Reading Festival has grown over the years, attracting world-leading acts and worldwide television audiences.
A festival-goer has nominated the event for the Putting Reading on the Map award, sponsored by Jacobs the Jewellers and The Purple Turtle.
Its nominator said: “I have been supporting the festival for a few years and they never fail to deliver and have 100% put Reading on the map for massive artists and for people up and down the country.”
Around 87% of its 100,000 visitors are under 38 which provides a showcase for Reading among young people visiting from across the UK.
With its sister event in Leeds, it’s the fourth largest festival in the UK and last year generated £64 million of income, £48 million for the UK and more than £8 million being spent in Reading itself.
Reading Festival grew out of the National Jazz Festival, launched at Richmond Athletic Ground in 1961, landing in Reading in 1971.
Throughout the 70s and early 80s, the festival grew in size and stature, becoming the setting for some of music’s most memorable sets. Thin Lizzy performed their barnstorming final UK show here in 1983, and it hosted vintage performances by Paul Weller and The Jam.
Nirvana gave the festival a boost in 1991, followed by Björk (1995), Suede (1997), Eminem (2001), and The White Stripes (2004) playing in front of crowds of over 90,000 people. Such was the success that a second site in Leeds was added in 1999.
Post pandemic acts included The Killers, Billie Eilish, Arctic Monkeys, Rage Against the Machine and Stormzy.
