TIM HUGHES finds the secret of Reading Festival’s success is simple: it’s all about the bands.

‘THIS is the world’s greatest music festival!” It’s a quite a claim, but Melvin Benn is in no doubt that he’s right.

The polite and softly-spoken impresario behind Reading Festival is not given to exaggeration, but when it comes to his annual Thames-side party weekend, he can barely conceal his excitement.

Sure, it may not have the glorious pastoral settings of Glastonbury or Bestival, the civilised charm of Cornbury, or the cosy intimacy of WOMD or Wychwood, but it has something no other festival can match - the biggest bands on earth.

“It has absolutely the best line-up,” adds Melvin, head of Festival Republic, which runs the event, just over the Oxfordshire border at Little John’s Farm.

“Those bands make it the best anywhere. I have stood by that belief for many years. I go to lots of festivals and there is no doubt in my mind.”

Thousands of Oxfordshire music-lovers will descend on the sprawling site for next weekend’s bash, which gets under way with a warm-up gig on Thursday, before beginning in earnest the following day. And with a line-up headed by Guns ‘n’ Roses, Arcade Fire and Blink 182, it looks like being a vintage year.

They will be joined by the likes of Gogol Bordello, Biffy Clyro, Queens of the Stone Age, Klaxons, LCD Soundsystem, Pendulum, Crystal Castle, Weezer, Dizzee Rascal, Mumford and Sons, Paramore, Mystery Jets, Ash, Marina and the Diamonds, The Maccabees, and Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.

Also appearing are Oxford cult heroes Foals, and raucous West Oxford/Abingdon duo Little Fish.

Then there are the up-and-coming bands, many featured on the BBC Introducing stage, and a quality comedy bill, boasting comics such as Emo Philips, Jason Byrne and Russel Kane.

And that’s only scratching the surface.

“The music bill is what sells the event and it has a greater integrity than any other festival,” adds Melvin, who is particularly proud of this year’s glittering all-American headliners.

He admits to some quiet pride in the long history of Reading Festival – which has flown the flag for cutting-edge rock for decades.

“Our musical and cultural heritage is fundamental to us,” he says. “For many people it’s the first festival they go to. It follows the GCSE and A-level results, which means people in that age-group come and drown their sorrows or celebrate their success. There is a lot of talk about festival-goers being a more diverse range of people, but the profile of Reading hasn’t changed since the ’70s.”

And he should know – he was there, as a rock-loving teenager. “It is still the same as when I was one of those kids, between 1970 and ’74.

“There is very little squalor that can be endured that I haven’t endured. One year I even forgot my tent!

“As I have been there as a consumer, I have a perspective that non-consumers don’t have.”

One idea to have taken off at Reading is the appearance of a Festival Republic stage for new bands. This is where acts such as Arctic Monkeys, Coldplay Florence and the Machine and La Roux first appeared.

All bands playing at Reading also perform a sister festival the same weekend in Leeds, though Melvin says Reading is still THE place to be. “Both festivals are surprisingly different,” he says. “Reading has a much more hard-core audience. There is a great clamour to be at Reading, because of its heritage, and it has much more the feel of a national festival.”

l See next week’s Oxford Mail for tips on who to see, and an interview with one of the stars of this year’s bash – Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke.

* Reading Festival takes place at Little John’s Farm from next Friday-Sunday (Aug 27-29). Tickets have sold out – check viagogo.co.uk for returns. Highlights will be on BBC Radio 1 and screened on BBC3