Well, you may aswell end the summer on a high!
Reading was the best way for me to end summer 2018; the line-up was AMAZING; Post Malone, Kendrick Lamar, Dua Lipa, Now Now, Panic! At The Disco, Fallout Boy, Travis Scott, Pendulum, N.E.R.D, Hudson Taylor, Bring Me The Horizon - and that's only to name a few. I was also more relaxed in terms of festival looks, after expending my creativity at Sziget so I wasn't as hyped up about getting outfit photos (therefore, more cider sipping time) and the weather wasn't as intense so I could actually sleep at night. Well rested Aimee = happy Aimee.
To anyone considering attending Reading, I've compiled a list of the good and bad things about Reading; hopefully advising you on whether it's the right festival for you!
The Good
Reading is a fantastic festival to attend in terms of how accommodating they are, financing your ticket-wise. I began paying for my ticket in January; paying £80 deposit and then making monthly payments for the following 5 months. Without this option, I definitely wouldn't have been able to go!
One thing I would advise is get the Early Bird Camping. It allows you to set up your tent on the Wednesday. Now the festival doesn't actually start until Friday so you may think its a bit early to be there two days beforehand but by the time we rocked up, roughly half 8 the Wednesday night, we were lucky to get a camping spot. The extra day also gives you a chance to gather your bearings, allows you to learn your surroundings and there's a bus going into Reading all day which I'd highly recommend; Reading is a beautiful town with tons of high street shops and a Sainburys to get your drinks and snacks.
In terms of camping, they separate each site into colour zones and I would recommend orange camping. It's close enough(ish) to the main arena, it's not so noisy at night that you can't sleep and the people who camp there seem to generally be a sound bunch. Now, that's not to suggested that every other camp is filled with pricks but from what I saw, Yellow camp was full of young wans, someone described their Green camp neighbour as a "Ket head" and White camp seemed to have nice crowd but it was a good hour and a half walk to the arena! So stick with orange!
On a budget? Find the van between the portaloos and camping in Orange. They do egg rolls for £2 and with a bit of ketchup and mayo, they're divine. Avoid the cheesy chip though, trust me.
The arena! Its roughly a mile and a half in length but everything is spaced out incredibly well that you don't feel like you're wandering aimlessly. The stages are also not too far apart; ideal if you're hopping from one act to the next. There's also carnival rides; try out Oxygen - it's not for the faint of heart though!
The Bad
I'm going to sound like a granny when I say this but goddamn it, mosh pits ruin everything. As I am not aggressive in nature, the thought of standing in a crowd and getting caught up in one of them honestly makes me feeling queasy. Therefore, I never got as close to the front as I wanted; apart from Dua Lipa and that was only because who the hell can start a mosh pit to any of her songs? I don't understand the enjoyment or reason of them so if you're reading this and you can explain why they're anything but annoying then please do so in the comments!
The Ugly
Drugs. They are a huge part of Reading. Now I get that drug usage and festivals go hand-in-hand but I did find it was a bit overbearing at Reading. I had heard stories and witnessed girls as young as 15 off their heads on god knows what and to be honest, that is shit. Thinking back to being 15 years old, I'll put my hand up and say I was no angel child but there's a huge difference in hanging with your BFF's in a field drinking cider and being at a massive festival off your head on ketamine or Lord knows what. Call me uncool, I don't care; seeing that really made me feel sad for this generation growing up. The more I see this stuff unfold, the more I contemplate moving to an island with my first child haha!
Reading festival has so many more positives than negatives in my opinion and I would love to go again; I honestly can't rate the lineup enough! I just know for next time I'm setting my tent up super early. AND I'm buying my camping chair (and possibly my tent and sleeping bag) there because damn those things are heavy!!
Make sure to follow me on my socials @ohhheyitsaimee to keep up with all my daily shenanigans!
Until next time...
Aimee♥
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