Reading Festival Riot

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

In 1991, Nirvana made the first of their two appearances at Reading, playing early on the main stage (second on the bill that day). The following year, in 1992, they headlined on Friday, August 28, in a performance that would later be released as a live album/DVD Live at Reading in November 2009. Singer Kurt Cobain came onstage in a wheelchair pushed by music journalist Everett True and wearing a medical gown, parodying speculations about his mental health. The 1992 festival was hit by extreme weather, with heavy rain and mud on Friday, August 28, when Nirvana performed, drenching the site, leaving it ankle-deep in mud, and damaging a smaller marquee/stage area.

In Their Own Story

The 1992 Reading Festival was hit by extreme weather, with a thunderstorm on the Saturday drenching the site, leaving it ankle-deep in mud, and blowing away the Comedy Tent. Nirvana played what would be their last UK concert at this festival. Singer Kurt Cobain came onstage in a wheelchair pushed by music journalist Everett True and wearing a medical gown, parodying speculations about his mental health. This performance was later released as a live album/DVD Live at Reading in November 2009.

Reader's Guide

The Reading Festival was originally known as the National Jazz Festival, conceived by Harold Pendleton and first held at Richmond Athletic Ground in 1961. Throughout the 1960s, the festival moved between several London and Home Counties sites before reaching its permanent home at Reading in 1971. Since 1964, when the festival added a Friday evening session to the original Saturday and Sunday format, it has been staged over three days, with the sole exception of 1970 when a fourth day was added. The festival has had various musical phases over the years, but since the current two-site format was adopted in 1999, rock, indie, alternative, punk, and 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.

Did You Know?

• Nirvana played their final UK concert at the Astoria in London on December 3, 1992, not at the Reading Festival.
• Singer Kurt Cobain came onstage in a wheelchair pushed by music journalist Everett True and wearing a medical gown, parodying speculations about his mental health.
• The 1992 festival was hit by extreme weather, with heavy rain and mud on Friday, August 28, when Nirvana performed, drenching the site, leaving it ankle-deep in mud, and damaging a smaller marquee/stage area.
• The Reading Festival was originally known as the National Jazz Festival, conceived by Harold Pendleton and first held at Richmond Athletic Ground in 1961.
• In 1991, Nirvana made the first of their two appearances at Reading, playing early on the main stage (second on the bill that day).

Origins and Evolution of Musical Identity

The Reading Festival was originally known as the National Jazz Festival, which was conceived by Harold Pendleton (founder of the Marquee Club in London in 1958) and first held at Richmond Athletic Ground in 1961. The line-up for the first two years was made up exclusively of jazz performers, but in 1963, several rhythm & blues acts were added to the bill, including the Rolling Stones, Georgie Fame, and Long John Baldry, and by 1965, such acts were in the majority. By 1969, jazz had disappeared entirely from the line-up. After moving to Reading in 1971, the festival's line-up became primarily composed of progressive rock, blues and hard rock during the early and mid 1970s, and then became the first music festival to incorporate punk rock and new wave in the late 1970s, when the Jam, Sham 69, and the Stranglers were among the headline acts.

Venue Logistics and Dual-Site Format

The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in 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. In 2011, the capacity of the Reading site was 87,000, and the Leeds site was 75,000.

Administrative Turmoil and Corporate Transitions

In 1984 and 1985, the Conservative-run local council effectively banned the festival by designating the festival site for development and refusing to grant licences for any alternative sites in the Reading area. In 1984, many acts were already booked and tickets were on sale, with Marillion due to headline. After Labour regained control of the council in 1986, permission was given for fields adjacent to the original festival site to be used, and a line-up was put together at short notice. 1988 saw an attempt to take the festival in a mainstream commercial pop direction, and the subsequent disputes led to the ousting of original festival promoter Harold Pendleton by the Mean Fiddler Music Group organisation. 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. The festivals are run by Festival Republic, which was divested from Mean Fiddler Music Group.

Genre Expansion and Modern Headliners

Since the current two-site format was adopted in 1999, rock, indie, alternative, punk, and 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. Many of the biggest bands in the UK and internationally have played at the festival over five decades. Despite being predominantly a rock festival, several hip-hop artists have appeared at the festival over the years, including Cypress Hill, Ice Cube, Beastie Boys, Eminem, Xzibit, Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Dizzee Rascal, and the Streets.