Review: Reading 2013

August bank holiday sees around 80,000 music lovers jetting—or rather, driving, jumping on a train, or walking—to either Reading or Leeds Festival for an extended weekend of music, tents, booze, and overpriced chips.

I can assure you it is more fun than it sounds! As with every experience, there are good points and bad ones (although in this case the good certainly outweighs the bad).

The arena- where the music happens

Music

Generally, the main draw to a festival is, well, the music. 2013’s line up was much criticised over every social networking site, despite such big headliners as Eminem, Green Day and Biffy Clyro. Initially, there was uproar over the presence of rapper Eminem, who seemed a far cry from the rock/indie bands who frequent the festival, but he did seem to draw quite a crowd (although some might blame an increased ‘rowdiness’ among the crowds on this new clientèle!), and may be one of the reasons Reading completely sold out this year. Headliners aside, the festival was a hotbed for ace bands—including Frightened Rabbit and Palma Violets who are both playing at Southampton University before Christmas—and it was a great opportunity to experience a huge range of music.

Sunshine

Although we all say that a little rain and mud are all part of the ‘festival fun’, we are of course secretly hoping for cloudless skies and sunshine – which, luckily, the British weather delivered in abundance! Aside from the occasional downpour, generally when campers were beginning their pre-drinks for the arena, the weekend necessitated shorts and t-shirts galore – although it seems that  those at Reading’s northern counterpart, Leeds, weren’t quite so lucky.

Tesco and its wonderful deals

Usually, I’m a little bit anti-Tesco and the threat of world—or at least supermarket—domination that it poses, but for Reading weekend I can definitely make an exception. A mere twenty minute walk away from the campsite, the way paved by pizza, barbecues and other wonderful food stalls, hungry campers can behold the gleaming beacon that is Tesco, Reading – complete with 2 for £15 on pretty much every beer and cider you could think of. This deal saw Strongbow Dark Fruits being unofficially crowned ‘Drink of Reading Festival 2013’ – the only downside of which being the wasps that seemed to develop a taste for the sweet cider-y goodness.

Atmosphere

Only at a festival could you be totally alone and so easily find people with the same interests as yourself. Music is well known for being something that brings people together, and that really is what makes the atmosphere of a festival so amazing- everyone is there for the same reason, and because of that, everyone seems to have a fair amount of respect for both each other, and the music. That said, I found that the atmosphere in the campsites was just as good as that of the arena- and weirdly, I think it would be possible to enjoy Reading Festival without seeing any music at all! (Although if you plan on doing that, perhaps save the £200 and camp in your garden with a few cans of cider)

Now, onto the aspects of the festival which perhaps weren’t so nice…

Toilets

It goes without saying that festival toilets aren’t going to be a pretty sight- but no matter how much you think you have prepared yourself for that first trip, no matter how hard you try to hold your breath, no matter how hard you try to escape to that happy place of nice smelling things…the horrid stench always seems to find its way in. My advice: bite the bullet, get in and out as quickly as possible, wash your hands with the hand gel- and run. OR, alternatively; wait to go to the toilets in the arena (they will appear luxury in comparison); or, head to what in 2012 was referred to as ‘Pootopia’ where you can pay a mere £2 to use a lovely loo…with its own toilet roll!

“ALAN! ALAN! STEVE!”

Okay, maybe the whole Alan/Steve saga was very funny when broadcast on BBC, and perhaps still funny when it first appeared at Reading Festival (and, I imagine, every other festival) in around 2011…but this year, I think maybe it needed to be given a rest. Spare a thought for those at festivals named Alan and Steve, c’mon everyone!

Prices

So, you spend two hundred odd pounds on a ticket, plus extra for travel, food, alcohol and baby wipes, then you find that you do not have enough custard creams and of course have to treat yourself to some chips, and maybe even a burger, at 1am. Drunkenly, adding cheese to your chips for just a pound seems like the best idea in the world! Suddenly you’ve spent £10 on a meal in the blink of an eye- and you probably won’t even remember eating it. Of course, you do go to a festival expecting to break the bank on food- no matter how much you tell yourself that you will only eat your one packet of Tesco’s own custard creams and cereal bars. That is definitely a downside to a festival, but it is something that can be combatted if you have some self-discipline when it comes to the lure of cheese-on-your-chips and take a budget to stick to.

Although I have only attended it twice, I would certainly recommend Reading Festival to pretty much anyone because, both times, I have had the time of my life. Trying other festivals is definitely next on the list – how about taking advantage of Southampton’s location and getting the ferry over to Isle of Wight Festival in June, or Bestival in September?