Reading & Leeds Festival 2008
THE GREATEST ROCK N ROLL SHOW ON EARTH RETURNS
FRIDAY AUGUST 22nd TO SUNDAY AUGUST 24th
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are the undisputed king of the festivals. This year is no exception with three headline acts on the world famous Main Stage that are exclusive to us and guaranteed to have you praying for the August Bank Holiday to come round that little bit quicker.
Over the three days we have the return of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, a band tailor made for Reading and Leeds, a UK exclusive performance from THE KILLERS, one of the world’s biggest acts and the best and biggest heavy rock band in the world playing their only UK festival, METALLICA. The NME / Radio One Stage sees a unique headline performance from NME’s Godlike Geniuses MANIC STREET PREACHERS, a special co-headline between BABYSHAMBLES and THE WOMBATS and THE CRIBS taking a well earned debut headline slot.
The TENTH year of the Leeds Festival, still the North of England’s only music festival coincides with the TWENTIETH Reading Festival since the people at Festival Republic rescued the event from a slow slide and made it into the world famous rock n’ roll spectacular that we all know and love. Over the years a host of bands have started their careers at one or both of the sites, from Nirvana to Underworld, Arctic Monkeys to Editors, Foo Fighters to Coldplay, the biggest names in music have written the opening chapters of their amazing stories at the world’s best festival. Perhaps that’s why this year’s event arrives clutching its third NME Best Live Event award in a row.
This year is special being our 20/10 anniversary and the starting line-up reflects that. Across the stages we have every new buzz band you have read about this year, every band you want to hear play across the twin sites and three headliners of such colossal size and importance they are probably visible from space. All exclusive performances, you won’t see our headliners on any other festival stage in England, or indeed the UK in the case of two of the three. Away from the Main Stage expect some real surprises on the NME / Radio One Stage, the A to Z of punk, hardcore and ska that is the Lock Up Stage and the headliners of the future on the smaller stages. Last year was a secret gig by the Kaiser Chiefs at Leeds, the irresistible rise of The Enemy and The Pigeon Detectives on the NME/ Radio One Stage as both bands moved on to platinum album sales, a Kate Nash show on the Carling Stage that was packed to the rafters and three of the biggest bands in the world headlining the Main Stage. The Reading and Leeds Festival has always been the moment of the summer when bands rise to prominence and last year was no exception.
Over 3 days, over 150 acts, these are the Reading and Leeds Festivals, back again to make the summer worthwhile.
