Official Reading & Leeds 2026

[wghennessy]

1 hour ago, craigcharles420 said:

I think (hope) Drake is too big for R&L

Id hope he is but unfortunately he isn't too big.

[craigcharles420]

13 minutes ago, wghennessy said:

Id hope he is but unfortunately he isn't too big.

I hope he would ask too high a price at least. I actually want to go to Leeds next year after missing this year and wasting a headline slot on Drake isn't what I would hope for 

[jcarb]

2 hours ago, craigcharles420 said:

I think (hope) Drake is too big for R&L

I mean he struggled to sell out those Coop live dates, maybe because of Wireless but I don't buy that.
I think he's attainable now and they have some relations with him I guess.

[jcarb]

45 minutes ago, craigcharles420 said:

I hope he would ask too high a price at least. I actually want to go to Leeds next year after missing this year and wasting a headline slot on Drake isn't what I would hope for 

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather he didn't but I feels it's a booking the fest would make.
Similar to the Travis Scott booking this year to pull in that crowd.

I just can't think of another artist adjacent to that genre/crowd that aren't too big/big enough to headline.
 

[craigcharles420]

1 hour ago, jcarb said:

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather he didn't but I feels it's a booking the fest would make.
Similar to the Travis Scott booking this year to pull in that crowd.

I just can't think of another artist adjacent to that genre/crowd that aren't too big/big enough to headline.
 

Kendrick, Tyler or Eminem could do it instead. I suppose there would be other acts on the other stages so I wouldn't have to see Drake, though.

[D666N]

21 minutes ago, craigcharles420 said:

Kendrick, Tyler or Eminem could do it instead. I suppose there would be other acts on the other stages so I wouldn't have to see Drake, though.

Not if this year is anything to go by. At this rate we will be lucky to have a Main Stage.

[Benj]

8 hours ago, jcarb said:

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather he didn't but I feels it's a booking the fest would make.
Similar to the Travis Scott booking this year to pull in that crowd.

I just can't think of another artist adjacent to that genre/crowd that aren't too big/big enough to headline.
 

Would he sell it out after doing 3 days in London this year? Scott hasn’t managed it after one night at Spurs

[Benj]

6 hours ago, D666N said:

Not if this year is anything to go by. At this rate we will be lucky to have a Main Stage.

“Due to customer feedback we’ve decided just to have a bit of yoga this year”

[Dukey]

Green Day / Deftones / Don Broco

 

Tyler, the Creator / Little Simz / Summer Walker 

 

Sam Fender / Wolf Alice / The Wombats / Kneecap

 

 

If not Green Day (would be their 3rd year touring on the trot) then maybe take a punt at Sleep Token..

Edited August 11, 2025 by Dukey

[D666N]

6 hours ago, Benj said:

“Due to customer feedback we’ve decided just to have a bit of yoga this year”

Haha yes, quite literally, useless twats

[jcarb]

16 hours ago, craigcharles420 said:

Kendrick, Tyler or Eminem could do it instead. I suppose there would be other acts on the other stages so I wouldn't have to see Drake, though.

Kendrick is playing Stadium shows this year so surely that's got him to that level moving forward and anyone that wanted to see him will have seen this year?
Eminem will be playing stadiums again without a single doubt in my mind and he'll make significantly more doing so.
I feel both are too big/would go for their own stadium shows, much like Post Malone.
Tyler is a shout though.
I guess maybe Jay-Z, though not sure his pull anymore but he hasn't played a solo headline show in the UK for a LONG time.

And if we're going by this year you'd have no other options on other stages 😢
You're going to have to learn the Hotline Bling dance, sorry!

 

9 hours ago, Dukey said:

Green Day / Deftones / Don Broco

 

Tyler, the Creator / Little Simz / Summer Walker 

 

Sam Fender / Wolf Alice / The Wombats / Kneecap

 

 

If not Green Day (would be their 3rd year touring on the trot) then maybe take a punt at Sleep Token..

