“Noughties electro disco pop, writ large in neon lights”

After taking the Reading and Leeds Festivals by storm back in August (they were the only band on the Introducing stage to be played by Nick Grimshaw and Huw Stephens), the good folk at BBC Introducing were very keen to get Soft Toy Emergency in to record a session for them. Subsequently, a few weeks ago, the guys dropped in to Maida Vale studios to do just that…

Check out their forthcoming single Critical live at Maida Vale

Check out Headline live at Maida Vale

Check out Circles live at Maida Vale

Check out Here With You live at Maida Vale

Alternatively you can visit Soft Toy Emergency’s BBC Introducing page for the videos of their Reading/Leeds performances.

The ‘festival team’ (I think that’s a suitable term) for A Plastic Rose on the Friday preceeding their trip to the Reading and Leeds Festivals where they played not one but two penultimate headlining slots on the BBC Introducing stage.

We’re all incredibly proud of them for kicking ass and taking names this weekend and hopefully it’s the start of a new chapter in the band’s accent.

Happy campers enjoying Kasabian

For the first time in three years I’m not going, as there are only a handful of bands I’d like to see this time round, but all I can say regarding this news, is thank fuck for that. If you take a flag to a festival, you qualify as a cunt. Same goes for the girl who wants attention and mouths the words (about half of them) she knows to the new Kooks song, as the cameramen at the festival desperately zoom in on her whilst sat on the shoulders of the boy that desperately fancies her, but is resigned to being the friend who mops up the tears every time the boy she actually does fancy realises what a twat she is… and waits and quietly weeps every night of the festival whilst listening to heart-wrenching sounds of her having sex with someone she just met in the tent next to his.

The only defence I’ve seen offered for flags is atmosphere and finding your friends/tent. It takes a special breed of twat to go out of your way to obscure peoples views at a gig/festival/whatever. Now I can’t help being quite tall, but that’s not my fault, and realising my height, I steer clear of wearing a top hat. If you need a flag to find your tent after about 10 minutes of setting it up you must be fucking stupid… and the rest is a load of bollocks anyway. Flags are nothing but an irritant, and if you want to stand out in the crowd without doing that much, you are a twat anyway. The flags that attempt to be funny are about as witty as the t-shirts from Primark you see idiots wearing featuring some ‘hilarious’ slogan about how they love drinking and women… e.g. ‘also comes in sober’, often warn by bald middle aged men being dragged round the shops on a depressing Saturday afternoon. Carrying a flag or men wearing dresses or people in stupid wigs or pretty much everything like that designed to make the wearer stand out is fucking stupid. You might get noticed briefly, but it’s not for anything worthwhile is it? Half the crowd might see and think ‘oh look there’s a guy in a dress’, whilst the vaguely sane people will think ‘what a wacky attention seeking twat’ but the real point is, no one wants to be your friend…

The news is everywhere at the moment, but here is some words from the Granuiad.

‘Music lovers going to the Reading and Leeds festivals this weekend will be banned from taking flags into the arenas. Organisers said flags would not be allowed in as they block the view of other people in the crowd. The annual music events, which begin on Friday, will see 150 acts play over three days, including headliners Arctic Monkeys, Radiohead and Kings of Leon. The official websites for both festivals state: “No flags will be allowed into the arena. They restrict the view of people behind.” Any festivalgoers caught crowd-surfing at Reading this year will also find themselves punished by new rules.’

There was an outraged response on the Guardian website too, but I think I’ve pretty much explained why banning flags is a good idea. If you want to read the article, you’ll have to look yourself, but I wouldn’t bother, I’m right and that article is shit and wrong. If you are going to Reading or Leeds this weekend, have a good time and I wish you luck in avoiding the idiots (around 80% of people who go).

Reading and Leeds have announced more acts, along with their Festival Republic Stage acts, and by the looks of things, this year is going to be massive.

Scot rockers The View have been named to play the main stage of Reading festival on Sunday 30th of August, whilst they appear at Leeds festival 29th August.

Other newly named acts include Marmaduke Duke, Black Lips and El Bronx. To see the full line up click here.

Organisers have also named the acts for the hugely anticipated Festival Republic stage. Acts include, Lightspeed Champion, La Roux, Pulled Apart By Horses and The Hot Rats.

Reading Festival 2009 will take place at Little Johns Farm, Reading, while Leeds Festival 2009 is set to be held at Bramham Park, Leeds.

Both run from Friday 28th to Sunday 30th August during the Bank Holiday weekend. Tickets are now sold out, yet organisers are encouraging people still wishing to obtain tickets to use their official partners Viagogo.

