2012 Reading Festival first acts announced

So, here's the main acts for Reading and Leeds 2012. As expected, Foo Fighters headline the Sunday night. Tickets available here:

Foo Fighters for Reading 2012?

Could it be that the Foo Fighters will be one of this year's Reading/Leeds headliners? Quite probably, given that the band are streaming their debut performance at the 1995 Reading Festival on their website: The headliners are due to be announced this evening...

Reading/Leeds 2011 line-up announced

The first bands have been announced for Reading/Leeds 2011. My Chemical Romance, The Strokes and Muse are the main stage headliners. Tickets are available via www.seetickets.com. Weekend tickets cost a whopping £192.50, plus booking fees and postage. Car parking is £5. That's one hell of a lot of money for what looks like one of the weakest line-ups in living memory.

Reading Festival 2011 ticket update

Ok, so that's a 1971 ticket... but weekend tickets for 2011 are still available, though Early Entry tickets and passes for the White car park are sold out. Weekend tickets are £187 including booking fee (that's a 9350% increase in 40 years!), plus £5.20 postage. They are available from See Tickets (click to go there).

A very wet Reading in store...

As rain continues to fall, and parts of the campsite are reportedly under water, Reading Festival organisers insist they will be able to keep any waterlogging under control via the use of Thames sluice-gates and tons of wood-chips. The good news is that the forecast is for the rain to pass through overnight, with a drier day tomorrow and sunny spells on Saturday before the rain returns on Sunday evening. (photo: Press Association)

Reading Festival TV coverage

The BBC is showing extensive festival highlights of this year's Reading Festival. Here's the list of start times for all the scheduled programmes. Further details can be obtained by clicking HERE and then on the individual programmes.

Friday 27 August 9:00pm BBC3

Friday 27 August 10:30pm BBC3

Saturday 28 August 8:00pm BBC3

Saturday 28 August 9:00pm BBC3

Saturday 28 August 10:00pm BBC3

Sunday 29 August 11:15pm BBC3

Monday 30 August 7:00pm BBC3

Tuesday 31 August 3:15am BBC3

Friday 03 September 11:50pm BBC2

Festival downloads

For those of you that can't make Reading this year (or wish to re-live past highlights) why not download some shows from previous Reading Festivals to while away the weekend without getting soaked to the skin. Click HERE to get classic sets from bands including Oasis, The Strangles, Morrissey, Garbage, Muse and many more.

Reading 2010

Well, the festival weekend's here at last. Sadly, I can't be there this year. Hope everyone has a fantastic (and safe) time, and doesn't get too wet, though that looks pretty unlikely at the moment. If anyone has any reviews/pics, please head on over to the forum and post them - you don't have to register.

V Festival latest

Kings of Leon and Kasabian will headlining this year's V Festival, which takes place at Hylands Park, Chelmsford and Weston park, near Stafford on Saturday and Sunday 21st and 22nd August. Also appearing on the main stage are Stereophonics, Paul Weller, Editors, The Courteeners, Passion Pit, Faithless, The Kooks, Paolo Nutini, Madness, Skunk Anansie and Pixie Lott. David Guetta and The Prodigy will headline the 4 Music stage, with Florence and the Machine, Scouting For Girls, White Lies and Shed Seven among the support. Cheryl Cole and The Pet Shop Boys will headline the third stage with La Roux, Groove Armada, The Charlatans, Mika, Goldfrapp and The Sugababes also appearing. Tickets go on sale on 5th march. See here for more details.

McCarteny and more for Hard Rock Calling

Sir Paul McCarteny has been announced as the Sunday night headliner at Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park on 27th June. It will be one of four big dates he plays this summer. The others are the Isel of Wight Festival (Sunday 13th June), Hampden Park, Glasgow (Sunday 20th June) and the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff (Saturday 26th June). Also confirmed for the Friday (25th June) at Hard Rock Calling are Ben Harper, Wolfmother and The Gaslight Anthem, all supporting previously announced headliners Pearl Jam. Ticketsfor Pearl Jam are available now. McCarteny tickets go on sale on 8th March. More details here.

