Once again the summer is almost upon us, and fingers crossed its going to be sun, sea and festivals.

We already have a sold out Glastonbury, T In The Park and V Festival and with the release of the line up and ticket details for the Reading & Leeds Festivals imminent all eyes are looking over security for the festivals.

Over the years Glastonbury festival received a high amount of criticism over its safety and crime. With people regularly turning up to the festival and simply just hopping over the fence. This lead to Glastonbury organizer Michael Eavis to take a massive step and introduce the ‘superfence’. A 12-foot tall steel fence to guard the perimeter of Glastonbury. This has been known to be a great achievement.

But almost ten years on from this problem and Glastonbury it’s a modern day dilemma that is troubling festival chiefs. Ticket touting.

Glastonbury has done well with their id style cards, as they get attendees to send them a photo when applying for the festival.

But Reading and Leeds head chief Melvin Benn is concerned that ticket touts are now up to something new. Melvin thinks that touts are trying to scam people twice. Firstly through selling them bogus tickets online then when they get to the festivals and cant get in but are desperately seeking away to get inside the same touts will be on hand to sell them a second fake set of tickets for a high end price. Benn said: “The crook’s are getting better.”

Benn believes that this could be a constant problem for major UK festivals over this summer. But how will this be prevented in future years to come?

Will Glastonbury’s ID card scheme come into use over all major festivals or will it be a new type of security measure?

Melvin Benn though is looking towards sporting events, mainly football and the world cup for a solution. Benn wants to use scanning systems that are widely used in football stadia throughout the world.

Benn said: “The technology is there – it’s already in place for ticketing at football stadiums. However, applying that in a green field is often a much more difficult task.”

Benn wants all major festivals to have this equipment and to have tickets and wristbands that are barcoded and scanable by the summer festivals of 2013. He is also trying to get this idea for the technology applied to all music events for the future.

Benn said on the matter: “Changes will definitely be introduced this year in different forms at various festivals”

But he also wanted festival goer’s to realize that the problem starts when buying tickets and that they need to be highly cautious of where they purchase there tickets from.

Festival chiefs such as Benn have been working along side police and heads of security firms to fight against festival crime.

Such as Leeds festival police commander Superintendent Andy Battle who agrees with Benn’s idea of people being cautious of where they get their tickets. Battle said: “But all I can say to festivalgoer’s is don’t buy from touts, because all you are doing is putting money into criminals’ pockets”

Reg Walker of festival security firm iridium consultancy said he hopes “that a series of proposed testing points at festivals will act as a scaremongering tactic towards touts, as well as stopping innocent festival-goers from being scammed.”

Festival chiefs will be hoping to get this problem sorted as soon as possible to give festivalgoer’s the safest most enjoyable weekend that they can. And make them feel safe from the moment buying their ticket till the moment they leave the fields and hopefully by 2013 we wont have any of this to worry about

Brian McDermott will be looking for his Reading side to continue their good run of form as they play West Brom in their fifth round FA Cup tie.

The Royals, unbeaten in three games, have had a very successful cup run this season and will fancy their chances at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Beating Burnley at home in the last round and Liverpool in the one before that, McDermott will believe his side will be able to make it to the sixth round for the first time since the semi final cup run of 1927.

Speaking to Readingfc.co.uk, McDermott said: “We’re really looking forward to it. We should have a good crowd, a special atmosphere and a special day.

“The FA Cup is a great competition and everyone has memories of it. We were talking about Bob Stokoe, Alan Sunderland, fantastic memories. Now we have our own memories, beating Liverpool at Anfield with Shane Long scoring, then beating Burnley and we want more of it.

“It’s a good game for us because it’s at home. We’re pleased to have our fans behind us. I don’t like to talk about giant killings because we are Reading, we are a big club.”

West Brom will not be easy to walk over however, as they are currently top of the Coca-Cola Championship, unbeaten in seven and have won four games on the trot in all competitions.

The Baggies will be seeking a 12th away game without defeat, having not lost on the road since their league trip to Barnsley on 29 September.

Having beaten Newcastle in the previous round will help Roberto Di Matteo’s men gain confidence for the task ahead:

In an interview with wba.co.uk Di Matteo, who twice won the competition with Chelsea, said: “It’s a great competition the FA Cup in England

“We’ve tried our best in previous games and that’s what we’ll do on Saturday – we’ll try to get through to the next round.

Both sides will be looking for a win and a chance of playing one of the bigger teams left in the competition at the Quarterfinal stage.

