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The Big Topic: Why the criticism of Reading & Leeds booking The 1975 is undeserved
Reading + Leeds Festival were put in unfortunate circumstances when Rage Against The Machine pulled their European tour. With just two weeks to go until the event, they were without the headliner they’ve had lined up since 2020.
The festival was left scrambling with just two weeks to find another headliner and announced The 1975, who will be returning to the stage for the first time since 2020 on the August Bank Holiday weekend. They are the biggest British band to have emerged over the last ten years, and getting them to make their grand return at such short notice is a coup, yet, the decision has been met with hostility.
It’s understandable why Rage Against The Machine fans were angered by the band who pulled out after Zach De La Rocha suffered an Achilles injury. But taking that anger out on The 1975 is misplaced. They are providing the festival with an established and experienced headliner at the last minute. Furthermore, they appeal significantly more to the youth of 2022 who attend Reading and Leeds than Rage Against The Machine.
The booking of Rage Against The Machine was peculiar, and a lot has changed since they last appeared at the twinned festivals in 2008. Reading and Leeds prides itself on moving with the times, and it didn’t make sense for a band whose last album was released in 2000 to headline — a time when most punters weren’t even born.
The two shows were plotted as Rage’s only UK performances, and their inclusion attracted ticket buyers who wouldn’t traditionally attend the festival. Their core fanbase likely doesn’t care for other acts performing that day, such as Halsey and Bastille; therefore, those who bought day tickets solely for the rap-rockers should be refunded, which Reading and Leeds are refusing to do.
However, if fans have bought a weekend ticket, one act pulling out shouldn’t mean they shelve their plans to attend the three-day musical feast and instead enjoy the treats on offer. The 1975 seemingly don’t have much in common with Rage Against The Machine, but if you dig underneath the surface, more align the pair of groups than you’d first think.
Take the heavy-hitting political anthem ‘People’, which finds frontman Matty Healy enraged and screaming. While the track is a red-herring in their arsenal from a sonic standpoint, the song’s political nature is a theme that runs through all their material.
Although Rage Against The Machine fans won’t like to hear it, The 1975 have similarly expressed frustration at those in power and spoken on behalf of their generation like Rage once did. The problems might differ from those in the 1990s, and they are certainly delivered more flamboyantly, but the core message is the same.
Additionally, to lay out some of their credentials, The 1975 have four number one albums; they sell-out arenas on both sides of the Atlantic with a date at Madison Square Garden plotted for November, and the Brits have also headlined Reading & Leeds before.
Over the past week, social media has been awash with people (who are likely not attending the event) castigating Reading + Leeds for replacing Rage Against The Machine with The 1975, yet, none that I came across suggested another act to fill their shoes.
Most people attending likely won’t care about the headliner change, and the average festival-goer at Reading + Leeds celebrating their exam results is probably quietly pleased. However, social media amplifies the voices of the vocal minority, which has caused an unnecessary pile-on to a band who have answered the last-minute call.
The 1975 are a Marmite band which explains the loud response to their inclusion on the line-up. However, even their most ardent critic must concede they are a more befitting late replacement for Rage Against The Machine than The Darkness were for David Bowie at T In The Park in 2004, which takes the accolade as the most underwhelming festival replacement ever.
