Check out the latest lineup at: http://www.leedsfestival.com/lineup/index.aspx

The CAT role can include:

• Assisting festival goes with directions.
• Helping festival goers carry their belongings and pitch their tents.
• Reporting back to management re any problems e.g. a build-up of litter or faulty facilities.
• Working with Fire Safety, Medical and Security teams as required.

All CATs are provided with:

• A Crew Pass, Info Pack and Uniform.
• Camping facilities in a secure crew area.
• Access to the crew café, bar, toilets, and showers!
• A t-shirt you can keep to prove you worked at the festival!
• Time to enjoy the show – you only work 3 x 8 hr shifts (24 hrs in total throughout the festival) – all CAT staff and volunteers are welcome to enjoy the festival when off-shift.

To apply you will need to:

• Be 18 or over before the date of arrival below.
• Be available to arrive at the Festival site by 20:00 at the latest on Wednesday 26th August 2009 – you’re welcome to arrive from midday on Tuesday 25th. Please note the shifts are allocated on a first come first served basis.
• Be available for a briefing at either 11:00 or 21:00 on Wednesday 26th.
• Be available to work 3 x 8 hour shifts at any time between 13:00 Wednesday 26th (or midnight Wednesday if arriving for the later briefing) and 14:00 Monday 31st.
• Be prepared to wear a CAT uniform when on-shift. (Provided on site)
• Report in every two hours to your area supervisor with information, or immediately in the case of any problems.
• Supply photographic ID on arrival.
• Provide a refundable deposit – £200

For more information please visit www.HotBoxEvents.com

Or you can email info@hotboxevents.com

You can go straight to the online application here BECOME A CAT
You can gain free entrance to this summer’s Leeds Festival by joining our Campsite Assistant Teams (CATs). The CATs play a big part in creating a good atmosphere and helping all to get the most out of their festival – by being there and helping people you can help us achieve this!

The CAT role can include:

• Assisting festival goes with directions.
• Helping festival goers carry their belongings and pitch their tents.
• Reporting back to management re any problems e.g. a build-up of litter or faulty facilities.
• Working with Fire Safety, Medical and Security teams as required.

All CATs are provided with:

• A Crew Pass, Info Pack and Uniform.
• Camping facilities in a secure crew area.
• Access to the crew café, bar, toilets, and showers!
• A t-shirt you can keep to prove you worked at the festival!
• Time to enjoy the show – you only work 3 x 8 hr shifts (24 hrs in total throughout the festival) – all CAT staff and volunteers are welcome to enjoy the festival when off-shift.

To apply you will need to:

• Be 18 or over before the date of arrival below.
• Be available to arrive at the Festival site by 20:00 at the latest on Wednesday 26th August 2009 – you’re welcome to arrive from midday on Tuesday 25th. Please note the shifts are allocated on a first come first served basis.
• Be available for a briefing at either 11:00 or 21:00 on Wednesday 26th.
• Be available to work 3 x 8 hour shifts at any time between 13:00 Wednesday 26th (or midnight Wednesday if arriving for the later briefing) and 14:00 Monday 31st.
• Be prepared to wear a CAT uniform when on-shift. (Provided on site)
• Report in every two hours to your area supervisor with information, or immediately in the case of any problems.
• Supply photographic ID on arrival.
• Provide a refundable deposit – £200

For more information please visit www.HotBoxEvents.com

Or you can email info@hotboxevents.com

You can go straight to the online application here https://hotboxevents.paamapplication.co.uk/

Thursday 21^st August

And you all thought it started on Friday – wrong! For the last two years, Dance To The Radio have generously curated an evening of label/Leeds orientated entertainment for the festival early birds.

The guest entrance is closed due to mudding, so after a long trek and having to down my wine at the entrance gate, we manage to catch the last two songs of Wintermute, who seem to be owning the stage when we get there (please note: the Introducing stage has the best sound all weekend – natch). Dan is so in the zone that a can thrown at him is dodged ten seconds before it arrives. Yah boo sucks, you non-fan of nerd rock. Chris and Dave rock out regardless, prompting the mythical unprompted clap along; Ben is so surprised he misses a beat. Rounding off the set with ‘Jambon Jambon’ (it’s French) I get a slight lump in my throat. These boys have grown; soon they’ll be flown.

