Reading Festival will be held despite the floods
(as per Contact Music)
This year’s Reading Festival in England will go ahead later this month (24-26 Aug 07) despite serious flood damage to the site. Heavy rainfall in the area caused part of the nearby River Thames to burst its bank, leaving the open-air gig in jeopardy. But concert organisers have confirmed all floodwater will be removed in time for the concert – which will feature headline performances from Razorlight, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Smashing Pumpkins. Festival boss Melvin Benn says, “We’re literally pumping water off by the thousands of gallons an hour. There are vast areas of it that you can actually walk on now. It’s still waterlogged, but the water’s going down. I’ve got a whole team of people doing no more then moving pumps around. I’ve got two eight inch pumps pumping water directly off the land 24 hours a day at the moment.”
