These are the standout sets from Reading Festival 2026

Braving torrential rain and teenage mosh pits, we caught Charli xcx, Dave, Adéla and more at this year’s Reading Festival

September 4, 2026

September 4, 2026

Reading and Leeds Festival has long been something of a post-results day rite of passage for UK teenagers. And while the copy-paste huddles of sleep-deprived teens certainly lived up to that reputation this year, that’s not necessarily a deterrent for anyone over 18. If anything, the festival’s teenage masses offer a pretty good barometer for what’s cutting through right now – from the biggest names in pop and rap to the rising artists biting at their heels.

And with Charli xcx, Fontaines D.C., Dave and Florence + The Machine topping the bill, there was no shortage of huge performances across the weekend. But further down the line-up, sets from Julia Wolf, Jane Remover and Keo proved there was plenty worth turning up for, too. Here are five sets that caught our attention at Reading Festival 2026.

SLAYYYTER

The Missouri-born pop star brought her Wor$t Girl in America world to The Grid, powering through breakout summer track “CRANK” beneath swelling grey skies. Even with a mid-afternoon festival slot, Slayyyter went all in on the album’s trashy Midwest aesthetic, with spray-painted T-shirts hanging from a washing line and wheat fields projected behind her. “I wanna make you feel like a fucking star today,” she told the rain-soaked crowd. By the time she closed on “Brand New Chanel$” and its predecessor “Beat Up Chanel$”, it seemed convincing enough.

FINESSEKID

Pulling the crowd out of the rain and into The Canopy was rising South London rapper Finessekid. Despite the relatively early slot, the energy was anything but mild, with mosh pits opening up across the tent as drenched teens piled in. It also marked something of a full-circle moment for the rising rapper: just a year earlier, he’d appeared on stage at Reading as a guest during AJ Tracey’s set, where the two performed a still-unreleased collaboration.

ADÉLA

The Baddest Bitches Are At Reading. The crowd showed up for Slovakian rising pop star Adéla’s Friday set, with The Gallery washed in pink and packed out with fans spilling beyond the tent. She tore through tracks including “KGB” and the viral “Ain’t in LA”’, before putting her years of ballet training to use for “DeathByDevotion”, changing into ballet shoes and going en pointe on stage. Not bad for her Reading debut.

CHARLI XCX

Charli xcx brought Music, Fashion, Film to The Grid stage, with easily the most ambitious set of the weekend, complete with pyrotechnics, outfit changes and tightly choreographed dancers. Opening with “Rock Musi”’, the setlist saw Charli pull from the moodier world of her latest project, deep cuts from Wuthering Heights and a heavy dose of Brat – happily received by the festival’s younger crowd, who seemed otherwise lost during the newer material.

DAVE

From playing Reading’s 1Xtra tent in 2017 to returning as a headliner in 2026, Dave’s Saturday night set was something of a victory lap. The prodigious rapper worked through almost a decade of his catalogue, including tracks from 2025’s album The Boy Who Played the Harp. There were plenty of surprises, too: James Blake joined him for “Both Sides of a Smile”, Kano appeared for “Chapter 16”, before Central Cee took to the stage for a riotous performance of “Sprinter”.

Expand your creative community and connect with 30,000+ creatives from around the world.

Source link