Dinosaur Pile-Up, featuring ex-Mother Vulpine frontman Matt, come as a bit of surprise – sorta like hearing Mars Volta after loving At The Drive In. They’ve got drop D pop down to a tee, but it sounds pretty standard and fairly pedestrian if well written. Matt looks all floppy fringed but the sound has gone more rawk… it’s satifying but shallow. I will need another band ten minutes later.

After a brief respite to smuggle more wine into the site and meet up with Adam TiNTV, we fight back through the mud to find that the Pigeon Detectives are playing next – a surprise gig from one of Leeds’ favourite bands. Unfortunately, they are not one of mine, though I must admit they have one or two good, albeit moronic, songs. Boy, that hurt. Having taken an age to set up (not really their fault) their sound is the worst of the evening (not really their fault) but Matt Bowman struts around the stage with arrogant flair, stirring up the now familiar chants of ‘Yorkshire’ and ‘Leeds!’ The wine is kicking in hard at this point and I am in danger of coming out the worst at the hands of Pigeons fans. Thank goodness Adam is still sober.

Broken Records, playing to a much depleted audience after the triumphant and magnanimous Pigeon Detectives leave the stage, have many players and many instruments. Violins, guitars, drums, keys, vocals… yep, it’s a bit Arcade Fire. Even more than that, they’re a bit Levellers and a bit Dexy’s Midnight Runners. Folksy and innocuous, they entertain without leaving the slightest imprint on my mind, though that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

What is a bad thing is the length of the Grammatics’ set. Three measly songs with Owen doing his level best to make the most out of a bad situation. ‘Polar Swelling’ is a great warm up, ‘D.I.L.E.M.M.A.’ is the best I’ve ever heard them do it and ‘Shadow Committee’ cranks up like a Bond theme should. They even make reference to Justice’s ‘We Are Your Friends.’ Then it is all over and the foppish four are no more. I am left with a semi-on and a rekindled hatred of the Pigeon Detectives. Rob is robbed.

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Let TINTV know who or what your highs and lows of this years festival were by leaving a comment below, we will have a extensive review and photos of the entire festival up as soon as we recuperate from what was a fantastic Leeds Festival… Rock ‘n’ Roll!

Winners of Best Live Event at the NME Awards, the Reading & Leeds Festivals take place on Friday 22nd, Saturday 23rd & Sunday 24th August 2008. A total of 200,000 tickets sold in 24 hours marking 2008 as the tenth year at Leeds and twentieth at Reading as an extra special event.

Reading Friday / Leeds Saturday
Rage Against The Machine
Queens Of The Stone Age
The Fratellis
The Enemy
Biffy Clyro
Serj Tankian
Dizzee Rascal
Taking Back Sunday
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly
Anti-Flag

Reading Saturday / Leeds Sunday
The Killers
Bloc Party
The Raconteurs
Editors
We Are Scientists
Dirty Pretty Things
The Subways
British Sea Power
The Automatic

Reading Sunday / Leeds Friday
Metallica
Tenacious D
Slipknot
Feeder
Avenged Sevenfold
Dropkick Murphys
Plain White T’s
Alexisonfire
Mindless Self Indulgence

Radio 1/NME Stage
Reading Friday / Leeds Saturday
Babyshambles
The Wombats
Vampire Weekend
MGMT
Jack Penate
One Night Only
The Duke Spirit
Be Your Own Pet
Blood Red Shoes
Make Model
Pete and the Pirates

Reading Saturday / Leeds Sunday
Manic Street Preachers
Bullet For My Valentine
Justice
Foals
Seasick Steve
The Ting Tangs
The Mystery Jets
Santogold
Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong
Kids in Glass Houses
Bombay Bicycle Club

Reading Sunday / Leeds Friday
The Cribs
The Last Shadow Puppets
Conor Oberst
Pendulum
The Music
Hadouken
Lightspeed Champion
Cajun Dance Party
Adam Green
Yeasayer
The Metros

