Leeds & Reading Festivals 2013

[Matt]

So they've announced today that Eminem is going to be one of the headline acts, they'd previously announced that Deftones, alt-J, Sub-Focus and Boy Better Know (ft. Wiley, Skepta and JME) will be playing at various points on various stages over the weekend.

Eminem's announcement has divided my Facebook between "zOMGZ BESTEST TING EVA!" and "THIS IS SHIT, FUCK LEEDS FEST", personally I can see why people might not be interested in seeing him but he's a huge name that rarely plays over here, has a huge fanbase that overlaps with quite a lot of Leeds/Reading's target audience and Jesus Christ, come on, this is a festival that has been headlined by the likes of Franz Ferdinand, Kings of Leon, Kasabian and Arcade Fire, [if I were going, I'm not sure I am] I'd much rather see an interesting non-rock artist as headliner than NME's flavour of the week.

However, I'm not sure the best way to cut down on the number of dickheads getting pilled off their heads and causing problems is to book Eminem.

[ADG]

The last time he played a UK festival was T In The Park I think, he turned up an hour late because he refused to get his shoes dirty and from what I saw on TV he spent most of the set letting the other guys on stage do the actual rapping.

[GA!]

Eminem has headlined before (way back in 2001) so it's not like this is a Jay Z at Glastonbury 'OMFG WHEREZ THE FESTIVALZ I LOVED GONE' moment. I don't like Eminem but it's about the most interesting headliner Leeds/Reading have had since the organisers went 'fuck it, let The Darkness headline' in 2004.

[Jimmy]

Yeah, I'd love to see Eminem and I'd happily have seen him over any headliner last year. I get that it could attract a few pricks, which isn't amazing and all, but I do think alot of people that usually go would also happily watch Eminem. It's not like he's exactly an artist who's unpopular or hard to get into it. Some of the backlash is hilariously self entitled, though.

[METALMAN]

Like them or not, Franz Ferdinand, Kings of Leon, Kasabian and Arcade Fire - multi-platinum albums and all - are hardly "flavour of the week".

[Matt]

Franz Ferdinand were a big deal for about 2 years, Kings of Leon were a big deal for one album, Arcade Fire admittedly have retained/increased their popularity since headlining but they were very much NME's flavour of the month at the time, Kasabian [having just googled them] are apparently more succesful than I thought.

[METALMAN]

That's ignoratio elenchi.

Temporarily popular or not, Franz Ferdinand and Kings of Leon were exceedingly popular at the time they were headlining. Why should their popularity now be taken into consideration when evaluating their suitability to headline in the past?

And indeed, their success, and careers, has been sustained enough to avoid them being tarred as NME's flavour of the month. That implies something without lasting appeal, who is loved by NME staffers and not the record buying public. Not Franz Ferdinand or Kings Of Leon. Not least because NME actually turned against Kings of Leon after they went huge,

[Matt]

My point wasn't "they shouldn't headline" but "I'd rather have a headliner that I'm likely to have been happy to have seen 5 years later than one I can barely remember anything other than their biggest 2 hits". They might have been big names and sold tickets but looking back, most people are going to remember them as just another headliner.

[Cactus Drags]

Doesn't NME turn against pretty much anyone once they've gotten popular?

[METALMAN]

That's just the risk you take if you judge festivals on their merits five years down the line rather than enjoying them for the moment.

imagine how shit people,who went to Glastonbury 1992 must feel (Carter USM, Shakespear's Sister and Youssou N'Dour, although that would have been shit at the time too.)

[METALMAN]

Doesn't NME turn against pretty much anyone once they've gotten popular?

Unless you're Oasis I guess. Inexplicable really.

[Cactus Drags]

Wonderful.

[METALMAN]

[Colly]

Doesn't NME turn against pretty much anyone once they've gotten popular?

Unless you're Oasis I guess. Inexplicable really.

Blur, Radiohead and Arctic Monkeys too. Probably Kasabian, there'll be more. I think they turned on Kings of Leon same time I did though, when they released an album of self indulgent poo after four decent ones.

[tristy]

To be fair about the Kings of Leon thing, they've headlined several big US festivals. I, too, was up in arms when they headlined Bonnaroo in 2010, but then again, that made sense, since they started playing the really small tents at the fest and eventually grew into this huge, popular band so they worked their way from the tents to the Which (#2 biggest stage) to the What (main stage). Still, though, I hated it. Eminem also headlined in 2011, and I thought what Matt did/does: it's going to cause an increase of douchebag, wanker rap fans that will just cause trouble or some shit. But, nothing like that happened. Not even at Lil' Wayne, later that night.

Then again, I've heard the UK has...uh, weird types of "groups" of people. For example, whatever you call "chavs" I guess could be compared to wiggers/white teens who think they're thugs.

But, anyway, if any of you do end up going, I'd at least check out Eminem's set. I'm not a fan by any means, and I did, indeed, skip his set that night (was sick from ecstasy the night before), but I watched it from home on the webcast and it wasn't all that bad. Eminem shouldn't have a backing band, only certain few rappers can pull that off, but he wasn't horrible or anything. Believe it or not, one of the worst rap/hip-hop bands I've seen at a festival are Black Star (I know, I know), The Roots (I was surprised at how bad they sucked) and Lil' Wayne (goes back to the live band thing). I heard Kid Cudi sucks balls live, too, but I wasn't there for his set in 2009.

Fuck, Yelawolf had a better live show than any of those three I just mentioned, and I only saw maybe 15 minutes of his set. Without a doubt, though, the best hip-hop set I've seen at a festival, headlining or otherwise, is Jay-Z. Talk about a fucking party in the crowd, my god.