Royal Blood to play Reading 2026 "surprise set" on Friday: Here's when to expect them on stage...

27 August 2026, 09:00 | Updated: 27 August 2026, 13:02

Royal Blood in 2026: Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher. Picture: Edward Cooke/Press

The Brighton duo will head to Richfield Avenue to play a last-minute set at the festival, which takes place this bank holiday weekend.

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Royal Blood have announced a surprise set at Reading Festival this weekend.

Reading and Leeds Festival 2026 takes place from 27th - 30th August, Bank Holiday Weekend with Fontaines D.C, Charlie xcx, Dave, RAYE, Florence + The Machine and Chase & Status as its headliners.

The Brighton duo - comprised of Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher - have now confirmed they will play an early set at Reading's Richfield Avenue, taking to new stage The Gallery on Friday (28th August) at 2pm.

Speaking to NME ahead of their performance, frontman Mike Kerr said: "The set planned for Reading is pretty brutal".

The Figure It Out rocker added: "That’s been the theme for these shows. It’s only 45 minutes long so that allows us to play all the heavier songs that we have. The theme of the show is to make it as relentless as possible.”

Referring to the potential for rain on the day, drummer Ben Thatcher added: "Hopefully it rains so we can get more people in the tent."

The band's performance at the festival will follow three sold out dates at Margate's Dreamland, Guildford's G Live and Southampton's Guildhall.

Reading & Leeds 2026: Headliners, line-up, stage times, tickets & more

The news comes on the same month the band shared the details of their long-awaited new album, Dead Company, which is set for release on 13th November via Warner Records.

So far from their fifth outing the band have shared lead single, Ten Over Ten, which sees them go back to their heavier roots and was inspired by frontman Kerr training for a marathon.

You can watch the official video for Ten Over Ten below.

Royal Blood - Ten Over Ten (Official Video)

Asked about the heaviness of their new record and quizzed if they've been inspired by Motörhead on its sound, Kerr told Radio X's Dan O'Connell: "We haven't sort of gone in wanting to play really heavy music for like over a decade, which seems mental. And I don't think we were like directly referencing those things, but I mean, I love Motörhead and perhaps, you know, being bass and drums, it kind of naturally in that direction."

The band are set to take the album out on notably modest tour dates this winter, and asked why they didn't go bigger, Thatcher replied: "Well, I think these venues that are selected suit this record, really. You know, the [Glasgow] Barrowlands, there's a place that we love to play and have such a great energy in that room."

"You want to be amongst it," added Kerr. "You want to feel a part of it, like Ben was saying. I think this record in particular, those venues are going to be the most fun, I think, for everyone."

Royal Blood: "There's more to life than rock 'n' roll"

The self-produced LP was kick-started last year, and the pair claim they had no deadline and no distractions, resulting in a "raw and visceral" collection of songs.

Despite recording much of the album last year, the band took a considerable break - a period in which Thatcher became a father for the first time and Kerr revealed he got engaged - and the band believe that living an ordinary life has allowed them to take stock and come back more inspired.

Kerr told Radio X: "We did our last show sort of August 2024, and we decided that it might be a kind of smart move to resist going into the studio and just kind of going through the motions and I think as a result, it meant that, you know, January 2nd of 2025, we were just so ready to go. And that energy, I think, informed the whole record.

"So yeah, it was, it was a lot of fun. It was just like, fast, really, really heavy... I think we were really excited to play and had fallen back in love with playing really heavy music again."

The "family orientated" Lights Out rockers also expressed how spending time with their close friends and loved ones was a hugely important part of their time off.

Kerr mused: "There's a really good Jeff Buckley quote I saw the other day actually, which was, 'Without ordinary life, there's no art.' And that really kind of sums up what [Ben's] saying. That needs to be cared for and nurtured... Yeah, I think that has actually made the music better."

Thatcher declared: "Yeah, there's more to life than rock and roll!" to which the frontman added: "It meant when we were going into the studio, it was just full of excitement and kind of gratitude that we still get to do this."

Royal Blood's fifth studio album Dead Company is available to pre-order now via the band's official website at royalbloodband.com.