One festival-goer at Reading has come well-prepared

A crowd of 55,000 will rock to music by the likes of The Darkness and Franz Ferdinand each day of the three-day Reading event which begins on Friday.

Green Day will headline at Leeds on Friday before the bands swap venues over the following two days.

Bad weather means some car parking at Reading has been moved away from the main festival site because of flooding.

A spokeswoman for the Reading Festival said: "Yes, some of the car parking has been moved back away from the site and shuttle buses will be provided for fans, but for the most part I don't think it's a major move.

"Apart from that it's business as usual. We are all looking forward to it."

Traffic problems

And those arriving at the Reading site were greeted by the sight of fellow festival-goers wading through fields of mud.

AA spokeswoman Rebecca Rees said there had been reports of traffic building up in Reading on Thursday as some fans headed to the festival site early.

Traffic bound for the Leeds Festival is causing similar problems for drivers in the city.

More than 50,000 people and about 13,000 cars are expected at the music festival at Bramham Park.

Other top names appearing at the festivals include The White Stripes, Morrissey, The Hives and Ash.