Reading & Leeds 2026 "in a really good place" with two headliners already booked and a third "not far away"

29 August 2025, 08:56

Festival organiser Melvin Benn has revealed the festival is already shaping up for next year.

Reading & Leeds Festival already has two headliners confirmed for 2026.

Festival boss Melvin Benn has revealed that plans for next year's instalment of the twin festivals are very much in the works, with exciting headline acts already in the bag.

“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 told NME.

"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.”

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This year's Reading & Leeds Festival saw Hozier, Chappell Roan, Bring Me The Horizon and Travis Scott as headliners and included epic performances from the likes of Bloc Party, JADE, Limp Bizkit, Pendulum and The Kooks.

Quizzed if there were any acts on the bill who could be potential headliners, he teased: "Yes, there are two or three on the bill this year that I think are future headliners," adding: "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."

The festival will return on August Bank Holiday Weekend 2026, with fans invited to sign up for early access to Reading tickets here and Leeds Festival tickets here.

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