27/08/2021
Reading and Leeds are going ahead, apparently. Everyone will be vaccinated by then, of course. Hmmm…
Two main stages mean no clashes.
I have to say, the lineup looks very poor. I’m not sure if Offspring The Elder will be interested. I’m not keen.
100 Gecs are playing. Finally I have a use for all of these rotting vegetables. I shall start a urine collection post haste.
I hope social distancing will have been relaxed, otherwise you won’t be able to get close enough for a really good shot.
I admire their optimism but the line up wouldn’t tempt either of my two, 20 and 17 years old. Hopefully, they’ll add a few more acts but IMHO, these festivals haven’t had must see line ups for a while now.
I really enjoyed the day I went in 2019. Don’t think I have the stamina for a long weekend nowadays.
In other news, Black Deer have put back their Americana fest again, this time by a week, to the w/e after 21/6 rather than the one just before. When I am in a Suffolk Country Cottage. Tellingly, they are quickly phoning around the largely US roster to see who can still do it. As @steveT said in another strand, having a festival is one thing, the yanks being allowed in quite another. Or wanting to, even by then, given worldwide fears of the Kent variant. (The festival, coincidentally, is in Kent.)
So I’m looking at what Beautiful Days or Green Man, in August, can come up with, no decisions or line-ups yet announced.
I saw Queens of the Stone Age and Doja Cat on the poster and thought: have they been stranded in the UK since last March and unable to get home? Then I thought: America’s not in Europe, is it? That home-grown second-division lineup looks like a result of Brexit.
I am sure Percy can play 2 nights.
Whoever turns up I have to say it made my day as I was convinced it was gonna be postponed.
I think Beautiful Days is still touch and go. They’d previously said they are making the call in April, which is far enough ahead of the hoped for final lifting of restrictions that I think it’ll still be a bit hazy and they may well err on the side of caution. Pretty sure they said way back that they had agreements to roll over most of the 2020 lineup, but all I can remember of that (apart from Levellers obviously, and boy do I want to hear some of that new album live) was New Model Army and Hawkwind. I am pretty excited about that, you perhaps less so….
Green Man similar, but e mail today to say they’re going for it. I would imagine each can snap up some eager artists to participate, anxious and itching to play, and unlikely to be touring anywhere else. And yes, I’d like to see Hawkwind again, a mere 47 years since I saw them last! New Model who?
Stacia is now 68. Crikey.
@fentonsteve
68 what though?
GUNS!!!
“For every day they’ll try and drag us down (drag us down and down)”
I bet they do. She must have constant backache.
Double G?
In the immortal words of Ivor Cutler:
“If your breasts are too big, you will fall over – unless you wear a rucksack”
Perhaps that’s why she’s always a boppin’ and gyratin’ – just trying to keep her balance.
What’s after 68?
According to Rolling Stone magazine, nothing is after ’68
Crikey , when did I get so disinterested in Music? There’s no one on that line up I have any interest at all. I read Girl in Red as Green on Red and had a brief flicker of interest but then again I am 55.
I actually quite like Girl In Red, but not enough to buy a festival ticket to see her. She came up at the same time as the Eilish lass, so I have absorbed her stuff via my daughter. It’s all a bit miseryguts for me, but I’m hardly her target market. Ponce alert: I prefer her earlier stuff, even if it does sound like it was recorded underwater.
Everything sounds like it’s recorded underwater these days. I am 55.
My daughter was excited this afternoon, as her mum has got her a ticket to go to Leeds with her mates on the day that Stormzy and AJ Tracey are playing (the only two I’d be interested in seeing). I would be worried about it (she’s only 15), but I can’t see it going ahead.
I thought Leeds announced yesterday it was definitely going ahead?
My 16 year old son went to Leeds Festival last time it was on… talks of it like Vietnam vets talk of the war. “I saw things you wouldn’t believe…”
At 18 he is going to Beatherder instead (apparently Stormzy and AJTracey are kind of three years ago) (if it is on of course).
@paulwright
My (then) 17 went to that too, his first festival. Apparently there were girls – not wearing very much – and people making lots of noise in their tents till late. Bless.
17 and he told you about that? Do you live in a bloody commune in the desert or something?
Modern parenting, I dunno. In my day we had secrecy and repression, never did me any harm. Sieg heil!!
He was right about the girls. I went to pick him up and there were girls there who had clearly forgotten to get dressed in the morning. I was shocked I tell you.
That, er, happened to me too when I went for him. Good job the weather was decent, they could have got a right old chill..tsk.
No wonder so many of you went to pick him up. Word clearly got round.
I went to Reading with my then just-turned-16 daughter. There was a middle-aged couple there with their two teens (one also a girl there mainly for Billie Eilish). We exchanged knowing nods.
On the whole I was impressed with how well-behaved they all were, especially compared to the early-90s Grunge wars. Or perhaps it was just because it was so bleedin’ hot and everyone was struggling to stay hydrated that nobody got too drunk.