Finally, its here! The festival season is upon us and this year its going to be BIG.

With The Prodigy doing just about every festival under the sun, i would say it is Reading and Leeds festivals that has the most unique headliners, with the welcome return of Radiohead and The Arctic Monkeys getting everyone excited.

However, there are some pretty awesome festivals that are on a smaller scale if you fancy something a bit different. Why not check out The Hop Farm festival? There’s The Fratellis and The Pigeon Detectives to name but a few…

Placebo are also rumored for Leeds Festival 2009, following the news that they have new material coming out in 2009. Interestingly, the band have also confirmed a slot at the German festival, Pinkpop. A popular choice for bands who then go on to play Leeds.

The moment you’ve all been waiting  for has arrived, one of the biggest rock festivals in Britain, Reading and Leeds has announced the line-up, and of course sold out.

As previously announced on Wristband Kings of Leon have been announced as one of the headliners, who will also be joined by Radiohead and Arctic Monkeys. Other artists confirmed are The Prodigy, Maximo Park, Ian Brown, The Courteeners, Enter Shikari, Eagles of Death Metal, Bloc Party, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Vampire Weekend, Brand New, Kaiser Chiefs, Placebo, Fall Out Boy, Deftones, Funeral For A Friend, Gossip, Glasvegas, Jamie T, AFI, White Lies, Friendly Fires, The Gallows, The Maccabees, Florence and The Machine and Gaslight Anthem.

Festival Republic are again warning fans against unofficial ticket outlets and would like to remind anyone wishing to buy tickets for the event to visit the official sites.

Fans are also being reminded that no box offices and no ticket sales are available at all for Reading Festival this year. If you do not have a ticket which has been purchased in advance, you will not be admitted to the site as there will be no tickets or returns on sale at the festival.

This years Leeds festival is held at Braham Park, Leeds, and Reading at Little Johns farm, during the Bank Holiday weekend of Friday 28th to Sunday 30th August.

In a recent interview with NME.com Little Boots confirmed that she would be playing a host of UK Festivals this year, including Bestival, T In The Park, Reading and Leeds and Glastonbury. She also quashed rumours that she would be playing this years V Festival.

She also said that she hopes her early fans don’t think that she’s sold out as she’s gotten more popular.

Little Boots is now the second artist to confirm for the Reading and Leeds festivals alongside Kings of Leon.

Reading and Leeds festivals take place this year between the Bank Holiday weekend of Friday 28th to Sunday 30th August this year.

Tickets for the festival go on sale on Friday 30th March at 7pm with the official line up and price details being made available only hours earlier.

It’s official ladies and gentlemen!

According to a source over at NME Caleb Followell has announced that he and the rest of The Kings Of Leon will be headlining this years Reading and Leeds Festival.

From punk and metal, through rock, alternative and indie to dance and nu rave, Leeds and Reading offers the music fan a chance to see hot new acts, and local bands beside big established ones, plus the odd exclusive performance.

The dates for Leeds and Reading Festival 2009 are confirmed as on the bank holiday weekend, from Friday 28th to Sunday 30th August at Bramham Park, Leeds, West Yorkshire, and Little Johns Farm, Richfield Avenue, Reading, Berkshire.

Early bird tickets have already sold, but tickets are available to buy from Monday 30th March.

Click here to listen to The Bucket by The Kings Of Leon

Festival Republic are again warning fans against fake ticket sites, who are claiming to have tickets for both Leeds and Reading Festivals, including early bird tickets, despite no tickets having yet been released.

The company has warned against unofficial sites such as www.leedsfestival2009.com and www.readingfestival2009.com which have no access to selling tickets for this years events.

Festival Republic are also warning against the unofficial site www.bookmetickets.com who also claim to have tickets for the upcoming Latitude Festival, another organised by the company.

The warning comes after a spate of tout sites last year seeing thousands of festival goers stranded at the gates.

This along with Reading announcing that there will be no tickets available on the gate this year, means that it’s even more important to bookmark the official sites.

In an article in NME it’s reported that former Libertines members Pete Doherty and Carl Barat turned down the chance to reform for a headline spot. The pair were reportedly contacted by Festival Republic, the organisers of Reading and Leeds festivals, to perform during the weekend in August.

