Reading & Leeds will return from Thursday 26 to Sunday 29 August 2027, with tickets going on sale this week after a landmark 2026 edition that organisers billed as the biggest European festival of the summer. Presale tickets go on sale at 10am BST on Friday 4 September, with general sale following at 10am BST on Friday 11 September. Fans can register now at www.readingandleedsfestival.com.
More than half a million people attended across both sites, as the festival closed the season with an all UK and Irish headline bill for the first time in 26 years. Charli xcx, Chase & Status, Dave, Florence + The Machine, Fontaines D.C. and RAYE topped the bill, with Kasabian booked as a Leeds exclusive for the first Thursday night headline slot in that site’s history.
The 2026 line-up was framed as a statement of how much British and Irish music now carries globally, spanning Charli xcx’s pop, Dave’s rap, Fontaines D.C.’s alternative rock, RAYE’s showmanship, Florence + The Machine’s theatrical sets and Chase & Status’ drum and bass. It followed a 2025 bill led by Travis Scott, Chappell Roan, Bring Me The Horizon and Hozier.
Secret sets across the weekend included Jamie T, Lola Young and Royal Blood. Surprise guests included Arrdee, Central Cee, D Double E, James Blake, Kano, Novelist, Professor Green, Tems and Tom Grennan. The wider programme stretched from SOMBR, Skepta, Loyle Carner, Gunna, JADE and Role Model to Declan McKenna, Kneecap, Slayyyter, Adéla, Blossoms, Viagra Boys, Geese, Maisie Peters, Kettama, Chris Stassy, Josh Baker and SPEED.
The weekend also launched what Festival Republic called the Reading & Leeds 2.0 era, with the biggest staging and arena overhaul in the festival’s history. Five new spaces, The Gallery, The Warehouse, The Ballroom, The Canopy and The Yard, were built to split live music, dance, emerging talent and late night culture into distinct areas.
Dance programming was expanded through The Warehouse, which hosted Max Dean b2b Luke Dean, Riordan, Rossi., Mall Grab, SOTA and Hybrid Minds. In Leeds, LS23 stayed open as a late night destination after the main stages had finished. The new Canopy stage was designed as a dedicated home for new music, with December 10, Violet Grohl, Cruz Beckham & The Breakers, The North, Amma, Finessekid, Day We Ran and Villanelle among the names given a higher profile platform.
Melvin Benn, Managing Director of Festival Republic, said: “I could not be prouder of what the team have achieved this year. They have transformed the vision behind Reading & Leeds, setting out a bold pathway for the future and delivering the biggest festival in Europe this summer. From the strength of the headliners – all-British and Irish – to the transformation of the sites at both Reading and Leeds, to the expansion of our new-music offering, we have set down a marker in the British cultural landscape. The reaction from our audiences, artists, and partners has been incredible, and we can’t wait to share our plans for 2027.”
Sets from Fontaines D.C., RAYE, Dave, Florence + The Machine and Chase & Status are available on BBC iPlayer, with Reading Festival Highlights 2026 airing on BBC One tonight (Wednesday 2 September) at 10.40pm. BBC Radio 1, Radio 1 Dance and 6 Music are also running special programming, with further coverage across BBC Sounds and BBC Music on YouTube.
Image credits: Matt Eachus, Ruby Boland
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