Lockup Stage / Dance Stage
Reading Friday (Lockup) / Leeds Saturday (Lockup)
Less Than Jake
Pennywise
Special Guests
Goldfinger
Tiger Army
The Unseen
H20
Frank Turner
The Briggs
The Loved Ones
Blackhole
Hexes

Reading Saturday (Lockup) / Leeds Sunday (Dance)
Gallows
Alkaline Trio
Thrice
Flogging Molly
MXPX
Cancer Bats
Set Your Goals
King Blues
Fucked Up
The Gaslight Anthem
Random Hand

Reading Sunday (Dance) / Leeds Friday (Lockup)
CSS
Digitalism
Simian Mobile Disco
Chromed
Crystal Castles
Lethal Bizzle
Holy Fuck
The Whip
Robots In Disguise
The Death Set
The Shoes

To get you in the mood how can we forget some of the memorable moments that Reading & Leeds have brought us over the years… Kurt Cobain coming onto the Main Stage in a wheelchair, Foo Fighters nearly bring down the Second Stage Tent, Arctic Monkeys host a 60,000 person sing along to ‘Mardy Bum’ from the main stage at Leeds and who can forget when James encouraged an entire field of festival goers to ‘Sit Down’.

The Reading and Leeds Festivals are the undisputed king of the festivals. This year is no exception with three headline acts on the world famous Main Stage that are exclusive to us and guaranteed to have you praying for the August Bank Holiday to come round that little bit quicker.

Over the three days we have the return of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, a band tailor made for Reading and Leeds, a UK exclusive performance from THE KILLERS, one of the world’s biggest acts and the best and biggest heavy rock band in the world playing their only UK festival, METALLICA.

The NME / Radio One Stage sees a unique headline performance from NME’s Godlike Geniuses MANIC STREET PREACHERS, a special co-headline between BABYSHAMBLES and THE WOMBATS and THE CRIBS taking a well earned debut headline slot.

The 10th year of the Leeds Festival, still the North of England’s only music festival coincides with the 20th Reading Festival since the people at Festival Republic rescued the event from a slow slide and made it into the world famous rock n’ roll spectacular that we all know and love. Over the years a host of bands have started their careers at one or both of the sites, from Nirvana to Underworld, Arctic Monkeys to Editors, Foo Fighters to Coldplay, the biggest names in music have written the opening chapters of their amazing stories at the world’s best festival. Perhaps that’s why this year’s event arrives clutching its third NME Best Live Event award in a row.

This year is special being our 20/10 anniversary and the starting line-up reflects that. Across the stages we have every new buzz band you have read about this year, every band you want to hear play across the twin sites and three headliners of such colossal size and importance they are probably visible from space. All exclusive performances, you won’t see our headliners on any other festival stage in England, or indeed the UK in the case of two of the three.

Away from the Main Stage expect some real surprises on the NME / Radio One Stage, the A to Z of punk, hardcore and ska that is the Lock Up Stage and the headliners of the future on the smaller stages. Last year was a secret gig by the Kaiser Chiefs at Leeds, the irresistible rise of The Enemy and The Pigeon Detectives on the NME/ Radio One Stage as both bands moved on to platinum album sales, a Kate Nash show on the Carling Stage that was packed to the rafters and three of the biggest bands in the world headlining the Main Stage. The Reading and Leeds Festival has always been the moment of the summer when bands rise to prominence and last year was no exception.

Over 3 days, over 150 acts, these are the Reading and Leeds Festivals, back again to make the summer worthwhile.

Three day weekend tickets, including camping and parking, priced at £155 plus booking fee.
Day Tickets which do not allow camping are priced at £65 plus booking fee.

Tickets available from:
www.seetickets.com

This marks a happy turning point in the festival’s history with Reading Festival reclaiming its prestigious name after the Carling Weekend association. The festival first arrived in Reading in 1971 and has been hosted on the same site on the banks of the river Thames ever since.

The Reading Festival underwent a serious shake up and opened with a stellar line-up including New Order, The Pogues, The Mission, The Wonder Stuff and The Sugarcubes, that would put Reading back on the music fans radar and cement the future of the festival for ever more.