#reading2016

My time at Reading Festival 2016 went by in a blur of alcohol and snap decisions, as I’m sure is the same for many others. There is much I could retell from my weekend - the binge drinking upon receiving our GCSE results, the variety of sexual activity, the laughs, the arguments, the tears, but I feel as though recounting these tales count perhaps reduce their authenticity.

Instead of putting into immense detail what took place in the evenings, I shall instead put a current focus upon what took place in the arena, watching the musicians. Perhaps one of my favourite performances of the weekend was that of Boy Better Know. The enthusiasm and energy put into their performance was utterly inspiring and wholly reflected on the ever-eager audience, which consisted vastly of a collection of somewhat attractively confident tall teenage boys in bandannas, with their Reebok side pouches and half-off t-shirts (the same boys often chanting the likes of “tits out for Harambe”, doing the same semi-violent dance move. 

I don’t post on here often but something has got to be said. Last night Twenty One Pilots performed a gig at Reading and most people know that Tyler Joseph was viciously mauled by a crowd who were unforgiving, selfish, and disgusting, however, there are a few misconceptions that I need to address (read as: I really need to say this and I couldn’t think of anywhere else).

1. The security team in charge of the gig were doing everything they could to make sure the concert was safe. Everyone knows that Tyler loves climbing over the crowd, the crowd was so strong the security team couldn’t have done anything about it even if they’d tried. 

2. It’s unfair to make this about how ‘the BBC shouldn’t have let this happen’ when in fact it’s a case of ‘how messed up are these fans that they risked the lives of their alleged idols?’

3. And last but by no means least don’t say that the whole crowd were terrible because let me tell you, that’s far from the truth. The problem was all the good fans who waited hours had to be rescued by security before Twenty One Pilots had even come on stage because other ‘fans’ were progressively crushing them to death. 

My god if anyone dares to tell me I’m wrong, you need to go find some other battle to fight because I was there. I WAS one of those people that waited hours to see them, I SAW the number of people that had to be carried out because they were in so much pain from the ‘fans’, I WAS one of those people that missed the entire gig because I had to be rescued by the security guards.