Whenever Reading and Leeds announce their line-up towards the end of each year, the organisers are guaranteed to face a barrage of complaints across social media platforms. This time, punters were concerned that artists such as Hozier did not have the required material to perform an engaging headline show, and even Travis Scott faced criticism despite being one of the names many festivalgoers have begged for in the past few years. However, when the festival does roll around to close the summer season, it proves itself to be one of the biggest events of the year, and 2025 was no different.
With various layout changes and reports of low ticket sales, scepticism was in the air as the festival’s first full day kicked off. Despite this, Melbourne indie-rock outfit Radio Free Alice packed out the Festival Republic tent shortly after noon with a set featuring a saxophone-led introduction, before Cork-based band Cliffords dominated the BBC Introducing stage with their blend of guitar-heavy shoegaze. A highlight within their performance came in the form of ‘My Favourite Monster’, a single from their recent EP Salt of the Lee, which begins softly before bursting into a crescendo of percussion and trumpet.
Waterparks incited the first mosh pits of the weekend during their Main Stage performance, transporting the crowd to past days of pop-punk with hits such as ‘Stupid for You’. In the Festival Republic tent, Nell Mescal raced through a selection of her tear-jerking tracks, accompanied by a band who only met a week before the show, including a guitarist who doubled up as violinist. A dash back to the BBC Introducing Stage upon the announcement of a Nieve Ella secret set meant catching the end of Indoor Foxes, an Edinburgh group led by Martha Barr, who proved that new discoveries will always be the best part of any festival.
Credit: Sophie Ditchfield @ Zeitgeist
The first half of Girls Don’t Sync proved the DJ collective to be a festival mainstay following their main stage performance at Parklife Festival earlier in the summer. A change of tone followed as the majority of the festival’s attendees flocked to the main stage for Australian punks Amyl and the Sniffers, who put on an invigorating show ahead of a headline performance at Manchester’s O2 Victoria Warehouse in October. Lead singer Amy Taylor was as stimulating, political, and humorous as ever: remarking on the young audience Reading and Leeds is known to attract, she paused to ask “Have yous finished school or something”?, before concluding that “nobody here’s graduated”.
After her BBC Introducing Stage secret set provided a pleasant surprise, Nieve Ella took over the Festival Republic tent, fittingly following Matilda Mann’s soothing bedroom pop. The run of recent single ‘Good Grace’ into career highlight ‘Ganni Top’ cemented her rockstar status, and the singer-songwriter treated the crowd to an unreleased song titled ‘Lucky Girl’. Taking a moment for sentimentality, Nieve commented that “Reading and Leeds was part of the first festival season we played”. Since then, she has dominated the indie-pop scene, headlining Manchester’s New Century Hall and supporting Bradley Simpson of The Vamps with a stripped-back set: her Leeds Festival 2025 performance proved that she’s destined to continue her ascendency.
A name that has been circulating in most musical circles for the past couple of years is The Dare, the solo endeavour of artist, producer, and showman Harrison Patrick Smith. Known for his energetic live performances, as previously showcased in Leeds at Belgrave Music Hall, the indie-sleaze icon headlined Reading and Leeds’ Festival Republic tent with a set perfect for a Friday night. For those eager to dismiss Smith as a gimmick, look no further than the vocals on his cover of The Sound’s eighties hit ‘I Can’t Escape Myself’, which manage to balance Adrian Borland’s original atmospheric croon with his own signature deadpan delivery.
Credit: Georgina Hurdsfield @ Zeitgeist
Bringing a close to a bad day for rap music after Trippie Redd’s stale sub-headline performance, melodic rap titan Travis Scott certainly made history on the main stage. He probably broke the Reading and Leeds pyrotechnic record, but also the record for the smallest headliner crowd the festival has seen, and the record for the earliest finish. After abruptly departing the stage over half an hour before his set was due to end, leaving blank screens and a disgruntled crowd, fans began to speculate that he had burnt himself on his own onstage fire. Regardless of what happened, his performance ultimately validated the concerns of Scott’s doubters upon the 2025 line-up announcement, despite his efforts to win the crowd over with a vast array of hits.
Saturday saw jasmine.4.t deliver a powerfully emotional early afternoon set in the Festival Republic tent, following similar performances at BBC Radio 6 Music Festival and on tour with Lucy Dacus earlier in the year. “This is queer solidarity”, the transgender artist remarked mid-set, before jumping from the stage during her last song for a romantic embrace with her girlfriend. Been Stellar followed with a set comprised of early fan favourites and highlights from their debut album: album closer ‘I Have the Answer’ also closed their performance, seeing guitarist Nando Dale utilising feedback from his amp in true shoegaze style. Marking twenty years of their debut album Silent Alarm, Bloc Party were given an extended hour-long set on the main stage, with frontman Kele Okereke declaring it their best Reading and Leeds yet by the time their performance drew to a close.
Wallows brought the sun out with their summery indie-rock, before a dash to the relatively new Chevron stage saw Soft Play put on one of the best performances of the weekend. Following a highly successful festival season in 2024 which included an appearance on Truck Festival’s main stage, the punk-rock duo proved that they’re here to stay with songs that are both raucous and infectious. “In 2014 we made our debut on the BBC Introducing stage”, vocalist and drummer Isaac Holman noted, before declaring “fuck the BBC”. Evidently expecting chaos, Holman frequently paused to encourage the crowd to look out for one another, before opening a girls-only mosh pit for ‘Girl Fight’: “This one is for the ladies, for thirteen seconds at least I want to see you kick the shit out of each other”.
