r/Wellthatsucks • u/mattloaf666 • 9h ago

Reading festival 2026

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28

u/myxoma1 8h ago

Is this a cultural thing that everyone is a fucking slob that refuses to clean up after themselves, that's embarrassing...

13

u/aardvarkbjones 7h ago

I've heard it's particularly bad in the UK.

One of the few things folks in the US do at least a little better. Big "leave no trace" culture here.

Not perfect obviously, but I've never seen anything as bad as OP's picture here.

9

u/imisscrazylenny 7h ago

I once stayed in a camp at a metal festival in the US Midwest, but not nearly as large as Reading. We packed everything back up neatly and left our site spotless. I think mostly everyone there did the same (but I can't speak for the people who left after we did). Images like in the OP are baffling to me . How can they feel no guilt walking away from that, ya know? Gross personality.

3

u/DeapVally 7h ago

Reading/Leeds (same lineups, same time, different locations) has always very much been a young persons festival. Teenagers are notoriously messy lol. Most people going will still live at home, and have parents who cook/clean for them as well. Ever been to university? The majority of freshmen are not very good at that, because they've never had to be.

1

u/imisscrazylenny 1h ago

You make a very good point that I hadn't considered.

3

u/cptawesome11 5h ago

I’ve only been to small to medium sized festivals in the US and attendees always clean up afterwards. These are heavily drug fueled festivals too lol You’ll find random bits of trash afterwards but they’re few and far between.

2

u/Selerox 5h ago

Reading Festival is legendary for this kind of thing, it's an awful festival for a lot of reasons.

There are loads of small/medium festivals in the UK which are wonderful. Reading is an example of what festivals shouldn't be.

•

u/PromVulture 12m ago

The country that hosts burning man?

If anything signaling ethical behavior is the one intersection between corporations and festivals

I think it is more festival size related then anything else

1

u/No-Scientist-9049 5h ago

As someone from the UK, the UK is horrendous for littering. I've only ever seen worse in southern Italy. 

2

u/ICantSpayk 5h ago

Southern Italy is absolutely ridiculous for litter. Every single layby I drove past in Puglia was just stacked with fly tipping. It was almost third world.

1

u/No-Scientist-9049 1h ago

Yeah, it's insane. I cycled from north to south and the transition was wild. Such a shame because the landscapes and scenery are beautiful, but the rubbish was wtf. The prostitutes sitting in the litter-filled lay-bys was so surreal and depressing.

2

u/firesyde424 7h ago

This is what I was thinking. Why on earth would people leave all those tents? There's so much waste there.