Reading Festival, set along the banks of the River Thames in Little John's Farm over every August Bank Holiday, has become an institution that has not just survived the changing tides of music but has defined them. Spanning over six decades, Reading is the oldest popular music festival still in existence. Its history tracks the development of rock music over the past half century. But has it seen its best days?

This year the event did not sell out (there were both day and weekend tickets still available on the official website on the Thursday before this year's event) and there has been extensive criticism of everything from the rather lacklustre line up to the BBC TV coverage, and a lot of technical issues. In a world where Blink 182 have 3.3m Insta followers and Taylor Swift has 284m viewers, rock music no longer rules the charts and airwaves: the band seemed to try and make this up with a load of childish mysoginistic behaviour. Attention is everything and Reading Festival may have lost its vibe.

Should the people of Reading care?

 

Some History

Originally named the National Jazz Festival, the event was conceived by Harold Pendleton, the manager of the Marquee Club in London and an influential figure in the British jazz scene. Initially held at the Richmond Athletic Ground in southwest London, the festivals early years were dominated by jazz, as the name suggests. However, as the 1960s progressed, jazz began to share the stage with the burgeoning skiffle and R&B movements.

Acts like The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds, who would go on to become legends, played some of their earliest shows at the festival. This period marked a significant shift, reflecting the changing tastes of a generation more interested in electric guitars than in jazz saxophones. The festival moved locations several times during these formative years, finally settling at its permanent home in Reading in 1971, where it has remained ever since.

The 1970s saw Reading Festival truly come into its own, embracing the growing hard rock and heavy metal scenes. This era marked the beginning of the festival’s association with rock music, a relationship that would define its identity for decades to come with bands such as Deep Purple, Yes, Thin Lizzy and Wishbone Ash headlining.

One of the defining moments of this era was The Who’s performance in 1971. Their blistering set, which included hits like “My Generation” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” solidified Reading’s status as a premier destination for rock music. It was around this time that the festival started to attract not just British acts but also international stars, with bands like Aerosmith and AC/DC gracing the stage.

However, the festival was not without its challenges. The mid-70s economic downturn and the punk explosion created an uneasy tension. Punk rock, with its raw energy and anti-establishment ethos, was both a threat and an opportunity. While punk bands like The Jam and The Ramones played Reading, the festivals core audience remained more aligned with classic and hard rock, leading to some friction.

The early 1980s were a turbulent time for the Reading Festival. Punk had left an indelible mark on the music landscape, and the festival struggled to maintain its relevance. In 1983, the festival even faced cancellation due to low ticket sales and internal disputes. In 1984 and 1985 with the Tories controlling Reading Council, licences were refused and the event did not take place. But Reading was nothing if not resilient.

By the late 80s, the festival had rebounded, embracing a more diverse lineup that included the likes of The Cure, Billy Bragg, and the emerging heavy metal giants Iron Maiden. This period also saw the introduction of more alternative and indie acts, reflecting the broader shifts in the music industry. Reading was becoming a melting pot of genres, a place where rock, metal, and alternative music could coexist.

One of the most memorable moments from the 80s was the 1989 performance by New Order. Their blend of post-punk and electronic music signalled the beginning of a new era for the festival, one where the boundaries between genres were increasingly blurred.

If the 1980s were about survival and adaptation, the 1990s were about dominance. The grunge explosion in the early 90s saw bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden taking over the festival. Nirvana’s 1992 headline performance is one of the most iconic in the festival’s history. Kurt Cobain, wheeled onto the stage in a wheelchair as a mockery of the rumours about his health, delivered a set that would go down in rock history. It was raw, chaotic, and utterly unforgettable—a perfect reflection of the grunge ethos.

But Reading in the 90s was not just about grunge. The Britpop movement, with its swagger and rivalry, also left an indelible mark. The so-called “Battle of Britpop” played out at Reading, with Oasis and Blur becoming regular fixtures on the lineup. Oasis, in particular, made their mark with a 1994 performance that captured the spirit of the time—confident, rebellious, and steeped in the anthems that would define a generation.

