstage, I’m truly grateful for the people who are fighting to keep this industry alive.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk.
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