Reading festival boss tells us event is one of 'optimism'
Melvin Benn has run the event since 1989
Reading festival owner Melvin Benn has told us Reading is a 'festival of optimism', and his favourite.
Speaking to us as the festival gets underway he said the festival has a place in his heart - he first came to it as a teenager in the seventies, and in 1989 took control of it. He said:
"A, it's the first big festival I ever went to. B, it was the first festival that I had any ownership of and C it's a festival of Optimism. 
It's a festival for young people that are tomorrow's leaders, tomorrow's police officers, tomorrow's doctors, etc.
"And they come, and they come, you know, post GCSEs, post A levels, and beyond, really. 
You'll see that we introduced an over 21 campsite this year. For me, it's a really soft spot in my heart."
This year the festival has undergone some future-proofing with a fresh design team creating five new stages and improving the main stage. Mr Benn says to stay successful they must constantly innovate:
"At the main stage, we put a thrust (stage that projects out into the audience) into it. Gallery, which is the second stage, is in a huge, huge Valhalla tent, and, you know, amazing visuals that will be in it. What was the Festival Republic stage, becomes the ballroom, and it will feel like a ballroom theatre."
Next year another innovation will see the festival put on live music for a fourth night with the main stage hosting acts from 5 on the Thursday afternoon. Mr Benn told us there's still demand for festivals despite the crowded live music market:
"Competition is from big stadium tours, big arena tours, but there is a demand to see live music, and there is, there's also demand to commune, to get together in large groups of people that share similar values and similar cultural interests. So that's where the festival stands out"
At the age of 70 you might think he would be taking a back seat but he remains absorbed in his festival republic business and demonstrated his attention to detail by turning up to a recent Reading borough council meeting to oversee a vital modification to the festival's licence. He says the Reading festival is the best of its kind in the world and puts the town on a world stage:
"You know, obviously, the football team does at various times, but the festival has been at the top of the live music tree forever, in that sense of it. 
Really, from 1989 onwards this festival has been among the top three, four festivals in the world."