Muse, Eminem and Kasabian for T in the Park

Muse, Eminem and Kasabian will headline this year's T in the Park which takes place from 9th-11th July. It will bw Eminem's first UK show in five years. Other acts announced include Jay-Z, Biffy Clyro, La Roux, Florence and the Machine, The Coral, Dizzee Rascal, Faithless, The Proclaimers, Calvin Harris, Skunk Anansie, Stereophonices, The Gossip, The Prodigy and Wolfmother. Tickets go on sale on Friday 26th February at 9am. For more information, see tinthepark.com

Stevie Wonder to headline Glastonbury

The legendary Stevie Wonder looks like being the Sunday night headliner at this year's Glastonbury Festival after Michael Eavis let slip that negotiations were almost finalised with the star. Muse will headline the Saturday, with U2 on the Friday.

Reading 2010 tickets

Although the advance tickets sold out shortly after last year's festival, a further batch will be available in late March, which probably indicates a line-up announcement is due at that time. Strongly rumoured acts so far include: Blink 182, Green Day, My Chemical Romance, The Maccabees, Biffy Clyro, Cancer Bats and Freebass. Further info at the official website.

Sonisphere line-up

The UK Sonisphere Festival at Knebworth, which runs from Friday 3oth July to Sunday 1st August will see headlining appearances from iron maiden and Rammstein, while other bands announced so far are Motley Crue, Alice Cooper, Placebo, Slayer, Iggy & The Stooges, The Cult, Papa Roach, Anthrax, Fear Factory and Bring Me The Horizon. Henry Rollins will give a spoken-word performance.

Download Festival line-up

This year's Download Festival takes place at Donington Park on Friday 11th to Sunday 13th June. AC/DC headline on the Friday, with Them Crooked Vultures, Wolfmother, Bullet For My Valentine, Motorhead, Deftones, Stone Temple Pilots, Volbeat, and Megadeth also confirmed to appear. Tickets with weekend camping cost £170 (no doubt with a booking fee on top... and probably a car-parking charge, too...). The organisers have also banned flags on poles from the arena following a number of complaints last year. The capacity for this year's event will be 111,000, making Download the second-largest festival in the UK, after Glastonbury.

Glastonbury 2010 sold out

All tickets for the 40th anniversary Glastonbury Festival in 2010 are now sold out. Any returns will go on sale at some point in 2010. U2 are the only confirmed headliners, playing the Friday night in their first-ever Glasto appearance. Also confirmed are The Wurzels, Dub Pistols and Squeeze.

Isle of Wight 2010 acts announced

The 2010 Isle of Wight Festival, which run from Friday 11th June to Sunday 13th June has announced its first acts. Jay-Z will headline the Friday night; Saturday will be topped by The Strokes, with Blondie second on the bill. Sunday sees Pink in the 'special guest' slot (presumably second on the bill) with the headliner to be announced. Additionally, Orbital will play on the Saturday (second stage headliners, by the look of it), and Squeeze will play on the Tursday night, which will be available for weekend campers only. Tickets can be bought now from www.isleofwightfestival.com

Hard Rock Calling 2010 first act announced

Next year's Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park will run for three days (Friday 25th June to Sunday 27th June), and the first headliner announced is for Friday 25th June, which will be Pearl Jam. Tickets are on 'pre-sale' now via www.hardrockcalling.co.uk

Wireless 2010 headliner announced

Yes, you saw that correctly - it's Pink, who will be supported on 2nd July by The Ting Tings and other acts to be announced. I was really looking forward to a day out in Hyde Park next year... let's hope Hard Rock Calling's acts are better than this.

Nirvana at Reading 1992 released

Nirvana's legendary 1992 headline appearance at reading has finally been released on CD, DVD and a limited edition DVD/CD double-pack. The DVD contains the full show, while the CD omits 'Love Buzz' and almost all of the between-song stage talk - presumably because there wasn't quite enough space for the whole show on one CD. 'Love Buzz' and all the chat are on the DVD, however. The full DVD tracklist is:

1. Intro
2. Breed
3. Drain You
4. Aneurysm
5. School
6. Sliver
7. In Bloom
8. Come As You Are
9. Lithium
10. About A Girl
11. Tourette's
12. Polly
13. Lounge Act
14. Smells Like Teen Spirit
15. On A Plain
16. Negative Creep
17. Been A Son
18. All Apologies
19. Blew
20. Dumb
21. Stay Away
22. Spank Thru
23. Love Buzz
24. The Money Will Roll Right In
25. D-7
26. Territorial Pissings

The DVD/CD set is available from play.com for just £11.99 (inc postage).