Music

What Mumford & Sons and Metallica mean for Reading and Leeds Festival 2015

Nowhere is the line between metal and indie more blurred than at Reading and Leeds Festival, and this year’s bill is no exception.

Mumford & Sons are the latest headliners to be announced for the legendary festival, joining Metallica on the Bank Holiday weekend bill.

Are either act a surprise choice for the headline spot? Nope. Will both bands be met by HUGE crowd sing-alongs? Yep. Does it make any sense for them to share a bill? Well, sort of, yeah.

This is 2015, folks, and the rules have gone right out the window.

Mumford and Sons

Rumours that Reading and Leeds organisers were shifting their focus towards the indie side of proceedings have been buzzing around since last summer. That’s despite Metallica being the first headliner to be announced, and completely overlooking the likes of Pierce The Veil and Refused alongside them.

It was actually Jamie T, Manchester Orchestra and Run The Jewels that hit the headlines. Now joined by Bastille, Years & Years, and Wolf Alice to top up the long list of key indie (not RTJ, but they’re very, very cool) acts gearing up to grace the iconic festival.

Royal Blood are possibly the band that make most sense at Reading and Leeds; now the hottest band in mainstream rock, they use big riffs to smash through those pesky, genre-restricting barriers.

Metallica may be the biggest metal band on the planet, they also headlined GLASTONBURY just last year. The crowds at Reading and Leeds won’t be complete strangers to riding the lightning.

Did Glastonbury-goers turn out for Metallica’s headline set? You bet they did.

Metallica - One at Glastonbury 2014

Long-time Reading and Leeds attendees may struggle to stomach the dominance of indie bands at the festival, but the truth is, Metallica stand to be just as much underdogs in 2015. That doesn’t mean they’ll have ANY trouble pulling a crowd, but it’ll be the support of long-serving fans that sees them triumph.

As a rock and metal fan, I’ve made the pilgrimage to Reading and Leeds Festival for 10 years now. Witnessing the brilliance of Metallica in 2008 was something I’ll never forget, but there’s no denying the NME/Radio 1 tent was practically bursting at the seams when Mumford & Sons played it in 2010.

We’re not short of genre-specific festivals in the UK – just look at the recent announcements for Download and New Look Wireless – so is having such a mix at Reading and Leeds such a bad thing? I don’t think so.

What do you think? Let us know at @TicketmasterUK.