User:MIDI/sandbox/Culture of Reading

Popular music
Reading is known for the Reading Festival which has been held in the town since 1971. The three-day event takes place annually across the August bank holiday weekend. One of the most notable performances at the festival was Nirvana's 1992 headline appearance. Their set was released as a live album which Will Hermes described as "one of the greatest live rock records ever made".

In 1988, 2000, and 2004 respectively, Meatloaf, Daphne and Celeste, and 50 Cent left the stage after having plastic bottles thrown at them.

Notable popular acts from Reading include Mike Oldfield, Slowdive, and The Cooper Temple Clause. Tom Rowlands and Fraser T Smith are alumni of Reading Blue Coat School,

Classical
Reading's 592-seat concert hall is situated within the Town Hall, and was built to a design by Thomas Lainson. The concert hall is home to a Father Willis organ. A second Father Willis organ is in Reading Minster church, which is the home to a number of choirs and choral foundations.

World
Reading was home to the WOMAD festival between 1990 and 2006.

Theatre
The largest theatre in the town is The Hexagon. The venue, which was built in 1977, has a maximum capacity of 1,686. The South Street Arts Centre is housed in the town's former labour exchange building, and has staged comedy acts such as Mark Thomas and Dave Gorman.

The independent Progress Theatre is located in the Redlands area of the town. Notable alumni of the theatre include Peter Strickland, Elize du Toit, Marianne Faithfull, and Kenneth Branagh. Branagh became the theatre's patron in 2011.

Art
In March 2021, a graffito appeared on the east wall of Reading Prison showing an inmate escaping by climbing down knotted bedsheets emanating from a typewriter. Commentators drew parallels between the individual in the painting and Oscar Wilde who was imprisoned at Reading in the 1890s.