This decade also saw Reading expanding its horizons beyond the traditional rock and indie genres. Acts like Cypress Hill and Ice Cube brought hip-hop to the stage, while the Prodigy and Orbital introduced the festival crowd to the rising tide of electronic music. By the end of the 90s, Reading was no longer just a rock festival; it was a celebration of all that was fresh and vital in music.

As the new millennium dawned, the Reading Festival faced the challenge of staying relevant in an increasingly fragmented music landscape, so the festival embraced diversity, offering a lineup that catered to both old fans and new, expanding and offering alternative stages.

The early 2000s saw the rise of the garage rock revival, with bands like The Strokes and The White Stripes injecting a raw energy back into the festival. This period also witnessed the continued rise of British indie bands, with Arctic Monkeys delivering a now-legendary set in 2006 that cemented their place as one of the UK’s most important bands.

However, the 2000s were also marked by the festival’s increasing embrace of mainstream pop-punk and emo, reflecting the tastes of a younger audience. Bands like Green Day, Blink-182, and My Chemical Romance became regular fixtures, bringing a new generation of fans to Reading.

In 2008, the festival reached a new peak with Rage Against the Machine’s headlining set, a politically charged performance that resonated with both older fans of the band and a younger crowd energised by their anti-establishment message.

The 2010s marked a period of continued evolution for Reading. The festival now operates as a dual event with Leeds, with the two festivals sharing the same lineup across different days. This expansion has allowed Reading to attract an even wider audience, cementing its place as a cornerstone of the UK’s music festival circuit.

The decade saw Reading embracing an ever-broader range of genres. While rock remains at the festival’s core, hip-hop, electronic, and pop acts have increasingly taken centre stage. Eminem’s headline performances in 2013 and 2017, as well as Kendrick Lamar’s in 2018, highlight this shift. Meanwhile, bands like Foo Fighters, Muse, and Radiohead have ensured that Reading remains a vital destination for rock fans.

In recent years, Reading has also made efforts to embrace a more diverse range of voices, both on stage and off. This includes a greater emphasis on female artists, with Billie Eilish’s headline set in 2019 serving as a milestone moment for the festival and more recently DJ sets have replaced instruments.

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 forced the festival to take a hiatus, the first time it had been cancelled since the 1980s. However, its return in 2021 was a triumphant one, with a lineup that included Stormzy, Liam Gallagher, and Post Malone, demonstrating once again that resilience of the festival. But since then there has been a worrying decline, not only for Reading, but for festivals overall. 

So, as local residents should we care?

Even though it has become more self-contained, with even a temporary supermarket on site, the event is estimated to contribute £10m to the local economy as 105,000 revellers and 5,000 staff and volunteers looking after them head for the town, but its advent is met with a mixture of trepidation and enthusiasm by locals. The vendors along Caversham Bridge Road do a roaring trade, but the rest of the town is less affected and many criticise how little benefit such a vast enterprise brings to the town. However, there is a name recognition and even a 'cool' factor that burnishes the town as host of one of the world's leading music festivals that cannot be quantified.

So, what needs to change. According to a range of commentators on Reddit and elsewhere on social media it's a combination of the lineup, the cost, increasing violent incidents and the fact that the Festival seems to have become a GCSE rite of passage for 16 and 17 year olds. Many people want the event to be 18 years plus. But, of course, changing any of this will bring with it further challenges for the organisers, Festival Republic (part of Live Nation).

To a great degree, the evolution of the Reading Festival is a mirror to the history of modern music itself. From its jazz beginnings to its hard rock heyday, from the punk wars to the grunge explosion, and into the eclectic present, Reading has been at the forefront of every significant movement in popular music. It is a festival that has not just reflected the changing tastes of the times but has often been the stage on which those changes have been played out. But what do you do when music has become so tribal?

With events like Glastonbury, Green Man and CarFest providing a more diverse experience beyond music, and a more quirky approach to three days in the sun, rain or mud it may be time for Festival Republic to go back to the drawing board. And perhaps most telling of all is that Oasis did not reform to play at Reading, but rather teased their forthcoming tour that is set to garner them a far bigger pay day. Like many other festivals, it seems that the world's oldest open air gig needs to rethink itself to ensure its future.