Team News

Matt Mills is available for Reading after serving a suspension and should replace cup-tied Zurab Khizanishvili. Gylfi Sigurdsson and Marek Matejovsky are close to a return but Royals’ boss Brian McDermott must do without Noel Hunt, Chris Armstrong and Julian Kelly.

West Brom will have to make changes from the side that went top of the table after beating Scunthorpe – with Mark Nouble cup-tied. Jerome Thomas is suspended while Marek Cech and Ishmael Miller are injured.

Form Guide (All competitions)

Reading: WWWLW

Last Match: vs Plymouth Argyle (h) 2-1

Last Win: vs Plymouth Argyle (h) 2-1

West Brom: WWWWD

Last Match: vs Scunthorpe United (h) 2-0

Last Win: vs Scunthorpe United (h) 2-0

FA Cup History:

Reading: Semi Finalists in 1927

Lost the most FA Cup ties out of any other team currently in the Football League.

West Brom: Winners in 1888, 1892, 1931, 1954 and 1968

Runners-up in 1886, 1887, 1895, 1912 and 1935

Head-to-Head

These clubs have already met in the league at the Hawthorns this season, when the home side won 3-1.

Reading have won their last three home league and cup meetings with the Baggies, and have not lost in six on their own patch since Albion’s 2-0 second level league victory in January 1995.

This is the third time they have been paired together in the FA Cup, and honours are even at one win a piece. The most recent was Reading’s success, after extra time, in a third round replay at the Madejski in 2006

Burnley will face Sheffield United in a Roses clash at Wembley for a place in the Premier League after beating Reading 2-0 in the second leg of their semi-final, going through 3-0 on aggregate.

Two stunning goals from Martin Paterson and Steven Thompson early in the second half saw the Clarets through after a nervy and tight first 45 minutes.

Reading had started the brighter side and the visitors had to rely on goalkeeper Brian Jensen to keep them in the game, palming Shane Long’s fierce shot away to safety and generally handling the ball well.

The Clarets were restricted to the odd chance on the break. Twice Reading’s stopper Marcus Hahnemann saved Clarke Carlisle headers from corners comfortably and Wade Elliott’s deflected volley was the only other bright spot for Burnley in a testing opening.

Referee Mike Riley then had a big call to make as Jensen lumbered off his line and out of his area to handle the ball. But Riley deemed it accidental, correctly so, and Jensen saved Dan Harding’s resulting drilled free-kick.

Burnley looked to see out the early stages of the second period but went one better, taking the lead just a few minutes in. Paterson was given far too much room to cut inside from the right touchline, amble forward twenty yards, and smash home a glorious left-foot drive inside Hahnemann’s far post from well outside the penalty area.

Reading manager Steve Coppell, who seemed to offer his resignation in a post-match interview, reacted by throwing on three substitutes, Glen Little, Dave Kitson and Stephen Hunt, but as the team struggled to settle Burnley put the tie to bed.

Jensen booted the ball long to Thompson, who held off Duberry to bring the ball down after it bounced awkwardly. The Scot then looked up and flicked the ball instinctively towards the goal, where Hahnemann was just too far off his line to stop it crashing in off the underside of the bar.

After that hammer blow Burnley’s progression was never in doubt, and they will fancy their chances in the winner takes all game on Bank Holiday Monday at the national stadium having beaten Kevin Blackwell’s Blades twice already this campaign.

Through the mists of habitual drug use and musical genius, a band formed, excelled and died; the scandal that followed fulling tabloids and dividing opinion as each new revelation overshadowed the last.

Peter Doherty’s self-imposed exile now sees him living in Paris, estranged from his beloved Albion, and, perhaps more painfully for the music world, estranged from Carl Barat.

The insatiable demand for these two masters of their art has led to a rumored £2million being offered to secure a return – an amount that has led to the pair opening up discussions about The Libertines potentially reforming.

Skeptics in the media world see this as achieving nothing more than something to widen the rift; Doherty will spend his cut on opiates which in turn will further alienate Barat. This is an issue that continues to plague them as individuals.

While together they may be a tour de force, apart they are prisoners of their past glories, jealousies, and continue to have mixed levels of success.

Post 2004, Barat’s projects have faltered at every turn, leading to critics questioning his credentials; while there is no doubt he is a supremely gifted songwriter and musician, he seems to lack the rebellious edge needed to dominate a stage.

Jealousy had always been a contentious issue according to friends of the duo, especially as Doherty’s profile as the lovable rascal began to escalate along with his notoriety. Dirty Pretty Things stalled constantly in their bid to emulate The Libertines, with some suspecting Carl Barat was fighting a personal battle and trying to emulate Doherty.

