r/Wellthatsucks • u/mattloaf666 • 9h ago

Reading festival 2026

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u/AppalachianMusic 8h ago

I feel like healthy festival culture is only something I see in rock/metal communities. The festivals I've been to that look like landfills afterward were always the non-metal ones.

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u/botask 7h ago

Nah... Almost everyone cleaned their mess on dnb festivals here (slovakia, country neigbouring czech republic, it was one country few decades ago). Was going at least to one every year for like ten years. There was ocassionaly someone who left some junk or tent there, but it was really rare... But at one of them was older lady, who was cleaning toilets talking about how terrible it was when there was some rock festival few years ago.

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u/BloodAwaits 6h ago

Yup. Liquicity even hires the PsyClean crew and the difference they make is extraordinary. Seeing beautiful hippies floating across the dancefloor picking up the slightest bit of trash with a smile plastered on their faces creates a genuine paradigm shift in people's attitudes towards casual littering.

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u/Dressedcrab 1h ago

was delighted to see how clean and respectful people were leaving the Pohoda festival site. Larger UK events are just an embarrassment compared to so many in Europe. Reading is traditionally a younger skewing crowd, but it's a shock to see how little people give a shit.

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u/andydivide 7h ago

All of the smaller electronic music festivals in the UK I've been to have a very healthy culture, and everyone takes all their stuff home afterwards. But then I'd also say that while the music can be wildly different, the metal and underground electronic scenes have a lot in common, and attract fundamentally the same kinds of people.

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u/KeenJelly 5h ago

Loads of shit left at download when I worked there a few years ago - Even the eco camping field had plenty of tents abandoned. Not as bad as Reading, but unless you are the last person out out you can't really say "everyone takes all their stuff".

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u/Aegi 4h ago

I would almost guarantee that the difference actually has to do with the size of the festival and not really anything about the demographics of the attendees.

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u/PanJawel 7h ago

I agree, metal community as a whole is just the best. And you wouldn’t guess it from the appearance.

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u/KonstantijnKip 7h ago

Metalheads tend to be giant nerds so it makes sense. I used to be in that circle and a friend of mine still is. Parties with his metalhead friend group always are the best.

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u/MyLifeIsAWasteland 2h ago

We've all been through some shit, and Metal is our commiseration/outlet. No reason for us to make life harder for each other. Stay Metal \m/ <3

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u/Pixel91 5h ago

No. Wacken and RaR look like dogshit afterwards, too.

It's about festival size/popularity. Nothing to do with genre.

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u/AfterDinnerSpeaker 5h ago

Reading and Leeds aren't about that, they've historically always been the late Summer festival that teenagers go to after getting their final school grades and get shit faced on £15.

It was exactly like this when I was seeing Metallica, Deftones, etc there nearly 20+ years ago.

It's just an overall dirty festival.

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u/holysbit 2h ago

Generally, just my personal perspective, metal fans are nicer and more accepting than mainstream modern “hippie” culture. The shows I go to that are more granola are usually fuller of entitled people who are mean, and the metal shows I go to are full of super genuine kind people. Some of the best times ive had were at like Gojira and Korn shows

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u/Lonely-Arachnid-5047 6h ago

Folk festivals, electronic, traditional music (fiddle etc...), and many more. There are plenty of groups that like to gather for their music/jams/etc... and don't create a problem. Those festivals also tend to lean into a love of music and culture over the drugs. (Not to say there isn't plenty of weed and beer at them).

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u/BackgroundRiver6436 5h ago

Kendal Calling this year was great to be fair (not metal/rock). Would recommend!

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u/Spiritual-Entrance59 5h ago

I’d say pop music festivals the ones with most trash afterwards

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u/Aegi 4h ago

I mean if we're just passing around anecdotal evidence then the couple festivals I've been to have been a lot of hippie dippy jam band music and alternative types of music I guess and all of the medium and smaller ones I went to had an incredibly gracious and clean crowd that even helped keep everything clean.

I feel like even if you're stereotype was accurate it would only be accurate among large festivals and not medium or small ones.

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u/discovigilantes 4h ago

This used to be a metal/rock festival and has over the years pivoted towards Pop/Mainstream. I can tell you even back in the Rock/Metal days people still left their trash everywhere.

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u/Katz3njamm3r 4h ago

Nah. The Phish fans here in America would NEVER do something like this. The worst I’ve ever seen is when the trash cans got full, so people had to pile trash around the can until workers came to collect. We didn’t leave tents and trash and all this shit everywhere.

Widespread panic on the other hand… looks like this.

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u/synalgo_12 3h ago

World music festivals are amazing. Also very clean and not a lot of pukers or super drunk people. And people being the best food they are willing to share with everyone. We always brought extra stuff to hand out to other festival goers.

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u/SymbolUnderTheCaret 2h ago

no, seen in plenty of trance festivals too. Even proper raves clean up better than this.

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u/5ifty0 51m ago

I agree, I've been to 2000 Trees for 11 years and the place is nearly immaculate after every festival

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u/JohannesVanDerWhales 23m ago

Dunno the festival culture in Europe, but in the US some of the larger festivals are pretty outrageously expensive to begin with and become more about being seen than really fans who want to listen to the music. So I would not be at all shocked to see those kinds of people just deserting a tent. Although truth be told I don't think you'd want to bring a good tent to a festival anyway.

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u/PromVulture 18m ago

I see you have not been to Wacken or Rock am Ring / Rock im Park

(Big) Metal festivals are not enjoyable to me, even if metal is my favorite genre