You know music is buggered when bands rip off others bands’ names, let alone their music. Is it designed to entice myopic fans of 80s folk/indie, who will buy tickets to see Pogue Mahone and Echo and the Bunnymen? I’m there!
Nice to see Sidney Youngblood making a comeback, though.
I’m interested to see what ‘Hot Milf’ have to offer.
Sometimes our eyes see what we want them to see.
It turns out that Post Malone is one of these rappers with a load of stupid shit drawn on his face, like someone on their last day at secondary school.
Not having heard of Catfish and the Bottlemen, I thought they might be a Hootie and the Blowfish tribute act.
Which leads me to:
As someone pointed out on social media yesterday, with that crappy lineup, social distancing is unlikely to be a problem.
I think I might be washing my hair that weekend, assuming I can grow enough of it to make it worth the effort.
While have long since zoomed past the age where I’d feel happy attending an outdoor fest, be interested to learn how many tickets they’ll be selling for each event compared to previous years and also how much those TX will cost.
Unless the shows are underwritten by the govt (which given their lack of support for musos in the EU visa shitstorm seems unlikely), the insurance for staging events like this must be sky high.
Either way, hope that both tests are safe, successful and provide a first step for the return of gigs in theaters and clubs
Outdoors when every one in the country should have had a vaccine, pretty low risk. Don’t think insurance is a problem, read the terms and conditions on the back of your ticket (or on the website where you buy the ticket).
Everyone in the country….? I’d like to pretend that anti-vaxxers don’t exist, but they do.
Small percentage I think. I presume that they may check things like temperature on entry to at least rule out any one with symptoms.
But as I wrote on the other thread they shouldn’t be passing it on to anyone who will be in danger. This virus is never going to go away completely but the risk from it will decrease.
Re resistance to the vaccine: Great piece by Nick Cohen about where this could be heading. Doesn’t chime in with the optimism of this thread but, durrr, it’s Nick Cohen.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/27/it-is-only-a-matter-of-time-before-we-turn-on-the-unvaccinated
I especially like :
We have been lucky that to date the public faces of the anti-vax and Covid-sceptic movements have been upper-middle-class white men. Laying into the likes of Piers Corbyn and Toby Young is a pleasure as much as a journalistic duty. The only prejudice you worry about fanning is a legitimate aversion to over-indulged cranks.
The para on ‘extreme religious elites’ is profoundly depressing. In fact, the article as a whole prompts recognition of individuals and bodies in power who are prepared to sacrifice people for the sake of maintaining policy or dogma.
This has been the case throughout human history. Why should our time be any different?
I suppose I could have re-phrased ‘prepared to encourage people to sacrifice themselves’.
No, you’re right. As we were.
I wasn’t disagreeing!
Although I have to say, “[something Nick Cohen wrote is] profoundly depressing” is somewhat tautologous…
I would think that event cancellation insurance is the big potential problem rather than public liability or whatever.
The boy wants to go but I suspect it is because Girlfriend has a ticket.
Melvin Benn, who runs R+L, has been an advocate of opening up big events with on the gate testing. Sounds optimistic to me – imagine the queues when 200,000 people have to be tested and get the results before they can go in. Plus what do you with someone who’s paid £200 for a ticket and been told he can’t come in? I don’t suppose they’ll be offering refunds with no opportunity to resell the ticket.
I live near the Leeds fest and I can free a free ticket and I still can’t be arsed going.
But then again if the line up appeals to a 50 year old man then they are doing something wrong.
Given that the max allowable crowd for summer gatherings taking place after the possible end of lockdown in June is currently set at 4,000, would love to know how many TX for each event the promoters have actually sold.
Good piece on R and L fests and why there is almost zero chance of their being allowed to take place here.
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/music-festivals-2021-reading-leeds-covid-b1807316.html
As predicted in my earlier post, insurance is going to be a huge stumbling block.
FWIW, capacity for R in 2019 was apparently 105,000. If the promoters have sold half that many TX they’re going to be sitting on a fair chunk of change.
They are betting on that limit going up and no social distancing, that piece is a little cautious. I like this comment:
“The good news is – unless you are immuno-compromised, you’ve got more chance of being killed riding a bike. “
The organizers are betting that Rishi Sunak is going to announce some kind of government underwriting of large events such as outdoor festivals in next Tuesday’s budget.
If the UK government’s piss-poor support the UK govt gave the music industry in the visa arrangement negotiations with the EU is anything to go by, they are betting wrong.
It’s the gullible idiots who’ve forked out millions of pounds for tickets and will have to wait for ages to obtain refunds I feel sorry for.
Good comment re the bike riding. Pity it’s not come from anyone whose opinion carries any weight in the scientific community or government.
I wouldn’t buy tickets today, agree with that.
