Since its birth in 1961, Reading and Leeds has held homage to some of the finest festival line-up's the music world has ever seen. It was the place where the heavyweights in rock, alternative and indie came together, each year, over the August Bank Holiday weekend.
It was only 16 years ago that you could buy yourself a ticket for the mere price of £80 to see the likes of Oasis and Pulp headline the stages at Richfield Avenue (Reading) and the then Temple Newsam Park (Leeds). Nowadays, for a rather unsavoury line-up to say the least, £213 is the price you're looking at. Now we can ramble on about inflation if you wish, but for the cost to rise by almost £200 for only half the festival we used to get at the price of £80, something certainly seems a miss. Understandably, music moves on, and bands like Oasis and Pulp are no longer around to headline Reading and Leeds; but surely organiser Melvin Benn doesn't have to change the whole persona of his festivals, does he?
Reading and Leeds 2000
If your answer to that was 'No', you'd be wrong. Throughout the past few years, Reading and Leeds' identity looks to have been transformed. From once being the home to all things rock, alternative and indie; Richfield Avenue and Bramham Park are becoming the breeding grounds to a new era of music. From DJ's who sample old tracks, to heavy metal trash and easy-listening no thought required pop, Reading and Leeds is now like the backyard at Radio 1. To be honest, you can't blame Melvin for what he's doing. If he's making money, why would the guy change the way things are going?
Reading and Leeds 2016
As for that, I have no answer. But it's just a real shame that one of the UK's greatest festivals is changing its persona to cater for the needs and wishes of 17 year olds who've just passed their GCSE's. When you look over the line-up for this year's festival, and compare it to that of T in the Park, or European festivals such as Bilbao BBK and NOS Alive; you realise just how poor it truly is. 2016 previously seemed to be the year when many great names were available to book. Arcade Fire, Radiohead, Muse, Foo Fighters, Florence & the Machine, Gorillaz, LCD Soundsystem, Blur, The Stone Roses; the list goes on. But unfortunately, we have to settle for two sets of co-headliners and a rather re-occurring Red Hot Chili Peppers.
As I've now repeated for the past few years, I sure hope that Melvin is putting us through these torrid times because next year he's going to pull a rabbit out of his hat; but for some reason lately, I just can't see that being the case. As a plea on behalf of all real music lovers out there, please Reading and Leeds; revert back to how you once were (and lower the prices)!