Reading Carling Weekend

Started in 1972, the Reading Festival has graced the fields of Little John’s Farm in Richfield Avenue in Reading with its music, mud and mayhem.

With its sister festival in Leeds, Reading has attracted many big names to its stages over the years including Nirvana, The Jam and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

2011 was no exception with Muse, Elbow and My Chemical Romance headlining over the three day weekend festival.

This year was my first taste of muddy festival life and I really had no idea what to expect.

One thing that struck me was the huge difference in the people who were attending, there were of course the young teenagers, on a high after finishing their GCSE’s and A Levels, like me, experiencing Reading for the first time but there was also experienced festival goers with their pre brought wellies and fold up chairs.

I really did have a fun time standing and sitting amongst over 80,000 music fans in Little John’s Farm and even though all the bands I saw were rocking hard, the highlight for me was seeing Devon band Muse play, with their amazing light and sound show.

Even though I left feeling exhausted and ready for a much needed hot bath, it was a music assault on the senses I’ll never forget and one everyone should experience at least once in their life.

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The Carling weekend is always fabulous!! The line up normally very good, and the atmosphere is very relaxing. Great place to meet other music fans. Howver, if you are camping, then you must be careful with your possessions, and be careful areound strangers.

The sad thing about the Carling event is that the tickets are always sold out, because ticket touts buy them to resell at an exorbitant price. More measures should be put in place to stop ticket touting. I missed last year’s weekend because i couldnt get my hands ont he tickets without having to parting with a limb or some organs.

Overall verdict: Viva la Carling weekend Reading.

I’ve only been to reading once but definitely want to go again, I haven’t been to glastonbury so cannot say if it is better or worse. I have also been to download festival and as much as I enjoyed that I much prefer reading. There is a much more relaxed atmosphere and feel that everyone is there just to have have fun and listening to some bands. There is plenty of choice of food stalls and the walk to the local supermarkets are well within reach. It can be hard to get served for a drink sometimes as there are always long queues and I felt it was too overcrowded when I went there. Sometimes after a headlining act it would take an age to get back to the campsite.

I have been going to Reading festival for many years i have seen Nirvana %0 cent Daphne and celeste attacked by bottles of urine and have slipped in many pools of it myself, nothing beats Reading even when people complain about the cost, or they don’t like a band or someone nicks there loo roll….sort it out its a festival don’t go if you don’t like Muck and music

This year was my fifth year at Reading and I've already booked my ticket for next year in anticipation of more greatness.

Forget Glastonbury this is the daddy of all festivals. Pretty much anything goes here. There are so many different types of music on offer that there is something for almost everyone and the atmosphere is very chilled out and friendly to all.

I was especially impressed this year with the lineup of the comedy tent as I got to see two of my comedic heroes Adam Hills and Henry Rollins. Each year I go the lineup seems to go one better with Rage Against The Machine headlining this time.

Reading festival caters for all budgets and all levels of camping experience. If pitching a tent is not your thing then podpads may be your thing (www.podpads.com) these are ready assembled mini huts to stay in. There are also several hotels near by (but these get booked up early). If you don't fancy cooking or carting around mini gas stoves then there are lots of different types of food available on site as well as all the amenities of nearby Reading town centre.

For first timers it may just be worth getting a day ticket, but it's definitely something not to miss out on.

This weekend is amazing and I have been for the last 3 years. I disagree that it is mainly a youthful festival and not aimed at famillies. I saw lots of famillies there and I first went to Reading in 1980 when it was Reading Rock Festival. I’ll let you do the maths. I wasn’t the eldest not by a long way!
As stated most of the music is indie, but Dizzy Rascal??!! Please. So out of place.
The festival is generally very laid back. Probably my only gripe is that the only serve lager or cider. I don’t like fizzy gassy beer and cider is ok for a while. I think we need a campaign….Real ale at Reading, lets kick it off!!
They have it at Glasto and its one of my favourites, Wherry!
If you enjoy your music then this is the place to go. Food and drink is pricey but they have built a Tesco across the road since last year so lots of people were stocking up there. I don’t think they knew what had hit them!! There is also a new Waitrose further along the road. Transport links are good to, with Reading and Reading West stations probably an equal distance away.

Have been at Reading this weekend! The main difference from last year is that it is not sponsored by Carling anymore, but other than that it seems to be pretty much the same! The music (which was mostly indie) was mostly amazing and there was always someone you could see with different acts performing on the different stages; the main stage, the nme stage, the alternative stage, the dance stage etc…
The camping went fine but it was almost impossible to find a spot to fit a 6-man tent when we got there at 6pm on thursday.
The people there get absolutely wasted every night and others also during the day. The security wsa good but the stewards were crap as they often sent me in the totally wrong direction when looking for loos etc. Everyone was relly friendly with some jokes including everyone in the whole festival (Bollocks- which is shouted in a mexican wave) and peple not too reluctant to give away a beer!
On the second day of camping we noticed a bottle of vodka had gone missing from our tent, then on the last night when we saw our tent at 4.30am there was ravioli and brownies smeared all over it. Inside was about 3 bags of rubbish which had been emptied and a sleeping bag was stolen but we were lucky nothing else was stolen but annoyed when we found out it was our neighbours -ours was the only tent in camp yellow to have anything done to it.
BUT Reading festival is amazing experience, the people are hilarious and you must go next year!

Reading has become one of the larger U.K. music festivals since its birth in the 70's. It happens yearly on the bank holiday weekend in August. It's definitely a youth orientated festival, although they are introducing family camping grounds away from the anarchy of the main campsite. Expect a lot of Indy, with a few classic big names saved for headliners. Once the bands have finished playing, around eleven or twelve, that's when the night really kicks off. Shouting, burning, exploding through the night come swarms of stumbling, squinting festival goers. Bins are upturned and used as drums which play until 7 or 8 am.
Imagine Lord of the Flies with older characters and a beer sponsor. I was discussing this with a friend at the festival just gone and we decided that if it went on for a few months, and without security, people would eventually begin to die. Fortunately it's a weekend only, and the security are very very good.
Not a child friendly environment at all, although the festival organizers are trying to make it more so. If you want to air you id out over a long weekend (and are willing to pay £145 to do so) then check it out.