In an interview with the magazine, a seemingly disheveled Pete says: “We had some ridiculous offers to headline Reading. £2 million to headline this festival £1 million to headline that festival. I said, ‘Why don’t we just do it? Let’s get the old band back together. [Barat] said, ‘We have to be friends, we can’t just do it for the money.’ I said ‘Ok, lets be friends! Friends who go and make lots of money.’ He said I had to go and see an energy consultant, some new age guru who is going to measure my energy levels and see if I’m surrounded by darkness. If I am I’m not allowed to go near Carl because I’ll tap into his good energy and I’ll sap all the good energy and bring nothing but darkenss into his life.”

Just when you thought the troubled souls couldn’t get any more troubled eh?

The interview then goes on to suggest that no other headliners have been approached and that Festival Republic are hoping to add Greenday to the bill, however we only have Pete’s word on that…

The weekend will take place from Friday 28th to Sunday 30th August. Reading Festival takes place at Little Johns Farm, Reading, Berkshire, and Leeds Festival takes place at Bramham Park, Leeds, West Yorkshire.

Ticket details have yet to be announced.

The O2 Wireless Festival 2008

The O₂ Wireless Festival is a music festival in England that takes place every year in Hyde Park, London, and took place at Harewood House, Leeds in 2006 and 2007. It is owned and managed by Live Nation. The O2 Wireless Festival is one of the most renowned Festivals in the history of the UK. People are not joining from UK but they also come from different parts of the world to see extravaganza O2 Wireless Festival.

The O₂ Wireless Festival 2008 spanned 4 days in Hyde Park. An attempt to hold a parallel festival in Leeds similar to the Reading and Leeds Festivals (annually held pair of Reading Festival and Leeds Festival managed by Festival Republic) arrangement was unsuccessful. Instead of it, a variety of club nights featuring billed artists were held. The headliners were Jay-Z, Morrissey, Fatboy Slim and Counting Crows.

The event line-up was as follows:-

• Thursday, 3 July 2008:

Jay-Z, Mark Ronson, Hot Chip, Roisin Murphy, David Jordan, The Cool Kids, Hercules and Love Affair, Alice Smith, Kano, Saul Williams, Lethal Bizzle, Elliot Minor, Pete and the Pirates, The Stiff Dylans, Sparkadia, The Hot Melts, Electric Dolls, Beans On Toast, Red Snapper, Annie, Bryn Christophers, Kid Sisters, Tinie Tempah, Yelle

• Friday, 4 July 2008:

Morrissey, Beck, The Wombats, Guillemots, Dirty Pretty Things, Lightspeed Champion, The National, Siouxsie, The Courteeners, Black Kids, The Rascals, The Hosts, Kristeen Young, Howling Bells, Magic Wands, The Whigs, Nicole Atkins and the Sea, Mon Ouisch, The Fashion, The Reprieve, New York Dolls, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, Liam Finn, Apollo Sunshine, Seawolf, Jaguar Love, Peter and the Wolf

• Saturday, 5 July 2008:

Fatboy Slim, Deadmau5, Robyn, Bootsy Collins, Neon Neon, Cornershop, Ryan Shaw, Underworld, MSTRKRFT, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Sam Sparro, Cut Copy, Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip, The Whip, Junkie XL, Akala, Audio Bullys, Cagedbaby, Japanese Pop Stars, Familien, Yacht, Booka Shade, Why?, Das Pop, InnerPartySystem

• Sunday, 6 July 2008:

Counting Crows, Ben Harper, Powderfinger, Goo Goo Dolls, Eddy Grant, Magic Christian, The Hold Steady, Bowling For Soup, Donavon Frankenreiter, Delays, Melee, Luke White, Galactic with Lyrics Born and Boots Riley, Roy World, Joe Purdy, Amy Studt, Dawn Kinnard, The Galvatrons, Silver Seas, Chief, Nellie McKay, Alice Smith, Ryan Shaw, Sons of Albion, Pablo Francisco, Jamie Kennedy, Jo Koy, Gabriel Iglesias

A few new bands have been revealed for this years Reading and Leeds Festival. Plain White Ts and Mindless Self Indulgence join the Main Stage on Reading’s Sunday and Leed’s Friday, while Jeffrey Lewis and former Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins will be on the alternative stage. Pete and the Pirates will be on the Radio 1/NME stage, and Tiger Army, The Briggs and Blackhole have been added to the lockup stage. The twin festivals take place on 22-24 August – tickets have already long sold out.

Last Shadow Puppets will be making their live debut on the NME/Radio 1 stage at Reading and Leeds underneath headliners The Cribs. The band is a side-project of Alex Turner from Arctic Monkeys and Miles Kane from The Rascals.

Source: NME.com