Everyone likes everything now. In the years since streaming began to dominate listening habits, this twisted mantra has taken over the music industry, driven more by the desire for some algorithmic utopia than reality. Because everyone has access to everything, the theory goes, they must automatically like it all. It’s a credo at the very core of the mindset of the new look, pop-leaning Reading & Leeds festival. And today, everyone-likes-everything-now (ELEN) comes up against its ultimate test.
When Rage Against The Machine pulled out of headlining Sunday’s line-up for health reasons, according to the ELEN Theory, all of the Rage fans must naturally welcome replacements The 1975 with open arms. “We heard you!” the announcement tweet read, as though the country’s politico punk metal fans had taken to the streets en masse to demand the immediate instigation of a millennial Go West in Rage’s place. Instead RATM’s fans, clearly not having received the Spotify staff memo, demanded refunds in their thousands and Sunday at Reading Festival is left with its sparsest crowds of the weekend and one of the most “roadshow” one-day line-ups any major festival in the world has dared to stage in 2022.
