1961 First remnants of the festival can be seen at the National Jazz Festival held at Richmond Athletic Ground in Surrey. The set consisted of a small Marquee with jazz musicians.
1963 Rock makes its first appearance with the presence of Muddy Waters and the Rolling Stones.
1964 It became the National Jazz and Blues Festival and the growing popularity of band the Rolling Stones sees them up their performance fee to £1000 from the £30 of the previous year.
1965 A weekend ticket costs 20 shillings, a pound in old money
By 1970 headliners of the National Jazz and Blues Festival have been the like of the Yardbirds, the Who, Manfred Mann, Cream, Pink Floyd, Cat Stevens and Black Sabbath. The sites of the festival have changed several times being held at Windsor Racecourse, Kempton Park and Plumpton
1971 Reading becomes the permanant home for the festival
1973 A weekend ticket now costs £4.40 with day tickets costing no more than £2
1978 Although mainly known for its focus on classic rock this year it dabbled in the rising scene of Punk Rock. The Jam, Sham 69 and Penetration all played but this saw a clash between the two sets of fans.
1979 The Ramones headlined, as well as The Police and Inner Circle, but the festival shifted back to its rock origins and from then on became well known for its focus on heavy metal and rock music.
1980 This decade doesn't start too well as five bands pull out of the original line up but Slade, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and Whitesnake manage to turn up
1983 Billed as the last Reading, the headliners are The Stranglers, Black Sabbath and Thin Lizzy.
1984/5 Conservative Council bans the festival by reclaiming the land to develop and build on it. An attempt to move the event to Northamptonshire fails in 1984.
1986 Farmer Desmond Drayton grants the use of his land which is situated next to the old site of the festival. Reading is back!
1987 The Mission, Status Quo and Alice Cooper headline on the festivals 25th Anniversary. It all goes a bit goth with appearance from Field of the Nephilim, All about Eve and The Mission
1988 They came under new promotion and for a couple of years went disastrously down the road to commercial bands.
1992 Saw the last UK concertof Nirvana, one of their most famous performances. Kurt Cobain was wheeled on stage in a wheel chair parodying the media's scrutiny about him having a mental illness. Brit Pop bands such as Suede start to make a high profile appearance.
1994 Headline acts are Cypress Hill, Primal Scream and Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
1999 The first Leeds festival was opened after the Reading site could no longer cope with the high demand. Through out the nineties Brit pop and Indie dominated along side Rock. With notably memorable performances from the last remnants of the Stone Roses in 1996 and various rap artists also playing such as Public Enemy and Ice Cube.
2000 Oasis, Pulp and Stereophonics heldlined leading Brit Rock from the nineties to the noughties
2003 Due to large riots at the previous year's Leeds the site was changed and security tightened.
2005 By the mid noughties the stages started getting more and more elaborate. The Bloc Party laser show of 2008 is one of the most notable of the new techonological advances in band's performances
2006 Tickets sold out in a record time of under 2 hours and as Glastonbury Festival didn't take place that year it led the way as the top Rock festival.
2007 Red Hot Chilli Peppers headlined along with Smashing Pumpkins. Razorlight also headline on Reading Friday and Leeds Saturday receieving heavy criticism.
2008 A return to metal and heavy rock was seen as Rage Against the Machine and Metallica headline with other performances from Queens of the Stone Age, Avenged Sevenfold and Tenacious D. The Saturday in Reading and Sunday in Leeds saw it tone down to the indie rock which had been headlining in recent years such as the Killers and Bloc Party.
2009 Headline acts of Kings of Leon, Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead were greatly praised. The Radio 1/NME stage saw the likes of the Gossip and the Lostprophets.
2010 This year welcomed the reunion of punk rock band Blink 182 who headlined at both Reading and Leeds. But Guns and Roses disappointed but starting their set an hour late then over ran to the point where their sound was cut off.
2011 Zane Lowe announced the line up for this year's Reading and Leeds Festivals on the 21st March. Headliners are Muse, My Chemical Romance and the Strokes. One day on and tickets still havent totally sold out, unlike previous years when they sold out in a matter of hours.
1963 Rock makes its first appearance with the presence of Muddy Waters and the Rolling Stones.
1964 It became the National Jazz and Blues Festival and the growing popularity of band the Rolling Stones sees them up their performance fee to £1000 from the £30 of the previous year.
1965 A weekend ticket costs 20 shillings, a pound in old money
By 1970 headliners of the National Jazz and Blues Festival have been the like of the Yardbirds, the Who, Manfred Mann, Cream, Pink Floyd, Cat Stevens and Black Sabbath. The sites of the festival have changed several times being held at Windsor Racecourse, Kempton Park and Plumpton
1971 Reading becomes the permanant home for the festival
1973 A weekend ticket now costs £4.40 with day tickets costing no more than £2
1978 Although mainly known for its focus on classic rock this year it dabbled in the rising scene of Punk Rock. The Jam, Sham 69 and Penetration all played but this saw a clash between the two sets of fans.
1979 The Ramones headlined, as well as The Police and Inner Circle, but the festival shifted back to its rock origins and from then on became well known for its focus on heavy metal and rock music.
1980 This decade doesn't start too well as five bands pull out of the original line up but Slade, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard and Whitesnake manage to turn up
1983 Billed as the last Reading, the headliners are The Stranglers, Black Sabbath and Thin Lizzy.
1984/5 Conservative Council bans the festival by reclaiming the land to develop and build on it. An attempt to move the event to Northamptonshire fails in 1984.
1986 Farmer Desmond Drayton grants the use of his land which is situated next to the old site of the festival. Reading is back!
1987 The Mission, Status Quo and Alice Cooper headline on the festivals 25th Anniversary. It all goes a bit goth with appearance from Field of the Nephilim, All about Eve and The Mission
1988 They came under new promotion and for a couple of years went disastrously down the road to commercial bands.
1992 Saw the last UK concertof Nirvana, one of their most famous performances. Kurt Cobain was wheeled on stage in a wheel chair parodying the media's scrutiny about him having a mental illness. Brit Pop bands such as Suede start to make a high profile appearance.
1994 Headline acts are Cypress Hill, Primal Scream and Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
1999 The first Leeds festival was opened after the Reading site could no longer cope with the high demand. Through out the nineties Brit pop and Indie dominated along side Rock. With notably memorable performances from the last remnants of the Stone Roses in 1996 and various rap artists also playing such as Public Enemy and Ice Cube.
2000 Oasis, Pulp and Stereophonics heldlined leading Brit Rock from the nineties to the noughties
2003 Due to large riots at the previous year's Leeds the site was changed and security tightened.
2005 By the mid noughties the stages started getting more and more elaborate. The Bloc Party laser show of 2008 is one of the most notable of the new techonological advances in band's performances
2006 Tickets sold out in a record time of under 2 hours and as Glastonbury Festival didn't take place that year it led the way as the top Rock festival.
2007 Red Hot Chilli Peppers headlined along with Smashing Pumpkins. Razorlight also headline on Reading Friday and Leeds Saturday receieving heavy criticism.
2008 A return to metal and heavy rock was seen as Rage Against the Machine and Metallica headline with other performances from Queens of the Stone Age, Avenged Sevenfold and Tenacious D. The Saturday in Reading and Sunday in Leeds saw it tone down to the indie rock which had been headlining in recent years such as the Killers and Bloc Party.
2009 Headline acts of Kings of Leon, Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead were greatly praised. The Radio 1/NME stage saw the likes of the Gossip and the Lostprophets.
2010 This year welcomed the reunion of punk rock band Blink 182 who headlined at both Reading and Leeds. But Guns and Roses disappointed but starting their set an hour late then over ran to the point where their sound was cut off.
2011 Zane Lowe announced the line up for this year's Reading and Leeds Festivals on the 21st March. Headliners are Muse, My Chemical Romance and the Strokes. One day on and tickets still havent totally sold out, unlike previous years when they sold out in a matter of hours.
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