Charli XCX, Dave, Florence + The Machine, and RAYE to Headline Reading & Leeds 2026

Charli XCX, Chase And Status, Dave, Florence And The Machine, Fontaines D.C., and RAYE are set to headline Reading and Leeds 2026.

The iconic dual-site event returns to Little John’s Farm in Reading and Bramham Park in Leeds next August Bank Holiday (August 27 to 30).

The announcement marks a historic moment for the music extravaganza, as it will be the first time in 25 years that the headline bill is made up entirely of British and Irish artists.

In another first, Leeds Festival will open its Main Stage on Thursday, welcoming Kasabian as inaugural headliners at Bramham Park.

Beyond the headline slots, the weekend promises a diverse mix of talent, including Skepta, Sombr, Role Model, Jade, Josh Baker, Kneecap, Kettama, Chris Stussy (Reading only), Geese, Skye Newman, Adéla, and Keo.

The Festival pre-sale starts at 9am on Tuesday, sign up for access via www.readingfestival.com / www.leedsfestival.com.

Tickets go on general sale at 12pm on Wednesday.

RAYE fulfilled a lifelong ambition in 2024 when she made her debut at Reading and Leeds, turning a teenage dream into reality.

She said onstage: ‘You know what listen guys, I’ve done it, I came to Reading and Leeds when I was 16 when I finished my GCSE’s, I was in the dance tent living my life… you know what I mean. I had a dream, and look at me now, it’s all possible.”

This year’s festival featured headline performances from Chappell Roan, Travis Scott, Bring Me The Horizon, and Hozier.

Charli XCX has established herself as a headline-worthy act after her Glastonbury performance drew one of the weekend’s biggest crowds. 

She recently detailed the intense highs and numerous lows that come with pop stardom in her first, painfully honest blog post for online discussion group Substack. 

The British singer developed a niche following of fiercely loyal fans following the release of her debut album, True Romance, in 2013. 

But the unprecedented commercial success of BRAT, her sixth LP, over the summer of 2024 has earned her a significantly broader fanbase and placed her in the same pop pantheon as superstars Taylor Swift and Adele. 

Reflecting on her life in the public eye, Charli, 33 – who married The 1975 drummer George Daniel in July – admits global fame has inevitable ‘pros and cons.’ 

Launching her new Substack platform with a blunt assessment of her lifestyle, she wrote: ‘One of the main realities of being a pop star is that at a certain level, it’s really f**king fun. 

‘You get to go to great parties in a black SUV and you can smoke cigarettes in the car and scream out of the sunroof and all that cliche s**t.

‘At these parties you sometimes get to meet interesting people and those interesting people often actually want to meet you. 

‘You get to wear fabulous clothes and shoes and jewelry that sometimes comes with its own security guard who trails you around the party making sure you don’t lose the extortionate earrings sitting on your lobes or let some random person you’ve just met in the bathroom try on the necklace around your neck that is equivalent to the heart of the ocean.’ 

She adds: ‘You get to enter restaurants through the back entrance and give a half smile to the head chef (who probably hates you) and the waiters (who probably hate you too) as they sweat away doing an actual real service industry job while you strut through the kitchen with your 4 best friends who are tagging along for the ride.’ 

And the Cambridge-born star admits the privileges that come with fame often present some of the biggest obstacles. 

‘You get to feel special, but you also have to at points feel embarrassed by how stupid the whole thing is,’ she writes, admitting the vacuous nature of her job is most evident when she’s around those who have known her since childhood. 

‘Sometimes being a pop star can be really embarrassing, especially when you’re around old friends of family members who have known you since before you could talk,’ she adds. 

‘The discrepancy in lifestyles becomes more and more drastic the more successful and paranoid you become. 

‘As a British person the longer you stay in LA the more you lose touch with the realities of certain things, but that’s why being a pop star can also be seriously humbling too, especially when your old friends mock and ridicule you for caring about something absolutely pointless.’  

Despite her enormous success, Charli claims being a woman in the public eye comes with its own set of challenges because ‘some people are simply determined to prove that you are stupid.’ 

She writes: ‘I’ve always wondered why someone else’s success triggers such rage and anger in certain people and I think it probably all boils down to the fact that the patriarchal society we unfortunately live in has successfully brainwashed us all. 

‘We are still trained to hate women, to hate ourselves and to be angry at women if they step out of the neat little box that public perception has put them in. 

‘I think subconsciously people still believe there is only room for women to be a certain type of way and once they claim to be one way they better not DARE grow or change or morph into something else.’