What’s Wrong With The Reading & Leeds Lineup?

It’s been a week now since the very first lineup announcement for next year’s Reading & Leeds. With the promise of six headliners to be announced across two main stages, expectations were understandably high. Here are a few reasons why I feel this lineup falls far short of those expectations.

Weak headliners

Let’s start with the headliners. Reading & Leeds is known for booking some of the biggest artists in the world and Stormzy and Post Malone certainly fall under that category. You could argue the case for Liam Gallagher as well, he was in Oasis after all, but it’s the other 3 headliners that I question. I can’t deny that Disclosure have a few bangers but I feel they’re an underwhelming booking for a main stage headliner and Queens Of The Stone Age are there to please the rock fans but they’re certainly not Foo Fighters or Rage. It’s Catfish and the Bottlemen that stand out the most for me. They were due to headline Truck Fest this year which I think has a capacity of around 20,000 and seemed about right for them. They’re now headlining at Reading & Leeds, which has a capacity of roughly 180,000 across both sites which seems like a ridiculous step up. It feels like we have 3 great headliners here and 3 glorified co-headliners. Even the horrific layout of the poster makes the latter 3 look like lesser artists.

Melvin Benn lied?

A fake “leaked” lineup that many hoped to be real

In an interview with NME shortly before the announcement, Melvin Benn (festival director) stated that there would be six headliners. Of these six he said that “every one of them is a first time headliner”. Now, Queens Of The Stone Age (2014), Disclosure (2016) and Post Malone (2019) have all headlined before. Well, co-headlined but that counts right!? Obviously not to Melvin as they all return for next year. He can argue that one but Benny boy can’t get away with his other clue that only one headliner would be carried over from 2020 as both Stormzy and Liam Gallagher are repeated. This untrue information sent people’s imaginations loose and you only had to look at some of the predicted or “leaked” lineups to be filled with an immense amount of false hope.

Where Are The Women At?

The lineup with all men removed (credit to reddit user: Tequilaphace)

With the festival receiving plenty of public criticism for its male dominated lineups over the last couple of years, the double main stage felt like a perfect opportunity to promote some more gender diversity on the lineup. Of six headliners you’d think at least one of them would be the first female (or female fronted) headliner since Paramore way back in 2014 (although they co-headlined so maybe that doesn’t even count) but you would be wrong. It’s a common argument that female acts “just aren’t popular enough” or “there isn’t enough of them” to headline but that just doesn’t stand anymore. If you look at the standard of headliners for 2021 there are countless female artists who would be capable of headlining (Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, Wolf Alice and Florence and the Machine to name a few) and there’s no way that none of them were available. It’s about time a festival the size of Reading & Leeds started booking women higher up the bill to inspire others to pick up an instrument and get into an incredibly male dominated industry. No more sausage fests please.

Billie Eilish pulled one of the biggest crowds ever for a non-headliner in 2019

With all things considered, this lineup so far just feels like a huge missed opportunity. Having such weak headliners makes it seem pointless having six of them and after gloating in the past that Reading & Leeds is a very current and forward thinking festival, having more women high up the poster would have been a great way to back that statement.

What are your thoughts on the lineup? Let me know via the social links below.

Who Will Headline Reading & Leeds Festival 2021?

After sifting through all the rumours for Reading and Leeds 2021, I had finally concluded a shortlist of potential headliners. After yesterday’s surprise news however, it seems my efforts were in vain and most of the artists on that list will not be headlining.

We now know that there will be as many as six (6) headliners across two (2) main stages. Festival boss, Melvin Benn, also dropped the clues that all of them are new headliners and only one was booked for 2020. This rules out artists like Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Muse who were heavily rumoured and confirms that Rage Against The Machine will not be returning. So, who will be picked to be part of R&L’s sonic sextuplet of headliners for 2021? Here are my predictions.

Liam Gallagher

Let’s start with our returning headliner. With Rage out of the conversation having headlined in ’96, it was between Liam and Stormzy to see who would be returning. After prematurely announcing himself as a 2020 headliner via twitter, it seems that LG has done the same again this year after replying to a fan speculating about him playing Leeds by eloquently saying, “yeah Leeds Festival nxt year to see me rip it a new arse”.

Dua Lipa

It might sound crazy to have a pop act headline but hear me out. With six headliners across 2 stages, there’s an opportunity to really diversify the lineup further than just the standard rock, indie and rap. With 2 top 10 albums, one of which going to number 1, Dua Lipa is undeniably popular and one of the rising talents in UK pop music who will only keep growing. Her set in 2018 went down extremely well and I think that, despite being a pop singer, she has that tricky to explain Reading and Leeds vibe about her.

Billie Eilish

Another youngster on an unstoppable rise in popularity is Billie Eilish. She is easily one of the biggest artists in the world right now and has a huge following. Melvin Benn has been very vocal about the great impression she left after pulling a huge crowd during her afternoon set last year so it wouldn’t be surprising if she was picked to headline.

Bring Me The Horizon

A band many (including myself) had tipped to headline Download next year, BMTH are certainly due to headline something at least. They put on a great show at All Points East last year and should have another album out before next year’s festival season. I feel like if they’re not at Download, they MUST be at Reading and Leeds.

Travis Scott

Now I don’t know much about Travis Scott but I do know that every single person commenting on the festival’s social media it seems would happily die after seeing him headline. It seems like it would be silly of R&L not to get him booked. The other thing I know about Travis Scott is that he’s a rapper and that ticks one of the genre boxes.

Slipknot

If dark fruits twitter thought Rage Against The Machine were “goths screaming in my ears”, then I would LOVE to hear what they have to say about Slipknot! After cancelling Knotfest UK and Knotfest at sea (which was originally postponed to August 2021) it seems they have a free calender and if we still have to wear masks then at least we have a band that can set an example.

Spreading six headliners across 2 stages next year gives Reading and Leeds the chance to really diversify their lineup and I feel these six realistically are the best artists they can book to achieve that. I mentioned in a previous post how there is always something on the lineup for everyone and this would take that even further. I guess we will find out how far off I am on Monday.

Who do you think will headline? Let me know on Twitter or Instagram:

News: Reading and Leeds to have “Two Main Stages and Six Headliners”

Reading and Leeds have confirmed their first 2021 announcement is coming this Monday with “a truly game-changing, perspective shifting festival update”. If what festival boss Melvin Benn has said is correct, that wouldn’t be over-selling it.

In an interview with NME, Benn has stated that, “Covid has given us a year off, so the innovation for next year is testing – everybody will be tested. We’re also going to reproduce the main stage twice. What was the second stage is going to be elevated to an equal stage with the same presentation. What that really allows us to do is book six acts that are headliners.”

After hearing this news, it would be easy to assume the 2020 and 2021 lineups would be put together for one festival. However, Boss Benn has gone on to state that “every one of them is a first time headliner” and also that only one of them was booked for 2020.

This is incredibly exciting stuff and could really be a gamechanger if it goes well. All will be revealed on Monday at 6:30pm on BBC Radio 1.

Read the full NME interview here:

Reading & Leeds boss Melvin Benn: “Next year we’ll have two main stages and six headliners”

What do you make of this news? Who do you think will headline? Let me know on Instagram and Twitter:

@The__Birdbox

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started