Biography
19 March 2009The Reading and Leeds Festivals take place annually at Reading’s Richfield Avenue Leeds’ Bramham Park on the August bank holiday weekend, putting on three days of unbeatable live music with the bill of artists rotating between the two sites. With Reading attracting a crowd of roughly 80,000 festival goers and Leeds, 70,000 – the festivals are widely considered among the best in the global festival calendar, securing massively popular headliners as well as exciting and eclectic line ups on a yearly basis.
Starting life as the National Jazz Festival, the Reading Festival began in 1971. Since then the festival has showcased all manner of genres, and since 1998 - with the Leeds Festival beginning at Temple Newsam Park (later moved to Bramham Park) - the two legs became known as the Carling Weekend. With the festivals’ sponsorship with Carling ceasing in 2007, the festivals have now reverted to their move traditional names.
In the last few years, Reading and Leeds’ headliners have included such musical luminaries as: Rage Against The Machine, Metallica, Pearl Jam, The Killers, Smashing Pumpkins, Pixies, Foo Fighters, Green Day, The White Stripes, Guns N’ Roses and The Strokes.
The Reading and Leeds Sites traditionally feature:
· Main stage
· NME/Radio 1 stage
· Festival Republic Stage
· Radio 1 Lock Up Stage
· Dance Tent
· Alternative Tent
· BBC Introducing Stage
Both the Reading and Leeds Festival sites feature expansive camping grounds, with weekend tickets allow free camping access. Day tickets for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the festivals is also available.