Reading 2012 Line-up Poster...
Tonight, Festival Republic revealed the second of their much-anticipated festival announcements by revealing the major acts performing at this year’s Reading and Leeds festivals.
The promoters revealed this year’s headliners to be Foo Fighters, Kasabian and The Cure. And if this stellar line-up doesn’t suit your tastes, there’s plenty more on show. Florence and the Machine, The Black Keys and Paramore share the main stage’s second billing across the three days of the festival, while festival favourites Justice, Maccabees and the newly-reformed At the Drive-In will top the bill on the NME/Radio 1 Stage.
Reading and twin festival Leeds’ traditional focus on rock music is ever-present on this year’s bill, with the Sunday at Reading seeing a number of international and homegrown acts – including The Gaslight Anthem, Kaiser Chiefs and Bullet For My Valentine – joining Foo Fighters in one of the strongest stages in years.
Elsewhere across the weekend, different tastes are accommodated by the likes of Crystal Castles, Two Door Cinema Club, Katy B and The Shins, with many more acts still to be announced in the months leading up to the August Bank Holiday Weekend.
This latest announcement comes, as promised, exactly a week after Festival Republic announced their Latitude 2012 line-up. Reading and Leeds’ artsier stablemate was hotly-rumoured to be featuring The Cure, but it seems that the place for huge rock acts remains the more-established festivals.
Latitude 2012 will have to make do with Paul Weller, Bon Iver and Elbow, a line-up that proves that the July showcase is not living off its older siblings’ cast-offs. And the same breadth and depth of acts runs through the Suffolk festival too – Battles, Wild Beasts and Janelle Monae are all enticing prospects – while fans of Metronomy and The Horrors can catch the bands on either weekend.
Latitude also has many more music acts left up its sleeves, including the famous ‘Joanna Newsom’ Sunday lunchtime slot that has become something of a fan favourite. The Henham Park weekend also benefits from an extensive arts line-up including comedy (Tim Minchin, Jack Dee, Reginald D Hunter), theatre. dance and literature.
With both line-ups boasting such enticing acts, the only difficulty is which one to choose!
Latitude (12th – 15th July) and Reading/Leeds (24th – 26th August) are both on sale now at the Latitude and Reading/Leeds websites.
