Reading & Leeds organiser Melvin Benn has revealed to NME that two of the headliners for 2026 have already been booked.
The 2025 edition of the twin festivals is going down this weekend, with Chappell Roan and Hozier topping the Reading bill on Friday night, Bring Me The Horizon and Limp Bizkit holding it down on Saturday and Travis Scott bringing festivities to a close on Sunday night.
On the opening day on Friday, Benn spoke to NME about the exhaustive preparation that goes into the running of the festival every year, and the “overhaul” of the camping design for 2025 that carved out special areas for solo punters, eco-friendly visitors, the LGBTQ+ community and others.
NME also asked him about the prospects for 2025, and he revealed that significant plans are already in place for the top of the bill next year.
“I’ve already got headliners for two of the three nights booked already for next year, and I’m really confident about the artists,” he said. “I feel like we’re in a stronger position than I can remember for an awfully long time. I can’t remember when I’ve ever had two of the three nights booked by this stage. We’ve had one booked by this stage, but I can’t remember ever having two of the three.
He continued: “We’re not far away from having the third one already booked, so I think we’re in a really good place. Plus, I think the changes that we’ve made will make people want to come back even more. Ultimately, they’ll come back to see the headliners, and I think we’ll be presenting great headliners for them.”
Benn was coy about the identities of the 2026 headliners for now, but he did say there are names on this year’s line-up that could fit the bill one day. ““Yes, there are two or three on the bill this year that I think are future headliners,” he teased. “But I’ve stopped predicting that to the public because I think it’s a burden on the artists to say, ‘You’re tipped as being a future headliner… but will you be?’
“One of the things that we do here is give acts a chance to go through the ranks. Let them start on one of the smaller stages and come all the way through.”
So far at Reading & Leeds 2025, Hozier made an impassioned and lengthy speech on Friday in which he spoke out in support of Palestine Action, Kneecap, free speech and equality.
Chappell Roan also played an energetic, hits-packed set on Friday. In a five-star review, NME wrote: “Throughout the performance, there’s a feeling of camaraderie and community in the crowd. Strangers become new acquaintances, the ‘Hot To Go’ dance unites everyone in clumsily trying to remember the moves and in the right order, and before ‘Red Wine Supernova’, everyone raises pink cowboy hats and pink bandanas aloft. It feels like tens of thousands of like-minded people who’ve all got the same memo and have been brought together with the same intentions.”
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