The massive lineup for this year’s Reading and Leeds festivals has been announced, topped by recently rejuvenated folksters Mumford & Sons, metal giants Metallica, and UK indie rock vanguards The Libertines. This year’s bill also features a solid continent of Aussie artists.
Joining a lineup of almost 100 acts, including the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Limp Bizkit, Bring Me The Horizon, Royal Blood, Deadmau5, Bastille, and Run The Jewels, will be dance floor rockers Knife Party, Sydney ghost folk trio Little May, and buzzed-about indie rockers DMA’s.
“It’s amazing, man. I didn’t think we’d be over there so quickly, which is cool,” DMA’s guitarist Johnny Took recently told Triple J. Having already visited the UK once for a tour and support slot with The Courteneers last November, Took said he is “looking forward to going back”.
“I’m definitely on the festival vibe – it’s heaps better, man,” he told Triple J. “[I’d] love to see The Libertines, that’d be pretty amazing; Ratking and Alvvays, a band from Montreal. Also discovering new bands, there’s always bands lower on the list that you’ve never heard of that you always stumble upon. That’s what I’m excited about.”
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However, while we’re overjoyed that one of Australia’s best all-girl groups has nabbed a spot on the lineup, many have already noted the distinct lack of female talent on the bill. As Gigwise writes, despite featuring almost 100 acts, only nine are female or feature female members.
The ladies featured include Wolf Alice, Azealia Banks, Marmozets, Alvvays, Hannah Wants, Kardiknox, Little May, Sam Fermin, and Walking On Cars, while the rest of the lineup is pretty much a sausage fest. The criticism follows comments from Reading and Leeds founder Melvin Benn disputing the notion that festival lineups are too male-focused.
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“The idea that female bands are sidelined as a suggestion is just not there,” he recently told Gigwise. “The truth is that there has been an historic lack of opportunity for young women to get into bands and to be in bands, and I think that has disappeared now.”
“For me it’s never been about the gender of the band, it’s been about the quality of the band, and I think increasingly female bands, female-fronted bands, entirely female bands, mixed bands… they’re just forever on the increase now, and gone are the days where a band was four guys. That’s gone now. It’s genuinely gone.”
Readings & Leeds Festival 2015
A$AP Ferg
All Time Low
Alvvays
American Football
Ash
Azealia Banks
Bastille
Ben Kahn
Boy Better Know
Bring Me The Horizon
Brodinski
Bury Tomorrow
Camo & Krooked
Cancer Bats
Cardiknox
Catfish and The Bottlemen
Circa Waves
Coasts
Craze
Darlia
Deadmau5
Dillon Francis
Django Django
DMA’s
Everything Everything
Flatbush Zombies
Frank Turner (solo)
Frnkiero Andthe Cellabration
FTSE
Ghost
Glass Animals
Gojira
Gorgon City
Hannah Wants
Hudson Mohawke
Jack Garratt
Jake Isaac
Jamie T
Jamie XX
Kendrick Lamar
Knife Party
Krept & Konan
Lethal Bizzle
Limp Bizkit
Little May
Lonely The Brave
Manchester Orchestra
Marmozets
Mastodon
Metallica (Headliner)
Modern Life Is War
Mumford & Sons (Headliner)
My Nu Leng
Neck Deep
New Found Glory
Nick Brewer
Oneman
Panic! At the Disco
Peace
Pell
Pierce The Veil
Porter Robinson
Pretty Vicious
Radkey
Rae Sremmurd
Rat Boy
Ratking
Rebel Sound
Refused
Royal Blood
Run The Jewels
San Fermin
Simple Plan
Slaves
Stormzy
Swim Deep
The Bulletproof Bomb
The Cribs
The Districts
The Libertines (Headliner)
The Maccabees
The Menzingers
The Wombats
Tourist
Toyboy & Robin
Tyler, The Creator
Walking On Cars
We Are The Ocean
While She Sleeps
Wilkinson (Live)
Wolf Alice
Years & Years
Reading Festival 2015
Friday, 28th August – Sunday, 30th August 2015
Richfield Avenue, Reading
Tickets: Reading Festival
Leeds Festival 2015
Friday, 28th August – Sunday, 30th August 2015
Bramham Park, Bramham
Tickets: Leeds Festival
