Weekend tickets cost £192.50 before booking fees.
Pulp headlined over The Strokes at the Leeds Festival.
Mouthwash pulled out due to the split up of the band, they were replaced by Fighting Fiction.
The Twilight Singers pulled out for unforeseen personal scheduling conflicts, they have since been replaced by Young Legionnaire. OFWGKTA pulled out of the Leeds Festival due to the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, but still performed at the Reading Festival. Jane's Addiction were due to headline the NME/Radio 1 Stage but cancelled both their appearances at the last minute - after arriving at the Reading site - due to frontman Perry Farrell falling ill. Rise Against played a secret acoustic set on the BBC Introducing Stage at Reading after their mainstage slot.
2010
The line-up for the Reading and Leeds 2010 festivals was announced on 29 March 2010, and tickets were made available thereafter.[3][4]
This was the first Reading and Leeds Festivals featuring Blink-182 since their reformation.
The Libertines reunited to play exclusive "special guest" slots at Reading and Leeds. The shows were the only scheduled Libertines performances since they split up in 2004.
A Day to Remember were forced to cancel their appearance on the festival republic stage due to a member needing surgery.
The festival ran from Friday 28 August 2009 - Sunday 30 August 2009. Weekend tickets cost £175. Day tickets cost £70. All weekend tickets for Reading sold out in approximately 3 hours, with tickets for Leeds selling out in less than 24 hours.
A large schedule gap on the Radio1/NME stage on the Friday at Leeds and Saturday at Reading was filled by a surprise appearance by Them Crooked Vultures to rapturous applause from large crowds.[6]
The posters for the lineup reported Juliano Belletti playing on the Festival Republic stage. This was a hoax as Belletti is a defender for Chelsea Football Club, and put on the lineup by band booker Neil Pengelly, a dedicated Chelsea fan
2008
The line-up for the Reading and Leeds 2008 festivals was announced on 31 March 2008, and tickets were made available thereafter.[7][8]
The festival ran from Friday 22 - Sunday 24 August 2008. Weekend tickets cost £155. Day tickets cost £65.
Set Your Goals pulled out of the festival. Alkaline Trio pulled mainland festival appearances but still appeared at Reading/Leeds.
The Pigeon Detectives appeared on the Dance To The Radio Stage (an alias for the BBC Introducing Stage in reference to their label) on Thursday 21st at the Leeds Site. This carries on the tradition of bands originating from Leeds making surprise appearances at the festival after the Kaiser Chiefs had done the previous year [1].
Avenged Sevenfold were booked, but several members of the band including singer M. Shadows were suffering from flu and could not perform properly. They appeared at Leeds nonetheless and performed four songs, with the final song being sung by a female fan from the crowd. The band then pulled out of playing at Reading as M Shadows was told to rest his vocal cords by a doctor. This affected the running order of the day, and time was filled by playing music over the PA system while the timetable was being re-planned.
A number of Nirvana covers were played over the weekend including Territorial Pissings by Pennywise; In Bloom by Dirty Pretty Things; Breed by Feeder; and "Pennyroyal Tea" by Manic Street Preachers.
Kaiser Chiefs played a secret slot on the Carling Stage at the Leeds leg of the event under the pseudonym of 'Hooks for Hands'. Extra security were brought in to handle the massive crowds of people trying to get into the tent since it had been confirmed earlier in the day through The Sun newspaper. Foo Fighters were also confirmed through various sources to have a secret slot planned on the Friday of the Reading leg just before Ash in the Radio 1/NME tent, but Dave Grohl fell ill and the slot was pulled. Subsequently, Ash had to rehearse several songs that were not planned for the set just hours before they were meant to go on.
Peeping Tom were also due to perform on the dance stage, but pulled out.
+44 also dropped out of the Friday at Leeds and the Sunday at Reading.
A weekend ticket cost £145 (plus a maximum of £7 booking fee).