I can't imagine ST ever playing L&R and after their trajectory I don't think they'll be playing anything other than big headline shows of their own at this point.
They were also seen as a controversial/marmite booking for Download and that is specifically for that crowd.

[craigcharles420]

8 minutes ago, jcarb said:

Kendrick is playing Stadium shows this year so surely that's got him to that level moving forward and anyone that wanted to see him will have seen this year?
Eminem will be playing stadiums again without a single doubt in my mind and he'll make significantly more doing so.
I feel both are too big/would go for their own stadium shows, much like Post Malone.
Tyler is a shout though.
I guess maybe Jay-Z, though not sure his pull anymore but he hasn't played a solo headline show in the UK for a LONG time.

And if we're going by this year you'd have no other options on other stages 😢
You're going to have to learn the Hotline Bling dance, sorry!

Kendrick I think could still do it. He has history playing at R&L, he was still doing festivals as of last year. The fact he did a stadium tour doesn't mean much as plenty of R&L headliners have been stadium acts.

 

And I mean Eminem was the most successful rapper of all time by a pretty wide margin pretty much as soon as he hit the scene, yet he still headlined in 2014 and 2017 and he seemingly didn't ask for that much since those years still had great lineups even if you ignored him. He is less relevant now than he was last time he headlined. I mean he will always be relevant, but he was even bigger then than he is now.

 

 

[Benj]

3 hours ago, jcarb said:

Kendrick is playing Stadium shows this year so surely that's got him to that level moving forward and anyone that wanted to see him will have seen this year?
Eminem will be playing stadiums again without a single doubt in my mind and he'll make significantly more doing so.
I feel both are too big/would go for their own stadium shows, much like Post Malone.
Tyler is a shout though.
I guess maybe Jay-Z, though not sure his pull anymore but he hasn't played a solo headline show in the UK for a LONG time.

And if we're going by this year you'd have no other options on other stages 😢
You're going to have to learn the Hotline Bling dance, sorry!

 

I can't imagine ST ever playing L&R and after their trajectory I don't think they'll be playing anything other than big headline shows of their own at this point.
They were also seen as a controversial/marmite booking for Download and that is specifically for that crowd.

Yup Reading clearly doesn’t have the clout to bring in stadium selling acts in at the front end of their touring schedules anymore

 

Arctic Monkeys was the last of that

 

Like Scott this year it will be arse end dregs, trying to earn some cash at the end of touring cycles before they take some time off to refresh demand and make new music

 

Look to that and newer artists looking to elevate themselves to that by playing big gigs (Roan etc)

[thatTFBguy]

13 hours ago, Dukey said:

 

Sam Fender / Wolf Alice / The Wombats / Kneecap

 

 

Now that is a day very much tailored for me and mine. Shame it's just a prediction!

[jcarb]

6 hours ago, craigcharles420 said:

Kendrick I think could still do it. He has history playing at R&L, he was still doing festivals as of last year. The fact he did a stadium tour doesn't mean much as plenty of R&L headliners have been stadium acts.

 

And I mean Eminem was the most successful rapper of all time by a pretty wide margin pretty much as soon as he hit the scene, yet he still headlined in 2014 and 2017 and he seemingly didn't ask for that much since those years still had great lineups even if you ignored him. He is less relevant now than he was last time he headlined. I mean he will always be relevant, but he was even bigger then than he is now.

 

 

If they have any desire to keep the festival going they should aggressively go after Eminem tbf, those days will be instant sell outs. In a post covid world I can imagine he wants a massive booking fee though as does pretty much every artist tbf, so they other headliners/line up would likely suffer.

[craigcharles420]

47 minutes ago, jcarb said:

If they have any desire to keep the festival going they should aggressively go after Eminem tbf, those days will be instant sell outs. In a post covid world I can imagine he wants a massive booking fee though as does pretty much every artist tbf, so they other headliners/line up would likely suffer.