The duo seemed to share an obsessive relationship; one where the boundaries between platonic and sexual love could at times seemed blurred. Their rapport when it came to love of literature, their natural wit and unnatural talent, saw the two connect on a level seeing them resemble players in a Wildean novel.

“I think there’s, y’know, obsession and jealousy on both of their sides. They bitch about each other to each other or to other people,” Roger Sargent, a close friend of both musicians, told the BBC.

“They have a bond, intellectually and spiritually, like nothing I’ve ever seen … but sometimes, you know, you just think, God, why don’t you just get a room?!”

This bond between the two was the fundamental reason behind The Libertines disbanding in 2004. Doherty’s destructive personality was impacting on the band and Barat was forced to take a back seat as the two things he cared most about hit the shitty fan.

Heroin had too strong a hold on Doherty – rehab failing numerous times – so Barat took control of the one thing he still had power over, and Peter was out of the band. A distraught Doherty burgled Carl Barat’s flat and found himself bundled in front of a judge and then off to prison. This, numerous arrests for drug possession, assault and blackmail saw his charge street become longer than his discography.

Barat, sensing a friendship with someone so intent on destroying themselves was not good for either of them, decided to cut ties. Fast-forward to 2009 and this remains the case, albeit one littered with fleeting reunions for one-off performances.

“We had some ridiculous offers to headline Reading. Like £2 million to headline this festival, £1 million to headline that festival,” Doherty told NME Magazine. “I said, ‘Why don’t we just do it? Let’s get the old band back together’.”

Doherty continued, “He (Barat) said: ‘We have to be friends, we can’t just do it for the money’. I said, ‘OK, let’s be friends! Friends who go and make lots of money’, because I haven’t got any money and I know he’s skint. He said I had to go and see an energy consultant, some new age guru who is going to measure my energy levels and see if I’m surrounded by darkness. If I am I’m not allowed to go near Carl because I’ll tap into his good energy and I’ll sap all the good energy and bring nothing but darkness into his life.”

While people may scoff at Barat’s suggestion it is very easy to see where he’s coming from. In the past Carl Barat’s behavior has shown Doherty tends to cloud his mental judgment; he has suggested suicide pacts between the pair and even admitted to contemplating becoming addicted to heroin to bring them closer.

If The Libertines reformed, Barat would be admitting failure – at least to himself. A naturally demanding person, he’d then feel the critics would accuse him of not being able to succeed without Doherty, but more importantly he would be letting unneeded demons back into his life.

The Reading and Leeds Festival crowd would have the hour they’ve dreamt of for seven years but the band may very well be signing their own death warrant. Two million seems a lot to turn down but for Barat the money is less than half the issue. There’s little point in locking yourself into a golden handcuff if you’re going to be attached to a sinking ship.

Last year Glastonbury grabbed everybody’s attention with its controversial line-up which included Jay-Z headlining the Pyramid stage on the saturday night. Even Noel Gallagher was criticised for saying there was “no place for Hip-Hop music” at Glastonbury.

The critics were proven wrong though, and the festival was a complete success. It was awarded Best Live Event in the NME Awards. This success has now lead to the Festival already being a sell out for 2009.

Reading Festival saw the all of the big guns playing the three day festival. This included Rage Against The Machine, Metallica, The Killers, Queens of the Stone Age and Tenacious D. On paper this line-up sounded amazing and believe it or not, the UK based festival which also takes place in Leeds, also featured some Brittish bands.

One of the highlight of the rock/indie festival had to be Rage Against The Machine. The veteran band appeal to old and new music fans and this could well be the last time they bless us with a festival appearance.

If you are more into your dance music then one of the alternative festivals you may choose could be Creamfields. The festival, which is now a two day event held in Cheshire has been winning awards for the past 10 years for ‘Best Dance Festival.’

Last years festival saw acts such as Fat Boy Slim, Pendulum, Gossip and Paul Van Dyke. This years line-up will not be announced until 3rd April but the award winning event is bound to be one of the best summer festivals.

Of course there are many more music festivals happening over the summer such as Download, T in the Park and V Festival to name but a few.

The standout festival for me this year by far is going to be Glastonbury. With the success of last year and with acts already confirmed such as ‘The Boss’ Bruce Springsteen, newly reformed Brit band Blur and legend Neil Young, this year could prove to be just as big a triumph as last year.

This opinion is also shared by festival organiser Michael Eavis, “With Neil on the bill we are close to completing our best ever line-up.” The bill for most of the festivals wont be announced until early April but the advanced purchase of my Glastonbury ticket is looking more and more attractive by the day.