Pepsi MAX presents Reading and Leeds Festival has unveiled major new plans for the on-site festival experience at both shows this summer.
Organisers Festival Republic said the completely revamped stage layout marks the biggest staging and arena overhaul in the festival’s 37-year history.
“I couldn't be happier,” Festival Republic MD Melvin Benn told Music Week. “I couldn't be more enthused by it – it's wonderful.”
With the new stages being introduced, the capacity for Reading Festival will remain at 105,000, while Leeds Festival will be at 90,000.
“It is a big investment, but it's the right investment,” said Benn of the changes in an ever-evolving festival market.
The announcement yesterday about stages being overhauled this year follows reports that Reading Festival has made a licensing application for 2027 to add a fourth day, in line with Leeds Festival.
As part of the huge revamp for this year's edition, the main stage will now be called The Grid. The giant screens will remain for fans, while the backstage area will be expanded for artists and their teams.
“Perhaps the starkest example would be what was the Festival Republic stage, and is now The Ballroom,” Benn told Music Week. “That has, essentially, always been a stage in a big top with some lights and some screens. And it's now much more than that. It’s much more of an environment, it is taking it to that next level.”
The huge changes and substantial investment will also see the launch of a new dance music stage, The Warehouse, reflecting the strength of the electronic music genre.
“The Warehouse will have a real old school rave feeling about it,” said Benn.
Meanwhile, the second stage will now be a band-led stage called The Gallery. It marks a change from the 40,000-capacity The Chevron stage launched in 2024, which had been intended for dance music.
The Ballroom stage is much more of an environment, it is taking it to that next level
Melvin Benn
“We moved what was the old second stage into The Chevron [in 2024] with an initial intention to just make that a dance music stage, but it never quite worked out like that,” explained Benn. “We ended up with a mix of guitar bands, DJs and some pop on it, and it just didn't quite work out from a talent buying perspective because it was trying to be too many things at the same time. It was trying to be the second stage and the dance stage at the same time, and you can't do that.”
Staging for dance acts and bands/singers at Reading & Leeds will now be more focused under the new configuration.
“The Gallery is the second stage – it's very much a band-led stage, and The Warehouse is the dance music stage,” said Benn. “What I was looking to do in the past was a hybrid of those two, and that didn’t work. So that’s the change.”
This year’s Reading Festival is now sold out with only remaining Sunday day tickets available.
Reading and Leeds Festival’s 2026 headliners are Charli XCX, Chase & Status, Dave, Florence + The Machine, Fontaines DC and Raye, as well as Kasabian becoming the first ever Thursday night headliners in Leeds.
It follows Kasabian’s Finsbury Park show, promoted by Festival Republic, which took place earlier this month.
“Finsbury Park was extraordinary,” said Benn. “It was unbelievable. It was one of the highlights for me at Finsbury Park – I’ve been putting shows on in Finsbury Park since 1990 and it blew me away. It was just fantastic.”
Benn also hailed the “glorious success” for Wolf Alice and Biffy Clyro at Finsbury Park with their own headline shows.
The new stage layout for Reading & Leeds is:
The Grid
The home of the festival’s main stage. As well as the headliners, it will feature acts including Sombr, Skepta, Role Model, Loyle Carner (Reading only), Blossoms (Leeds only), Declan McKenna, Jade, Maisie Peters, Keo and more.
The Gallery presented by Budweiser
A brand new stage for 2026, The Gallery is an undercover immersive stage. LED screen lights and immersive production runs throughout the entire stage. The Gallery will feature Josh Baker, Geese, Kneecap, Skye Newman, Kettama and Holly Humberstone amongst others. Gunna, Chris Stussy and Viagra Boys will appear in Reading, while Jamie Webster, The K’s and Rose Gray add to the line-up in Leeds.
The Warehouse
Previously announced, The Warehouse is a brand-new purpose-built home for dance music with viewing platforms in front and behind the decks, plus huge screen production. It will feature sets from Skepta b2b Prospa, Hybrid Minds, Hedex, Silva Bumpa and Rossi, amongst others. Max Dean will appear back-to-back with Luke Dean as well as Bou, in what will be the first ever custom-built, experiential dance stage for Reading and Leeds.
The Ballroom
For the first-time ever, Reading and Leeds Festival will have a transformed stage complete with unique chandeliers and draping that plays host to “artists who are defining and dominating 2026”, according to the announcement. The stage will feature a mix of genres, including appearances from YT, Florence Road, Niko B, Paris Paloma, Bassvictim, Overpass, Speed, Frost Children, Bleech 9:3, Westside Cowboy, Chloe Qisha, Radio Free Alice, Dexter In The Newsagent, Whatmore and Clementine Douglas, amongst others.
The Canopy
The Canopy is a major platform for new music. It will play host to the likes of Violet Grohl, Villanelle, December 10, Camille Blackman, Kibo, Finessekid, Cruz Beckham and The Breakers and more.
The Yard (Reading Only)
The Yard will bring the “industrial edge of alternative club culture”, according to the announcement. It is situated in the open-air with shipping containers as part of the configuration.
These new stages are joined in Leeds Festival by the return of LS23 and Piccadilly Circus, with full programming to be revealed in the coming weeks.
PHOTO: Luke Dyson
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