Article by Zena Gardner – 23/02/10

Well, the Reading Focus Group had their Meeting last night. The meeting went very well, and saw attendance from Festival Republic personnel Melvin Benn (MD of Festival Republic), Noel Painting (Health & Safety Co-ordinator), Nicky Hodgson (Event Coordinator for Reading Festival), Jennifer Roberts (online), Helen Ashcroft (Reading Festival Forum Manager).

We raised questions that had been given to us from various sources and will feed back in detail on each question very soon.

In the meantime, some brief information to get you talking …….

• There are some positive changes afoot in a bid to tackle the Sunday Night issues.
• Tickets are on sale in the latter half of March, exact date will be in the approved minutes.
• Glastonbury Style Ticket System is a strong possibility for 2011.
• Reading Festival is Not turning into an Indie Festival, 2009 was the most Radio One friendly year Reading has seen but that’s not a sign of things to come.
• Changes to the Lock Up, Dance and Comedy Tent were raised and ideas and suggestions are being looked at.
• HMV Tickets sales will thankfully go back to being on sale the morning after the official release.
• Weezer are a stronger possibility this year than in previous years.
• When we asked about Blink 182 and Green Day …….. the response was “No Comment” (make of that as you will)

More comprehensive meeting write up coming very soon!