Overview
#ReadingAndLeedsFestival (commonly #ReadingFest and #LeedsFest) represents the UK’s longest-running popular music festival, originating as the National Jazz Festival in 1961 before evolving into the Reading Festival and expanding to a simultaneous twin event in Leeds (1999). The hashtag dominates UK music Twitter every August Bank Holiday weekend, documenting identical lineups performed across two sites 200 miles apart.
History & Cultural Impact
Reading Festival is the world’s oldest popular music festival still running, transitioning from jazz (1961) to rock (1970s-80s with AC/DC, Iron Maiden) to alternative/indie/emo in the 1990s-2000s (Nirvana 1992, Green Day, Blink-182, My Chemical Romance). The Leeds expansion in 1999 doubled capacity to 180,000 combined attendees.
The hashtag culture reflects:
- Bottle-throwing tradition — Reading’s infamous crowd aggression (banned items 2010+)
- Guitar music dominance — Rock, punk, metal, emo, indie focus
- Career moments — Arctic Monkeys 2006 breakthrough, Eminem headline controversy 2013, Twenty One Pilots surprise piano crowd walk 2019
- Festival chaos — Mud baths, tent fires, legendary wild crowds
- Royal Blood’s rise — 2014 performance launched career
The twin-site format creates unique social media dynamics: artists perform Friday-Saturday-Sunday rotations between Reading and Leeds, with fans comparing sets in real-time.
Platform Presence
- Twitter/X: Lineup reactions, set-by-set updates, Reading vs Leeds rivalry banter
- Instagram: Mud culture, crowd surfing, mosh pit POVs
- TikTok: Festival survival guides, “Reading Fest is unhinged” compilations (2021+)
The hashtag spikes massively last weekend of August (UK Bank Holiday).
Related Hashtags
#Glastonbury #Download #Isle of Wight Festival #UKFestivals #BankHolidayWeekend #Reading2023 #Leeds2023 #LiveMusic #RockFestival
Sources
- Reading Festival official archives: https://www.readingfestival.com
- NME/Kerrang festival coverage 2010-2023
- BBC Radio 1 festival broadcasts
- Festival Republic attendance figures