Who to catch at Reading Festival 2026…
For better or worse, Reading Festival has always moved with the times. Over more than half a century, it has moved through prog, punk, grunge, indie, grime and pop, becoming as much a marker of where British music is as it is a rite of passage for bucket-hat-wearing sixteen-year-olds celebrating their GCSE results. This year, it has had another facelift. Its familiar stages have been replaced by The Grid, The Gallery, The Warehouse, The Ballroom and The Canopy, as part of what organisers are calling the biggest overhaul in the festival’s history.
The loss of the BBC Introducing stage after eighteen years has caused some understandable controversy, particularly given how many future headliners first appeared there. Its replacement, The Canopy, should hopefully allow Reading to book from a wider pool of emerging artists. We’ll have to wait and see how that works out, but there are certainly plenty of exciting new names spread across this year’s bill.
There is also a welcome swing back towards Reading’s more alternative roots. Friday is particularly stacked, topped by Fontaines D.C. just as they prepare to begin their next chapter. With new album ‘Dopamine Chamber’ on the way, their first major UK festival headline set feels like the starting gun for what could be an enormous festival season for them next summer. Further down the bill is one of the strongest collections of new guitar music you’ll find at a festival this year, alongside some of the most exciting names in rap, experimental pop, hip-hop and electronic music. Here is your So Young guide to the acts worth ripping up your schedule for.
Friday
Headlining band Fontaines D.C. hardly need an introduction at this point. They have spent the past few years creeping steadily up festival posters and, at Reading, finally reach the very top. With fifth album ‘Dopamine Chamber’ arriving in October, this should be our first proper look at where they are heading after ‘Romance’. Get yourself down early, find a decent spot and enjoy what may be the beginning of their total domination of next summer’s festival season.
Issue Fifty-Six cover band, Cardinals may be an obvious choice for us, but the Cork five-piece are not to be missed. Their debut album ‘Masquerade’ is full of romance and longing, with great walls of guitar interrupted by the unlikely star of the whole thing: an accordion. Find yourself a spot near the front, get close enough to feel it in your chest and allow yourself a little Friday afternoon melodrama.
It is difficult to remember the last time a band’s live show was spoken about with quite as much excitement as Geese. Since releasing ‘Getting Killed’ last year, the New York band have spent the summer tearing their way through just about every festival going, with Cameron Winter yelping and howling over songs that veer between funk, country, art rock and complete chaos. Nobody seems entirely sure what they are going to do next, least of all Geese themselves.
Bleech 9:3 have barely left the stage this year. Since releasing their self-titled debut EP in May, the Irish four-piece have supported the likes of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Wunderhorse, sold out increasingly large headline shows and left each room considerably sweatier than they found it. Recent single ‘Figure 8’ gives them one more chorus for the crowd to hurl back. Get down the front, expecting very little personal space.
Other suggestions: SINN6R, Tooth, Esmeralda Road, Florence Road
Saturday
Radio Free Alice sound like they have been pulled straight from early-eighties Melbourne, all clipped guitars and restless saxophone underneath Noah Learmonth’s wonderfully overcommitted vocals. There is something a little ridiculous about them, but importantly, they seem to know it. Having spent much of the past year playing to increasingly packed rooms, new single ‘Crying With You’ sends them into Reading with even more nervous energy to burn off.
Trying to work out exactly what bar italia are doing has always been part of their appeal. Nina Cristante, Jezmi Tarik Fehmi and Sam Fenton trade vocals, interrupt one another and at times seem to be performing three separate songs at once. Their latest album ‘Some Like It Hot’ brings bigger guitars and some surprisingly direct melodies, but thankfully does not make them much easier to pin down. The Ballroom feels like the right place to try.
Set an alarm for Sade Olutola. The 21-year-old South Londoner opens The Canopy at 12:35 with only twenty minutes to introduce herself, but debut EP ‘Arrow Heart’ gives her plenty to work with. Calling herself a “Tumblr princess”, she turns oversharing into songs that drift between a whole host of genres, switching between rapping and singing in a style she credits to Ed Sheeran. Drag yourself into the arena early, you can recover from Friday night afterwards.
Other suggestions: Jane Remover, Kingfishr, Slayyyter, Pozzy, Frost Children
Sunday
By Sunday morning, being swallowed by moss may sound quite appealing. Minneapolis five-piece she’s green have become one of the biggest word-of-mouth prospects in American shoegaze, and Reading may be where the UK begins to catch up. They call their nature-soaked sound “moss music”, with Zofia Smith’s soft vocals meshing with guitars that move from Cocteau Twins shimmer into something heavier and rowdier. Find them at The Canopy at 12:40.
Yes, Violet Grohl is Dave Grohl’s daughter. Alongside Cruz Beckham and Gene Gallagher’s band Villanelle, her place on The Canopy has inevitably prompted another round of nepo-baby discourse. In her case, though, it would be a shame to stop at the surname. Debut album ‘Be Sweet to Me’ is theatrical and genuinely brilliant, borrowing from nineties alt-rock without sounding like somebody playing dress-up in their parents’ record collection.
“Britanicana” is the fairly unique name Westside Cowboy have given to their meeting point between Manchester indie and American country music, and it’s a name that fits. The four-piece have just released their debut album ‘It Goes On’, full of shared vocals and jangly guitars. They play early enough on Sunday to catch before the final-day exhaustion properly sets in.
Other suggestions: WHATMORE, Loyle Carner, KNEECAP, Wisp, F3miii
The new issue of So Young is out now. Buy in print here. Read the digital edition below. Subscribe to receive every issue here.