If they go ahead there may well be Covid-19 outbreaks related to the festivals, but …
a) They are outdoors, much harder to have superspreader events.
b) It will (should) take place in hot, humid weather which may help to limit spreading of droplets via aerosol transmission.
c) Anyone at risk, in fact everyone in the country should have had the vaccine by end of August if they want it.
d) Presume they may check for temperature at entry to hopefully reduce sick people on the site.
e) Most attendees will be young generally healthy people.
So probably worth the risk for a few mild symptoms and hardly any serious illness resulting from it. Wonder how many people have caught things at previous festivals that we are totally unaware of?
I think main risk is of a mutated virus that spreads more easily and is resistant to vaccinations causing havoc in the meantime. In which case all bets are off.
Anyway time will tell. I am optimistic and hope festivals return late summer. Looks less likely for Canada at the current vaccination rate.
Hot weather? Eeee, has tha bin to Leeds?
Many many times. Ok, 12 degrees C.
Balmy, but not quite enough to loosen one’s cardie.
The locals don’t even wear a vest until it’s 15 below.
I am immunocompromised and I think I’d be mightily pissed off it my death certificate said “went to see Two Door Cinema Club”.
Haha
I agree – that’s an excellent piece and absolutely on the money about what’s going on here, I think – the announcement is as much about applying pressure to the government as anything else. The government has announced a roadmap which suggests that events like this MAY be possible after 21 June. So taking them at their word they announce their festivals and leave the government two choices – either pull their fingers out to make events like this possible by then, or be ready to come up with some sort of compensation package.
As a gullible idiot who paid out last year, tix carried forward to this, and another set bought this year, if they are again postponed, they can again keep my cash until next year. Or whenever. I appreciate I am in a fortunate position to be able to, but my money, having been spent, may as well keep them coping until they are allowed.
This.
I am fortunate; others less so. It’s a positive way of evening things out.
To be perfectly honest I would not venture to the bottom of my garden to watch that bill.
Fuck, no, not for that shite, haven’t been to Reading since 75, I’m talking old folks festivals….
Apparently both Reading and Leeds sold out yesterday looking at their official Twitter site
Interesting that the organisers haven’t mentioned how many TX have been sold for each event. Way over the 4,000 pax attendance limit the govt was talking about were outdoor festivals allowed to come back after 21/6 I would bet. Which means they don’t have – and probably won’t get – a license.
Sorry to keep banging on about insurance but that’s going to be another massive obstacle. Given the shower of shits who make up the industry, can anyone see event organizers being able to afford the huge amounts it will cost to get any kind of coverage?
Good news – the UK govt has agreed to look into ways it could underwrite insurance that will make it easier – and more likely – for events to go ahead.
Good news – This morning’s Times is reporting that the UK govt has agreed to look into ways it could underwrite insurance that will make it easier – and more likely – for events to go ahead.
Cropredy Festival has put out a cautiously optimistic statement, and I read somewhere there is an advertisement for it published in newspapers today.
https://www.fairportconvention.com/
Back to Black Deer, who have effectively distanced themselves from the carried over US heavy line-up of 2020, and that they have used to continue selling tickets until last week. By again postponing, if only a week, they have carte blanche to replace Wilco with the Wurzels, Lucinda with Lulu. Of course, no different from any other festival, I guess if you read the small print. (“For reasons outside our control, we have had to substitute Fairport Convention with the Wurzels at this years Cropredy”…….. I know, possibly an improvement!)
Pretty sure if a date changes then refunds need to be offered.
Indeed. And are.
I was holding TX for about eight gigs at the start of the pandemic – Jesus is it really only just under a year ago?
When two of the gigs (Grant Lee Philips and The Who if you’re really interested) clashed during one of the seemingly endless round of resechedules, I asked for and was speedily given a no-quibble refund on the bigger and more expensive of the two shows.
Anyone else notice the audacious reverse ferret in yesterday’s Mail Online?
Having pilloried Bozo for delaying an end to lockdown all week,
the rag greeted yesterday morning’s readers by denouncing the
“flouters” who were intent on hitting the park or beach over the weekend
I often look at DM stories for the comments; shocking bad habit I know.
When they are about the possibility of vaccine ‘passports’, or when the Queen made a statement to the effect of ‘last one to get vaccinated is a selfish twunt’, the most recommended comments were up in arms about civil liberties and the public being guinea pigs for ‘untested’ meds. Now the same narrative is a stick with which to beat the EU, the most recommended comments are all on the side of the UK mass vaccination programme.
I’ll continue to assume that much of the below the line activity is from bots, and there is even less to be learned from looking at than if it was an accurate reflection of genuine opinion. I’ll also almost certainly continue to read them, muppet that I am.
It’ll be an accurate reflection of genuine opinion in Beijing and Moscow.
Going by the lack or erudition to be found in the comments section, Gatz mentions I doubt the average DM reader could spell or locate those names on a map
Probably the paper’s own interns, having been told to put in mis-spellings and grammar errors as camouflage. The political version of The Sun’s “Dear Deirdre” page.