Reading Festival, 23rd August 2025

Header shot: Reading Festival © Ben Awin

Amongst the big players on the UK festival circuit, Reading and Leeds is pretty well ingrained into the annual celebrations that bring the best of new and established artists to a wider crowd. Our Saturday was mud-free – you can’t have all the traditions – and filled with an impressive selection of genres; end-of nighters Bring Me The Horizon and Limp Bizkit (complete with an AI version of the Gallagher brothers on screen for their entrance) proving as popular as ever with huge performances and huge support.

Throughout the day there were other notable crowd-pullers; Example and Becky Hill both playing to a rammed, bouncing Chevron stage where all ages seemed to know the words for a singalong, while Conan Gray showcased the rise from YouTube star to main stage with a more chilled set that none the less grabbed the attention of many.

Example © Ben Awin, Reading Festival 

Conan Gray © Ben Awin, Reading Festival 

And some of the smaller stages, as with all these events, were the best place to find newer talent by the bucketload. Shout out to the BBC Introducing stage for putting the likes of The Pill, V.I.C. and Nxdia into the spotlight, their presence locally and nationally is giving so many artists the opportunity to be seen and heard and is a massively important platform that consistently needs and deserves support.

Over on the Festival Republic stage (another great champion of new music), US electronic duo Snow Strippers impressed, and Balming Tiger pushed the idea of K-pop to its limits. Always at the top of our list, the powerhouse that is Glasgow’s VLURE never disappoints – consistently a quality booking for any event, it was worth the trip for their set alone. Their debut album Escalate is due to drop at the end of September – get in on the accompanying tour dates if you can.

It seems like Reading has evolved for the better over the years – the site felt better distributed and easier to get around than it once was, and all the security and stewards we spoke to were super helpful. With the other days featuring acts including Chappell Roan, Hozier, Mannequin Pussy and Travis Scott, there has clearly also been a shift in the monopoly of male indie acts too, which is always good to see. There was no escaping the cloud of dust that was ever present (maybe mud’s not such a bad alternative) but once the dust has settled, this year’s Reading Festival can be considered a big success.

You can sign up for first access to lowest prices for Reading 2026 here

Review by Siobhan and Callum

Photos by Ben Awin

Published 26th August 2025