As someone who has recently attended the infamous Reading Festival in August, I have to say that it was not at all what I would have expected. Packed with people, poor sanitary conditions and not to mention the lack of safety precautions, one has to ask why people would go to such an event? However, on the other side of the argument stands the fact that, after all this , it is, in simple terms, a right of passage that many, especially teens who have just finished their GCSEs, can look forward to at the end of a long summer holiday. And so, in this way, the question still stands; How do you assess this rollercoaster experience?

Reading Festival, the older of the two festivals Reading and Leeds, is, from a personal point of view, a great way to finish on a high in summer and escape from the idea of the upcoming new school term. With a maximum capacity of 75,000 campers, and an attendance of around 100,500, the numbers speak for themselves, showing the sheer popularity of the event. Across the three days (or five if your feeling extra bold), a total of 40 artists performed in front of thousands, including some of the most influential artists, ranging from AJ Tracey’s live and direct performance (my personal favourite)  to Bastille’s heart warming songs. Statistics aside for one second, my experience of the festival was brilliant, camping for five days with some of my best friends whilst getting to watch my favourite artists perform right in front of me. I appreciate the camping part doesn’t sound as appealing, but for me, it only made my time so much better. To my ears, all of the above sounds positive and I would definitely recommend going to the festival, whether it’s to celebrate an end of exams or simply to go out for the day to watch an artist live.

Having said that, there are several problems which, although reluctant to, I think I should address. These problems range from the fact that the toilets are, despite not being a main component of the experience, horrible (but then again, who goes to Reading for the toilets), to potential thefts. Whilst there are multiple security stations scattered around each camp, they fail to stop the amount of stealing that goes on whilst people are away from their tents. Furthermore, health care is another one of the festival’s weakest links. With such high numbers of attendance, the crowds are inevitably enormous wherever you go and with temperatures as high as 25 degrees Celsius and little protection from the sun, collapsing is very common, I experienced this on several occasions.Moreover, as recent surveys have shown large surges in COVID, the pandemic is still very much a concern.It is fair to say that the festival most definitely did not help these figures stay low, the case for Reading being a super-spreader event is strong. 

In order to decide which side of the sword you choose, you have to look at both it’s positives and negatives. In the case of Reading Festival, it is clear that there is an abundance of both. However, although I do admit that some of its problems are worse than its perks, I would say that the amazing experience was definitely worth the loos, long queues and lack of personal space and I hope that many more generations continue to experience Reading Festival.