‘Everything and Nothing’, a highlight from the duo’s latest album Heavy Jelly, was dedicated to “anyone grieving, anyone struggling with their mental health”, providing a break from the intensity of their punk rock with a reflection on the loss of one of Holman’s friends. “This is proof that there’s still love, there’s still hope”, he reflected as the song reached its end, referring to the audience’s reaction to the slowest song in an otherwise heavy set as well as the gathering of a substantial crowd of like-minded individuals convening in love, admiration and community.
Credit: Sam McMahon / Zeitgeist
Birmingham’s Overpass filled their BBC Introducing stage performance with catchy indie-rock riffs and refrains, before the main attraction of the day took to the main stage. Co-headliner Chappell Roan appeared at the festival as part of her ongoing Visions of Damsels and Other Dangerous Things tour, bringing her full show complete with ornate staging and fairytale visuals. Her entrance was met by the loudest cheers of the weekend, a theme which continued throughout the set as the mega-star paused to declare Leeds Festival the “loudest crowd so far” for her recent single ‘The Subway’. “I’m so grateful to be able to do this”, she remarked before ‘Love Me Anyway’, and the rest of her performance functioned as an outpouring of queer joy and experience.
AJ Tracey headlined the Chevron stage, performing a selection of his British rap classics that managed to hold up despite being sandwiched between two softer, and arguably more significant, headline sets. Master Peace, who is featured on the closing track of AJ’s latest album, made an appearance for ‘Red Wine’ following the release of his own album and an extensive touring schedule featuring stops at Manchester’s Night & Day and Live at Leeds in the City. His presence initially went unappreciated by most in the audience, but his undeniable talent and charisma won them over by the song’s end: It’s just a shame he wasn’t given a slot of his own on the festival’s bill.
Credit: Sophie Ditchfield @ Zeitgeist
County Wicklow’s soulful star Hozier closed the night with a headline set disproving all doubts towards his ability to fill the slot. There’s artists who are skilful, and then there’s Hozier: a natural talent gifted with a voice that could move mountains, a vast background of influences, and a fearlessness in the face of festival-sized crowds. Accompanied by a full band and choir, Hozier guided his audience through poetic tracks such as ‘Like Real People Do’ that proved both healing and heartbreaking. “I couldn’t tell you what a privilege it is to be performing here, to be headlining on a day with so many brilliant artists. It’s good to be back in Leeds, the wind is a bit cooler, it feels like home and the people are warmer”, the artist stated before performing fan favourite ‘Cherry Wine’ from a second stage in the middle of the crowd.
‘Nina Cried Power’, a song which features gospel singer and civil rights activist Mavis Staples, saw the Main Stage screens reeling off lists of protest songs ranging from U2’s 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' to Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Alright’. “It’s so easy to take these things for granted and forget how much work goes into fighting for rights”, he commented during an extended speech on the state of the world. ‘Take Me to Church’ closed the show, leaving a reverent and slightly broken audience to leave the arena for the day, passing Queensland punks The Chats on the way.
Credit: Georgina Hurdsfield @ Zeitgeist
English-American dream-pop band Sunday (1994) opened the final day of Leeds Festival with a half-hour set in the Festival Republic tent, before Brighton’s socially-conscious riot grrrl group Lambrini Girls took to the main stage to deliver a riotous performance that validated the ever-growing publicity surrounding their name. Alternative rock outfits, South Arcade and Mouth Culture, both clashed with upcoming rapper Pozer, but it was singer-producer-DJ Megan Wroe who provided a much-needed energy boost on the all-new Reload Stage. It was then up to dance music icon Example to keep attendees invigorated with an hour-long set on the Chevron stage, which inevitably overflowed with hits such as ‘Kickstarts’ and ‘Changed The Way You Kiss Me’.
Following Example on the Chevron stage was genre-shifting quartet Pale Waves, who brought the staging from their recent tour in support of fourth album Smitten with them, for forty minutes of effortlessly catchy indie-rock and pop-punk, alongside a cover of The Cranberries’ smash hit ‘Zombie’. The band later performed a secret set on the BBC Introducing stage which proved highly reminiscent of their first Reading and Leeds appearance in 2017, and featured the first live performance of fan favourite ‘Heavenly’ for almost six years.
Credit: Ruby Boland / Zeitgeist
Before Pale Waves’ secret set, Reading and Leeds mainstay Bakar also took to the Chevron stage, but was cut off due to time constraints before he had chance to perform festival staple ‘Hell N Back’. Stage crew began to roll out equipment for Wunderhorse’s performance while the soloist lingered on stage, making for an awkward turnaround and an understandably disappointed crowd.
After catching the first fifteen minutes of dance-pop titan Becky Hill, a dash to the Festival Republic tent was in order for Snow Strippers, an act who have had a viral moment recently with ‘Under Your Spell’ and thus deserved a far bigger crowd than they drew.
Bring Me The Horizon, another frequent booking for Reading and Leeds, closed the night and the weekend with a heavy set filled by recent experimental material and older metal classics. While their set was hindered by bizarre video-game-style interludes attempting to construct a "Next Gen Research Program" storyline involving the show as a "Final experiment", the Sheffield group cemented themselves as one of the most significant names in the new era of metal music, with frontman Oliver Sykes retaining the strength of his guttural voice until the very end.
As usual, Leeds Festival this year often felt very much secondary to its southern counterpart. While Sophie Ellis-Bextor joined Royel Otis for a rendition of ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ on Reading Festival’s main stage, Skepta appeared for four songs during Sammy Virji’s Chevron stage set, and, quite bizarrely, actress and comedian Rebel Wilson performed a version of Coolio’s ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ during The Kooks’ set, Leeds Festival was ultimately excluded from the true surprises. However, while attendance may have been lower than previous sell-out years, Leeds Festival remained an event not to be missed, closing out 2025's festival season in style.
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