Shortly after the first line-up announcement, Feeder and Yeah Yeah Yeahs switched days, meaning that Yeah Yeah Yeahs would play Reading on Friday and Leeds on Saturday, and that Feeder would play Reading on Saturday and Leeds on Sunday. Audioslave pulled out of their slot due to the band being busy recording new material, The Shins pulled out for undisclosed reasons, and From First to Last pulled out due to the then lead singer (Sonny Moore) needing throat surgery, Paramore had to pull out because their singer (Hayley Williams) had throat problems and were replaced by Sonic Boom Six lower in the bill. Story of the Year and Bleeding Through also pulled out for undisclosed reasons. Flogging Molly played twice at both festivals, once in the punk tent and once on the main stage. Tickets were £135 for a weekend ticket and £60 for a day ticket.
This was the first festival in which, due to popular demand the Punk and underground tent extended to two days.
This year saw the addition of a second barrier at the main stage. There was no policy on admission into the inner circle with both sides wide open, but the intention was to reduce crowd density at the very front. Officially the inner circle had a capacity of 20,000.
Rioting allegedly did not occur this year and though this was mainly due to the amount of rain on the Sunday night, Mean Fiddler took a new approach to trying to combat the problem. As opposed to increasing security they managed to obtain later licences allowing some entertainments to last until 4 am. This together with the general maintenance of amenities until early Monday morning aimed to keep people occupied preventing riots.
2005 saw My Chemical Romance play both Reading and Leeds on the same day, in an alteration from the original schedule, due to the MTV Video Music Awards. The Transplants were originally booked to play the festivals but pulled out in mid-August due to illness. Jimmy Eat World also pulled out due to other commitments. Other drop outs include Willy Mason, Simple Plan and Fall Out Boy (also due to the VMAs). A weekend ticket cost £125, a day ticket £60.
On the Radio 1 Stage, the Super Furry Animals headlined on the Leeds Saturday, with Graham Coxon second. This order was reversed when the bands played the Reading Friday. New Found Glory pulled out a few weeks before the festival. A weekend ticket cost £105, a day ticket £45.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club played as a replacement for The White Stripes, who pulled out after Jack White was in a car crash with his then-girlfriend, Renée Zellweger. Although they played second on the Main Stage, it was billed as with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, reflecting their smaller status. Jay-Z also pulled out, with The Darkness moving further up the bill to replace him. The Libertines were without Pete Doherty, who was at that time estranged from the band; he also missed their 2004 appearance. Other drop outs included Courtney Love, Lostprophets and Godsmack. A weekend ticket cost £95, a day ticket £40. This was last appearance Blink-182 played for the Reading and Leeds Festivals before going on Indefinite hiatus in 2005 and eventually reuniting in 2009.
Guns N' Roses played only in Leeds as they had a prior touring commitment in London on the day of the Reading event. In Reading they were replaced by Raging Speedhorn who appeared much lower on the bill. A weekend ticket cost £90, a day ticket was £39. Reel Big Fish pulled out of Leeds for undisclosed reasons. The first day of the festival was mostly noted for Feeder's set in the Radio 1 Evening Session tent, in which many people wanted to see the band resulting in a crowd scuffle, making it impossible for people to enter the tent so they had to watch from outside. An estimated 1,000 people had to do so, while people inside the tent totalled more than its official capacity. It was also their first official appearance after the death of their drummer Jon Lee earlier in the year. The band were invited by Melvin Benn to headline the first day of the main stage, before turning down the offer as they did not want to play such a high-placed slot so soon after Jon's death, so requested to play a much more low-key slot headlining the second stage. The final day of the festival saw The Prodigy play for over their allowed time therefore breaking a curfew, with allegations that Keith Flint punched a festival organiser after being informed. Antipop Consortium cancelled their Dance Stage appearance after they disbanded earlier that month.
This was the year that the Concrete Jungle Stage made its debut. Weekend tickets cost £80, day tickets £35. The Strokes were originally scheduled to play on the Radio One stage - they were subsequently moved to the Main Stage following intensive hype in the buildup to the festival. This would also be the last ever UK festival appearance for Feeder drummer Jon Lee; the following year he took his own life on 7 January in his Miami home.
Weekend tickets cost £75, day tickets £30. Curve were originally due to play the Melody Maker stage on the Sunday but were replaced by Theaudience at short notice.
NOFX pulled out of the Sunday due to a broken arm (cannot remember which member) from a skateboard accident, but did play Kill all the White Men with Pennywise
This year held two very memorable Reading incidents: Nicky Wire's bass knocking out an unsuspecting security team member, and Donita Sparks of L7 serving up controversy with a used sanitary product.
