Reported on http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7200053.stm

Melvin Benn has confirmed that for this years Leeds and Reading Festivals the three headliners will be American.
Whilst talking he let slip “Interesting this year is that, probably for the first time, in my memory, we’re actually going with three American headliners.”

Do you have any ideas or rumours about who these three bands could be? Post below!

Festival Republic have partnered with the people behind Lollapolooza and Austin City Limits to create a new rock festival in America.

The team behind the Reading, Leeds, Latitude and Glastonbury festivals have branched stateside for the first time, with a brand new event called the Vineland Music Festival.

It will take place on a 500-acre farm in Vineland, New Jersey, between 8-10 August and will be comparable in size to the 80,000-capacity Bonaroo Festival in Tennessee.

The event will call on the expertise of C3 Presents, who are best known for their success with Lollapalooza. It will also share a number of acts with the Chicago festival, which takes place the weekend before (1-3 August).

According to source it will be a “weekend of pure unadulterated rock’n'roll pleasure; the signature stamp of Reading and Leeds, Austin City Limits and Lollapalooza”.

There will apparently be “a heady mix of the greatest bands in the world, energy charged sets; new rising stars and the freshest acts hitting the stages before the press have had a sniff of them”, all set amongst “lush, green campgrounds”.

It is likely the Vineland Music Festival will feature a number of high profile acts which will then go on to play at Reading and Leeds. Early rumours suggest Rage Against The Machine could be among the headliners.

Apparently at Less Than Jake’s recent album shows in London the band hinted on two of the nights that they could be playing the Leeds and Reading Festivals in 2008. Who knows if this was a wild speculation or truth!

http://festivalrepublic.com/home/

Out with the old, in with the new? Along with the announcement that Mean Fiddler are now known as Festival Republic a new website has been created which will keep us Leeds and Reading Festival attenders up to date with the latest happenings…

However there are definitely some improvements to be made. Not all of us are as lucky to be running the most up to date technology, and unfortunately the Festival Republic website seemingly forgets this fact. The images and graphics used take a while to load - leaving many viewers sat there twiddling their thumbs while they wait! Perhaps Festival Republic should take a step back from all these fancy graphics and incorporate the “less is more” value?

What do you think of the new site? Leave comments below