Editing Reading and Leeds Festivals (section)

{{Short description|Pair of annual music festivals in England}}
{{Redirect|Leeds Festival|the 1858–1985 festivals|Leeds Festival (classical music)}}{{Redirects here|Reading festival|book festivals|Literary festival|text=}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2015}}
{{Infobox music festival
 | music_festival_name = Reading and Leeds Festivals
 | image               = File:Leeds Festival 2012.jpg
 | caption             = Leeds Festival Site in 2012
 | location            = [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]] and [[Leeds]], England
*Beaulieu Jazz Festival (1955–1961)
*Various as National Jazz Festival (1961–1970)
*[[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]] (since 1971)
*Also at [[Leeds]] (since 1999)
 | years_active        = 1955–present (except 2020)
 | dates               = August bank holiday
 | attendance          = 105,000 (2019, daily) <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-berkshire-47614818|title=Reading Festival set for extra 5,000 revellers in 2019|date = 18 March 2019| website= www.bbc.com |access-date = 22 July 2022}}</ref>
 | genre               = {{hlist|Alternative|rock|metal|hip hop|dance|pop}}
 | website             = {{URL|readingfestival.com}}
{{URL|leedsfestival.com}}
}}
The '''Reading and Leeds Festivals''' are a pair of annual [[music festival]]s that take place in [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]] and [[Leeds]] in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August [[bank holiday]] weekend. The Reading Festival is held at Little John's Farm on Richfield Avenue in central Reading, near [[Caversham Bridge]]. The Leeds event is held in [[Bramham Park]], near [[Wetherby]], the grounds of a historic house. Headliners and most supporting acts typically play at both sites, with Reading's Friday line up becoming Leeds' Saturday line-up, Reading's Saturday line-up playing at Leeds on Sunday, and Leeds' Friday line-up attending Reading on Sunday. Campsites are available at both sites and weekend tickets include camping. Day tickets are also sold.

The Reading Festival, the older of the two festivals, is the longest-running popular music festival in the UK.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-01-11 |title=Reading in 1971: the town of the first Reading Festival |url=https://www.readingmuseum.org.uk/reading-1971-town-first-reading-festival |access-date=2023-11-05 |website=Reading Museum |language=en}}</ref> Many of the biggest bands in the UK and internationally have played at the festival over five decades. The festival has had various musical phases over the years, but since the current two-site format was adopted in 1999, rock, [[Alternative rock|alternative]], [[Indie rock|indie]], [[Punk rock|punk]], and [[Metal music|metal]] have been the main genres featured in the line-up. More recently [[hip hop]] has comprised an increasing proportion of the lineup, including headline sets by artists such as [[Kendrick Lamar]], [[Travis Scott]], [[Eminem]] and [[Post Malone]].

The festivals are run by [[Festival Republic]], which was divested from Mean Fiddler Music Group.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.festivalrepublic.com/history/|title=History|website=Festival Republic|access-date=10 July 2022}}</ref> From 1998 to 2007, the festivals were known as the ''Carling Weekend: Reading'' and the ''Carling Weekend: Leeds'' for promotional purposes. In November 2007, the sponsored title was abolished after nine years and the Reading Festival reclaimed its original name.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://2007.leedsfestival.com/news/story.aspx?aid=7c8d24b6-f0ce-49b3-92f7-7b073069ec46|title=Festivals part company with Carling|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080409154135/http://2007.leedsfestival.com/news/story.aspx?aid=7c8d24b6-f0ce-49b3-92f7-7b073069ec46|archive-date=9 April 2008}}</ref> 
In 2011, the capacity of the Reading site was 87,000,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/reading/2011/|title=Reading Festival 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110314211706/http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/reading/2011/|archive-date=14 March 2011}}</ref> and the Leeds site was 75,000,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leedsmusicfestival.com/2010/11/16/leeds-festival-capacity-to-rise-to-90000-music-fans/|title=Leeds Festival capacity to rise to 90,000 music fans|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110102075236/http://www.leedsmusicfestival.com/2010/11/16/leeds-festival-capacity-to-rise-to-90000-music-fans/|archive-date=2 January 2011}}</ref> an increase of several thousand on previous years.<ref>
{{cite web |url = http://www.leedsmusicscene.net/article/6701/ |title = An extra 5,000 tickets are granted for the Leeds Festival
 |access-date  = 22 March 2011 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120225012140/http://www.leedsmusicscene.net/article/6701/
 |archive-date = 25 February 2012 }}</ref>