READING AND LEEDS 2026 - WHO WE’RE WATCHING

This August Bank Holiday the iconic Reading & Leeds Festival returns - with six HUGE headliners and the biggest overhaul of stages since the festival began!

For the first time in 25 years, the festival will platform an exclusively British and Irish set of headliners. From dance icons Chase and Status to rock megastars Fontaines DC and Florence and the Machine; pop princesses Charli XCX and Raye; and rap legend Dave; Reading and Leeds really have pulled out all the stops.

And in another first, Leeds Festival will also welcome performers to The Grid – the freshly reimagined Main Stage on Thursday, with Kasabian, The Lathums and Arkayla all set to appear.

The festival also promises a new on-site experience at both Reading and Leeds this summer, with brand new stages and a revamped layout!

The Gallery, a brand new stage for 2026, is an undercover immersive stage, with innovative LED screen lights and enhanced production capabilities which will see performances from Josh Baker, Kneecap, Skye Newman, Kettama and Holly Humberstone amongst others.

The Warehouse is the festival’s first ever purpose-built home for dance music, with viewing platforms in front and behind the decks, it will welcome special sets from Skepta b2b Prospa, Hybrid Minds, Hedex, Silva Bumpa and Rossi.

As the name might suggest, The Ballroom comes complete with chandeliers and draping, a unique backdrop for what are sure to be some of the festival’s most memorable breakthrough sets.

For fans of new music, The Canopy is the place to be, as it plays host to the likes of Gurriers, Ruby Roberts, Violet Grohl and Camille Blackman.

With such a diverse, genre spanning line up it can be hard to know where to start – but we’ve got you covered, here’s ‘Who We’re Watching’ at Reading and Leeds 2026.

The Guest List

Photo: Holly Pimlott

Hailing from the musical metropolis that is Manchester, The Guest List have taken the pressure that comes with starting a band in the musically sacred city and used it to create a diamond. With mature lyricism and slick songwriting, they have drawn the attention of the likes of BBC Radio 6 Music’s Chris Hawkins; this is band with talent that reaches way beyond their years.

Formed in 2021 as school friends and music students, The Guest List first gained traction with a run of high-energy indie covers online. But it’s their original material – socially-conscious, ambitious, and emotionally direct – that has set them apart, drawing comparisons to Arctic Monkeys, Radiohead and Sam Fender while carving out something distinctly their own.

The band’s performance at the festival coincides with the release of their debut album, Something Real, which is set to drop on 28th August. Recorded in Bergen, Norway with collaborator Matias Tellez, the multifaceted debut is said to tackle everything from mental health, anxiety and male suicide to domestic violence, climate collapse and society’s growing appetite for outrage.

We HIGHLY recommend heading over to The Canopy to watch the Guest List on Friday at Reading, and Saturday at Leeds.  

Check out our Artist Feature on The Guest List, including a live performance of their track Plasticine Heart.HERE.

Dexter in the Newsagent

Blending R&B rhythms with dreamy pop vibes, South London singer-songwriter Dexter In The Newsagent is one of the UK’s most rapidly rising stars.

Since the release of her debut EP I Do Love a Good Sandwich in 2021, we have been HOOKED and were over the moon when we heard of the release of debut album Time Flies in 2025.

What stands out the most about Time Flies is Dexter In The Newsagent’s gently crafted emotional storytelling. On Time Flies, she explores feelings of love, loss, loneliness, and life as a young woman in the UK, tying everything together in a comfortingly nostalgic light.

Her first ever UK and Ireland tour in February of this year was completely sold out, so Reading and Leeds is your chance to come down and see what all the fuss is about.

Dexter In the Newsagent will be performing on The Ballroom stage at Leeds on Friday and Sunday at Reading.

Geese

In a line up otherwise dominated by British and Irish artists, New York City’s Geese will be flying across the pond to perform one of the most anticipated sets of the weekend.

If you’ve somehow managed to escape the hype around this band, we’ll fill you in. The magic of the internet – mainly TikTok trending audio- has helped to spread Geese’s uniquely experimental sound far and wide. Melodic, melancholic, but always hopeful, their music has an uplifting, adventurous soul with a 21st century country and western attitude, meaning everything they touch sounds like a coming-of-age movie soundtrack.

The release of their 4th LP, Getting Killed in 2025 propelled them from underground icons to magazine cover stars, with The Guardian even hailing them as “The new saviours of rock and roll”.

2026 saw them hit the ground running, with sold out shows across the UK and Europe earning them a reputation for their emphatic stage presence. Geese were also awarded the prize of Best International Group of The Year at this year’s BRIT awards in Manchester, making them an absolute MUST WATCH at Reading and Leeds.

