The Carling Weekend: Reading and Leeds Festivals 2006

United Kingdom | | 27 August 2006

(Click the links at the bottom of this page for stage reviews)

As a bemused crowd stumbles about in anoraks, wellies, bikinis and superman outfits, it’s clear the legendary Carling Weekend is once again well underway. Spanning three days of live music and five days of campsite debauchery over two sites - Richfield Park in Reading and Bramham Park in Leeds - quarter of a million campers are, quite rightly, a very happy bunch.

With a horde of in vogue chart toppers, such as Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, The Kooks, Panic! At The Disco, My Chemical Romance and Muse enticing an array of music-lovers, rock legends like Slayer and Pearl Jam also swill up colossal waves. Fans travelling from across the continent or paying jaw-dropping prices to see one or t’other parade band t-shirts like a badge of honour. Meanwhile, newer acts like The Sunshine Underground, Tapes'N'Tapes, Lethal Bizzle and Klaxons are all hotly anticipated. Set over five tents and stages, this weekend’s line up is an eclectic treat for any rock fan.

And for those who aren’t fussed about the music, there’s plenty more going on. Campsite dance competitions rival the biggest BBQs you’ve ever seen, whilst almost every other person is in fancy dress. Full grown men squeeze into corsets with broad hairy shoulders spilling over the top with their size 14s rooted firmly in rotting trainers. Tutus and fairy wings are ten-a-penny, whilst more adventurous outfits include a bottle of beer costume and a ripped tent. Face-painting, fortune-telling, chair fights and drunken gymnastics seem like a Sunday afternoon at your grandparents’ house compared to squashing your mate into a bin and rolling them down the pathway as your fellow campers attempt to jump out the way.

Meanwhile, on-lookers chant in glee, encouraging the frolics with cheers aplenty. And for those feeling too chilled out to get involved in the numerous antics of outright inebriation, there’s always the clandestine competition for the biggest sunglasses of the weekend…

Yes, whatever your agenda - enjoying the vast selection of music, soaking up the incredible atmosphere, or getting totally off your trolley with a brigade of random nutters whose names you can‘t remember and accents you can‘t understand - the Carling Weekend has it all.  We proudly welcome you to England’s premier mud-slidin’, beer-sloshin’, noodle-noshin’, trainer-burnin’, tent-crushin’, bacon-throwin’, sun-worshippin’ helluva great time.

.: Reading Photo Gallery

.: Leeds Photo Gallery

.: Main Stage Review

.: NME / Radio 1 Stage

.: Carling Stage

.: Lock Down Stage

.: Dance Stage

.: Tiscali Tent