Since 1971, the Reading Festival has been one of the UK’s most important events. Over the years, The Jam, The Ramones, Meat Loaf, Nirvana, The Stone Roses and the Beastie Boys have played at the Festival but, until now, one name remained conspicuous by his absence.
Now, 2013 will see Boris Johnson at the Festival. Bozza will headline the Saturday night alongside Eminem and Chase and Status, with other acts on the bill including Fall Out Boy, Green Day, Biffy Clyro and System of a Down.
And, the festival will move from its Reading home to Trafalgar Square for one year only. Boris made his announcement at Battersea primary school St Mary’s and executive headteacher Jared Brading said: “We will definitely be taking our pupils to the Trafalgar Square festival. It will be a wonderful opportunity to combine Reading with a great day out.”
The Mayor said: “I hope as many Londoners as possible can make it to Trafalgar Square for the giant read-a-thon packed full of literacy-boosting activities and famous book lovers.â€
[Are you sure about this? – Boriswatch Ed]Oh. The Get Reading festival, set to take place on 13 July, is part of a major literacy campaign being led by the London Evening Standard and has been organised in partnership with the e-reader firm Nook. Turns out Bozza won’t be doing The Real Slim Shady or American Idiot after all.
Boris said: “I would like to see a London where kids are no longer illiterate at age 11. The target must be to stamp out illiteracy of 11-year-olds, and this is where the Standard‘s literacy campaign has done such pioneering work. Think of the potential – almost one in five kids are leaving primary school unable to read or write, think of what they would go on to achieve, think of the economic benefits that would bring to London if we could turn that round and turn these kids onto reading.”
That’s ‘reading’ not Reading. Ahem.