Geese will play The Gallery at Reading on Friday, and Saturday at Leeds.

WESTSIDE COWBOY

Photo: Charlie Barclay Harris

Despite being the newest band on the block in our ‘Who We’re Watching’ series, Westside Cowboy’s sound is one of the most daring and developed. Far from a ‘one trick pony’, these Mancunian musicians sure know how to lasso the attention of fans and music moguls alike with their live-sounding recording style and punky attitude.

Since winning the coveted Glastonbury Emerging Talent competition in 2025, things have gone from strength to strength for the Manchester quartet, their latest single Dobro receiving major support from BBC 6 Music ahead of the release of their debut album It Goes On, this Friday 21st June.

With a distinctly independent and community based attitude towards everything they do, Westside Cowboy - co-creators of Manchester based collective: No Band Is An Island – also chose to collaborate with phoenix club FC United of Manchester on the music video for new track Kick Stones (The Boys), promoting the club’s ethos of “Making friends not millionaires”.

Catch Westside Cowboy on The Ballroom at Leeds on Friday and Reading on Sunday.

Overpass

Since first appearing on the scene in 2020, the buzz around Birmingham based band Overpass has been building, making them an essential addition to our ‘Who We’re Watching’ list for 2026.

With a steady string of releases, the young band gained early support from BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders, 6Music’s Huw Stephens, and Radio X’s John Kennedy, alongside an impressive online following. Regular festival appearances and high-profile support slots have brought their anthemic, arena sized sound to the masses, helping them to develop a live show that is primed and polished way beyond their years.

2026 is set to be the band’s biggest year yet, as they ride the high of their debut album release. The hotly anticipated record, Elsewhere, Always peaked at number 5 in the UK album charts, and took the #1 spot in the independent chart when it was released earlier this summer. Lyrically, the perfect ‘coming of age’ album, Elsewhere, Always is born from the relatable remit of twenty-something existential confusion and frustration. However, sonically, it’s so much more than an angsty post teen album. Elsewhere, Always is HUGE sounding, and wouldn’t be out of place in the discography of emotional rock greats like U2 and Radiohead. With an almost completely sold out EU and UK tour set for this autumn, Reading and Leeds is your chance to catch this band before they become major contenders for the main stage.

Overpass will play The Ballroom Stage on Friday at Reading and Leeds on Saturday.

Blossoms

After 10 years of releasing music Blossoms are now veterans of the scene, but will always have a place on our ‘Who We’re Watching’ list.

A band always full of surprises – who remembers when they literally had CMAT pop out of a box during their Glastonbury set? - Blossoms have been all over the guerilla marketing for their latest album (no pun intended). Leaving the signature orange curtain, their 8 foot friend and subsequent Gary era behind, the band have been playing some pretty unusual shows in the lead up to their new album Songs From The Wedding Cake, including a pop up show from the back of a truck outside Manchester’s 42s nightclub; a place now synonymous with the band, so much so that they chose to immortalize it on their track Mothers.

The tracks we have heard so far from the band’s upcoming sixth studio album continue the disco pop inspired sound that was solidified on Gary. Charlie Salt’s funky bassline IS the main character in The Wedding Cake’s opening track - Joke About Divorce, and latest single Meet Me In Love, which features a surprise cameo from Love Island presenter Maya Jama!

With The Wedding Cake due for release on 2nd October, we still have a little longer to wait to hear what the band have been baking in the studio. BUTTT, we have a sneaky feeling that they might treat the Leeds crowd to some of the new tracks when they appear as Special Guests at this year’s festival. And if that’s not enough to tempt you, their extensive back catalogue of bangers – Charlemagne, Gary, Your Girlfriend, and There’s a Reason Why (I Never Returned Your Calls) – are sure to get you dancing.

Blossoms will play The Grid on Friday at Leeds. (Leeds Only).

Charli XCX

And last but not least, this pop ICON needs no introduction. Last year her era defining album BRAT absolutely dominated the charts and the airwaves, earning her critical acclaim for her innovative style and entrepreneurial spirit.

Charli XCX’s forward thinking approach has reshaped pop culture as we know it. BRAT summer might be over, but now she’s making ‘Rock-k-k-k music’.

With her brand new album Music, Fashion, Film Charli enters a brand new era, the luminous green has changed to black, bringing even more attitude and artistic vision.

A UK festival exclusive, Charli XCX will headline The Grid at Reading on Friday and Leeds on Saturday; we can’t wait to see what she has in store.

For final tickets, head to: https://www.readingandleedsfestival.com/

Next week we will be heading down to Leeds Festival, bringing you all the action from Bramham Park.

To see what we get up to, head over to our socials. Instagram.Facebook.Tiktok.

Set times are now live in the official festival app.