Shortly after the first line-up announcement, Feeder and Yeah Yeah Yeahs switched days, meaning that Yeah Yeah Yeahs would play Reading on Friday and Leeds on Saturday, and that Feeder would play Reading on Saturday and Leeds on Sunday. Audioslave pulled out of their slot due to the band being busy recording new material, The Shins pulled out for undisclosed reasons, and From First to Last pulled out due to the then lead singer (Sonny Moore) needing throat surgery, Paramore had to pull out because their singer (Hayley Williams) had throat problems and were replaced by Sonic Boom Six lower in the bill. Story of the Year and Bleeding Through also pulled out for undisclosed reasons. Flogging Molly, bizarrely, played twice at both festivals - once in the punk tent and once on the main stage. Tickets were £135 for a weekend ticket and £60 for a day ticket.

This year saw the addition of a second barrier at the main stage. There was no policy on admission into the inner circle with both sides wide open, but the intention was to reduce crowd density at the very front. Officially the inner circle had a capacity of 20,000.

Rioting allegedly did not occur this year and though this was mainly due to the amount of rain on the Sunday night, Mean Fiddler took a new approach to trying to combat the problem. As opposed to increasing security they managed to obtain later licences allowing some entertainments to last until 4 am. This together with the general maintenance of amenities until early Monday morning aimed to keep people occupied preventing riots.

During Panic! at the disco's performance, a full 7up bottle was thrown at the bands lead singer Brendon Urie and knocked him out, but not long after he got back up and the band continued with the same song.