Getting Loud about Line-Ups: UK Music Fans Share Mixed Festival Line-Up Feelings Online

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Social media is at the centre of UK Music festival buzz – with fans sharing online their delight or disgust towards annual line-ups. But what is the UK’s favourite festival line-up? Which line-up stirs and shakes a social storm of mixed opinions the most?

Ibis Hotels conducted online research, analysing Twitter conversations regarding UK festival line-ups spanning the past 10 years.

Pulling the greatest number of festival-goers discussing line-ups online was Reading and Leeds festivals. Fans posted an average of 136,133 tweets each year about these line-ups, with the 2018 artists creating a buzz of 298,973 tweets shared. Artists featured that year included the likes of: Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, Kings of Leon and rappers Travis Scott, Kendrick Lamar and Skepta.

Renowned Glastonbury takes second place for attracting online conversation. An average of 91,323 tweets surrounding the line-up are posted each year. The year 2015 saw a social media frenzy as one of the most talked about Glastonbury line-ups, where Kanye West’s Pyramid Stage headline spot caused some controversy. 187,633 tweets were posted in relation to the festival that year.

The most popular festival line-ups find The Great Escape, a three-day festival in Brighton featuring over 400 up and coming artists from around the world to be the favourite among festival-goers. 2018 was the best received year for this festival, with a staggering 93% of tweets being positive with regards to line-up choice, including artists such as Tom Walker and Lewis Capaldi. On average, 82% of tweets overall sent about The Great Escape line-ups over the past 10 years have been upbeat.

Sheffield’s Tramlines follows with the second most well-liked line-up. The average for Tramlines is 59% positive response tweets. The year 2015 revealed a particularly positive Twitter response, as 74% of tweets were excited about the line-up which included artists: Wu Tang Clan, Basement Jaxx and The Charlatans.

Results show that having the most talked about line-up isn’t always necessarily a title to be proud of. Reading and Leeds festivals prove this, as over the past ten years, an average of 35% of tweets surrounding the festivals presented the echoes of disappointment across the platform. Unfortunately, this figure even rose to 41% in 2018 and 2019.

There have been speculations that these negative figures could be due to the diverse music genre acts implemented into recent line-ups, where an increasing number of pop and hip-hop acts have made an appearance. A few fans have appreciated this new direction, while others seemingly bias tradition of old-festival ways, sticking to the authentic rock & roll.