What On Earth Is Going on With Reading and Leeds Festival?

Artists dropping out, refunds being demanded, last-minute replacements, social media accounts having a nightmare. Have Reading and Leeds lost the plot?

Reading and Leeds Festival is one of my favourite times of the year. I've been going to Reading since I was 16 and have been going to every single one since. The festival combines all different sorts of genres and has had some of the biggest artists from around the world come and play which include Muse, Post Malone, Stormzy, Disclosure and Red Hot Chili Peppers just to name a few that have played in the time I've been going. However, this year's edition has had issues coming up all over the place in the weeks before we even get our camp set up. So what is going on?

Artist pulling out

The main issue with this year is that a few of the big names on this year's lineup have been pulling out for several reasons. It all started when Eurovision winners Måneskin pulled out after the band were asked to play at VMAs in America the same weekend. This is not the fault of the festival to be fair. This was a poor move from Måneskin and completely unprofessional. This has left many of their fans disappointed as they won't get to see the band t as they would rather ditch their UK fans to make themselves look good at an awards show. Rapper Jack Harlow also pulled the same stunt a week later leaving Reading scrambling for last-minute replacements with a week to go. This was only the start of the chaos.

Two days after the Måneskin announcement, Headliners Rage Against The Machine announced that due to an injury that leader singer Zack De La Rocha sustained while on tour in America, they would pull out of their European tour which included Reading and Leeds. This was a disaster and I was gutted that they had to pull out. However, the festival had the perfect replacement lined up. A like for like change. They had...

The 1975??? Wait what??

Now don't get me wrong, I love The 1975. They are one of my favourite bands of all time and their debut album is incredible. However, having them replace Rage Against The Machine is a bit ridiculous, to say the least. If you don't know either of these bands then listen to the two songs below and you will see what I mean.

As you may be able to tell, there's a bit of a difference in sounds between the two bands. Rage is rap rock while The 1975 is much more Indie pop. They are two genres which don't really go together and you will be hard-pressed to find a music fan who will like both. I personally love both bands and I'm content with the replacement but the Rage fans who for some, have been waiting to see the band come back to the UK for over a decade, they were less than impressed. Fans were demanding refunds as soon as the announcement was made and the festival's ticket partner, Ticketmaster said the cancellation did not warrant fans getting a refund but after a week of bad press and outrage on Twitter, the company decided to give fans refunds for tickets under "goodwill". This whole situation reflects badly on Reading and Leeds. The fact they thought they could get away with not giving fans refunds is a disgrace and the only reason they have now done it is because they don't want to further tarnish the festival's legacy. Also, I still don't understand how they thought replacing Rage with The 1975 was going to be ok with fans. Adding salt to the wounds for Rage, the festival tweeted in their 1975 announcement saying "Don't say we never treat you". What a punch to the gut.

The Last Minute Replacements

As well as The 1975, Reading and Leeds did announce some last-minute acts that would replace both Måneskin and Jack Harlow. One of them would be AJ Tracy who played at the festival last year. In terms of the time Reading and Leeds had to get these replacements, This is a very good replacement as he is replacing Jack Harlow who is also a rapper so it's a like-for-like change. Also, AJ is a huge name and an artist who can headline the festival in the future. Very good work from Reading and Leeds.

In my personal view, The next replacement is not a good one. Replacing Måneskin on Sunday will be Charlie XCX. I understand she has a huge following and has had some hits over the years however, I have seen online and been told by friends who have seen her live that she lip syncs her performances and is not a great live act. Her infamous performance in Germany does stick out in my mind. If you have no idea what I'm talking about then check it out on youtube. It's hilarious how annoyed she gets because no one is going wild for her set. Also, it's another punched to the gut for any rock fans hoping for a solid replacement for Måneskin. The festival is a multi-genre festival but if you're going to replace an act then at least try and get another act that is similar in sound. Then again, it's impressive that the festival can get two big names on such short notice so credit where credit is due.

Social Media Nightmare

On top of all of this, the Reading and Leeds social media accounts have not been helping matters. As well as their tone-deaf tweet about The 1975 which we covered earlier, their team have been dropping some strange and cringeworthy tweets for the last two weeks. After the reaction to The 1975 announcement, their Twitter admin thought they put out a now-deleted tweet saying "admin have feeling too". For sure, the admin has feelings but so do all of the people who have brought day tickets to see Rage and won't get to see them. Maybe think about your tweets next time before you tweet something so insensitive. Another tweet they put out was about set times. After set times were leaked on their website, they tweeted "Set times will ONLY be released on the week of the festival! Please don't be misled". So Reading and Leeds are saying to not get misled by their own website. Honestly, you can't make this stuff up. I just get the feeling that the organisers of the festival have no idea what going on. Also, they have released the set times weeks in advance in previous years so this is a lie.

Just to reiterate, I love this festival and I am looking forward to going this year. The problem I have is that this year has been a mess and I haven't even packed everything I'm taking to the festival yet! It really makes me think about trying some other festivals next year rather than going for a 7th year. With the increasing prices of tickets and the declining standards of the festival as a whole, It's going to take something special from the organisers of next year's event to get me to come back and that's a real shame.