The Reading and Leeds festivals in 2025 saw dance music emerge as the dominant force, with tech house DJs such as Kettama and Josh Baker drawing the largest crowds, according to a review of the events. The festivals, held at Bramham Park in Leeds and simultaneously in Reading, featured a lineup that organizers deliberately curated to reflect Gen Z’s borderless musical tastes, moving away from the genre-themed days of the previous year.
Genre-Blending Lineup and New Stages
The 2025 edition introduced new stages, including the chandelier-adorned Ballroom, and a diverse array of acts across the second stage. Attendees could catch UK rap and garage selector DJ EJ, US rockers Geese, and live-drummed jungle from 4am Kru. Slovakian pop star Adéla dedicated a song to “all the bad bitches from small places,” specifically mentioning Leeds, before performing her hit Ain’t in LA. Other highlights included London singer Dexter’s blue-skied bedroom pop, Australian artist Mall Grab’s Game Boy grime beats, and Bar Italia’s insouciant rock, which proved more fun and danceable than recent album reviews suggested.
Headliners and Standout Performances
Thursday’s headliner, Kasabian, sounded tired and failed to move a crowd that preferred the trippy dance stage LS23 in the woods. Chase and Status delivered festival-sized drum’n’bass as Friday’s main stage headliner, while Saturday featured a spellbinding double bill with Charli xcx and Fontaines DC. Fontaines DC played new material from their forthcoming album Dopamine Chamber, including the single Marianne and an unreleased track called Happy for You, which was driven by a Sundays-sounding guitar line and a peppy rimshot but moved with melancholy. Their set was deemed the best from a guitar band all weekend.
Controversial Canopy Stage and Dance Music’s Pull
A new stage, the Canopy, replaced the BBC Introducing stage at both festivals, curated by Festival Republic (majority owned by Live Nation). It was dubbed the “nepo baby” stage for platforming offspring of Dave Grohl, Liam Gallagher, and the Beckhams. The programming was largely criticized as disastrously bad, with the stage underattended until a semi-famous performer appeared, then swarming with crowds. The best acts, young alt-rock four-piece Tooth and singer Sade Olutola, only received 20-minute opening slots on Saturday and Sunday.
Dance music was primarily housed on the Warehouse stage, resembling a mockup of Manchester’s Warehouse Project, and it directed the most crowd energy across the weekend. Overcrowding led to the cancellation of sets by Silva Bumpa and a Skepta b2b with Prospa, prompting online calls for Reading and Leeds to move dance acts to larger stages. Josh Baker clashed with Dave on Sunday, and despite cameos from Kano and Central Cee, the Dave crowd was the most sparse among all headliners.
Transformation Reflected in Hedex’s Set
The festival’s transformation was visible at Hedex’s set, where the drum’n’bass DJ dropped a mix beginning with a sped-up version of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit. After initial confusion, the crowd joined in singing the verse before Hedex pulverized the track, and everyone returned to dancing with the same teenage freedom. This moment encapsulated how Reading and Leeds have evolved to embrace dance music’s dominance while retaining their rite-of-passage spirit for post-GCSE attendees.