I feel like the festival will keep going but they would need to get someone who doesn't drain most of the budget like Travis has this year

[Andre91]

Eminem has always had a massive booking fee and until Kendrick in 2018, was supposedly the priciest headliner the festival has ever had. 
 

 

[craigcharles420]

17 minutes ago, Andre91 said:

Eminem has always had a massive booking fee and until Kendrick in 2018, was supposedly the priciest headliner the festival has ever had. 
 

 

I feel like we get Tyler as the rap headliner. It surely won't be Drake. He would just takeover the festival if he headlined. I think it would seem a good move for the organisers at the moment but then once they see what Drake headlining entails, they will regret it. It could be a point of no return

[andyrhodes24]

It’s honestly hard to see what direction they go in from here. Having no proper guitar band this year seems weird. Obviously there BMTH but there’s not a guaranteed guitar crowd pleaser like Fender, LG, 1975, Killers as we’ve had the past few years.

 

Sam Fender / Olivia Rodrigo / Post Malone

[Benj]

On 12/08/2025 at 10:35, jcarb said:

If they have any desire to keep the festival going they should aggressively go after Eminem tbf, those days will be instant sell outs. In a post covid world I can imagine he wants a massive booking fee though as does pretty much every artist tbf, so they other headliners/line up would likely suffer.

Zero chance Eminem plays Reading at the front end of a touring cycle

 

They’ve got Travis Scott playing at the arse end of his cycle, can’t afford to put out a full lineup AND still can’t even sell out his day 🤣

 

Eminem will sell enough of his own 150 quid day tickets at 50,000+ cap venues for 7-8 nights across the country

[andyrhodes24]

14 hours ago, Benj said:

Zero chance Eminem plays Reading at the front end of a touring cycle

 

They’ve got Travis Scott playing at the arse end of his cycle, can’t afford to put out a full lineup AND still can’t even sell out his day 🤣

 

Eminem will sell enough of his own 150 quid day tickets at 50,000+ cap venues for 7-8 nights across the country

I really do hope that FR see that lumping all their money on Travis Scott to shift tickets has backfired and they need the strength in depth next time, but we both know that won’t happen.

Edited August 14, 2025 by andyrhodes24

[foolee]

Sam Fender / Foo Fighters / Charli XCX

[korokband]

Without knowing what stages will be back or gone next year it's quite hard to predict, but I think if I was booking the main stage I'd go for something like this for the top 3

 

Friday: Fontaines DC / Hayley Williams / The Last Dinner Party

Saturday: Sam Fender / Wolf Alice / Wunderhorse

Sunday: Muse / Turnstile / Sex Pistols & Frank Carter

 

A good mix of something old and new.

[OllieJ77]

On 08/12/2024 at 22:21, Chad888 said:

They tend to have an on/off/on again series of lineups given touring schedules...

 

I think they will go for a 5 headliner set (2 co-heads) and try to play it off like we're close to 2023 levels.

 

Linkin Park or Foo Fighters will be there, and I'm leanin' Linkin.

 

Big rap act will be Tyler the Creator off the back of his worldwide tour and hit album. I'd have said Kendrick but he's the biggest in the world right now.

 

He will co-head with an alt-rock like Twenty-one Pilots.

 

The indie headliner will be Sam Fender, again off the back of a huge tour for his next hit album. He will co-head with a dance act like Chase & Status.

 

 

Subs will be Fontaines DC, Little Simz, Idles.

 

Sam Fender / Chase & Status >> Idles

 

Tyler the Creator / Twentyone Pilots >> Little Simz

 

Linkin Park >> Fontaines DC

 

 

 

Linkin Park likely to do Download I think given the schedule they have already for next June and having been announced for Rock Am Ring / Rock Im Park they typically share one headliner with download. 
 

my chem doing Wembley makes them unlikely. Could see Foos being the novelty Rock band for R&L next year which would continue my new tradition of buying a day ticket for that day haha

[craigcharles420]

9 hours ago, foolee said:

Sam Fender / Foo Fighters / Charli XCX

I think this is a realistic one that I would be happy with