FESTIVAL GUIDE: Are You Listening? Festival

Name: Are You Listening? Festival

Where: Reading town centre (various venues)

When: 22nd April 2017

Headliners: Gigslutz’ favourites Dream Wife, The Big Moon, Anna Meredith, & Spring King will all be performing on the day.

Also Featuring: Bad Sounds, Clock Opera, Shame, Kagoule, Matt Maltese, Tusks & Sahara Dam.

A Brief History: Are You Listening? Festival returns for it’s 5th year since the event launched in April 2013. To date, it’s sold over 4,000 tickets and raised over £34,000 for Reading Mencap, a local charity that supports people with learning disabilities and their families. The critically acclaimed multi-venue festival won Event of the Year at the inaugural Alt Reading Awards 2015, and has been nominated twice (2014, 2015) for Cultural Contribution in the Pride of Reading Awards.

How To Get There: National Rail run services from London Paddington to Reading.

Gigslutz Top Tip: You can apply to be a volunteer at the festival which will give you valuable, hands-on work experience in areas including music event/project management, branding, marketing and photography.

Memorable Moments: Previous festival guests include Ezra Furman, Steve Lamacq (BBC 6Music), Dan Le Sac, DJ Format, John Kennedy (Radio X), Pulled Apart By Horses, Sundara Karma, Boxed In, God Damn, Smoke Fairies, Black Honey, The Amazons and many more.

Did You Know? Apart from raising awareness and funds for the charity, the festival will continue to support the local music scene from the grass roots level upwards. It is a policy of the festival to ensure at least 70% of the artist bookings are from Reading and the surrounding Berkshire area.

How To Get Tickets: Tickets are available form the official website here.

The Playlist:

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut