This year’s Reading Festival headliners are Foals, Biffy Clyro, Disclosure, Fall Out Boy and for the fourth time, Red Hot Chili Peppers.
The country’s youth descended on Little John’s Farm in Reading and Bramham Park in Leeds on Wednesday, many celebrating exam results from the past two weeks.
Meanwhile at Leeds, post-punk rockers Spring King were all smiles ahead of their slot on the NME / Radio One Stage.
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Grime king JME proved his big stage chops once more when Boy Better Know came to Reading 2016 on the Main Stage.
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JME was joined by big brother Skepta. Together they proved why grime is the single biggest movement in music at the moment.
Madrid garage-rock four-piece Hinds rocked the NME / Radio 1 stage with a hugely fun set that endeared them to thousands of new fans.
We caught up with Chvrches for an intimate photo shoot ahead of their euphoric set on the Main Stage.
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Wiley, the godfather of grime, showed the kids how its done.
Drummer Josh Dun also did a spot of crowdsurfing, but he managed it without leaving his drumkit. Yep, that’s right – he got their fans to sail him and his drums over their heads.
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Foals capped off a perfect first day at Reading 2016 with an incendiary headline set on the Main Stage.
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Disclosure’s Guy Lawrence popped in for a quick tune too. The electro-pop dynamo joined Yannis & Co. onstage for one of their oldest songs, ‘Two Steps Twice’.
Whitney puckered up and showed just how much they love each other during their set full of swooning romance.
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Chvrches’ Lauren Mayberry surveyed her audience as the Glaswegian trio made the step up to the Main Stage on Friday night.
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The three Scots belted out some of their finest, smooth synth-pop mega tunes like ‘Bury It’ and ‘The Mother We Share’ as the sun set on the first day of the festival.
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Frank Turner belted out more of his anthemic punk tunes on Leeds Main Stage on Saturday.
Eagles Of Death Metal’s Jesse Hughes looked like he was having the most fun during the band’s Main Stage set.
He was decked out in a dapper white suit, topped off with a Native American headdress. Standard attire on the Main Stage.
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Brummie rapper Lady Leshurr proved once again she’s the next queen of grime with a bombastic set at Leeds.
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Die Antwoord’s fans had some sage advice for the South African ravers over on the Main Stage.
American rock trio Highly Suspect brought their debut album ‘Mister Asylum’ to Reading for the first time.
You Me At 6 were Saturday’s surprise set and made everyone in The Pit stage very, very sweaty.
Slaves looked like they were taking their Main Stage set very seriously, turning up all suited and booted (but Isaac still managed to show off his chest).
Guitarist Laurie Vincent put in the hard graft, shredding out those signature heavy riffs while pulling mad shapes like this.
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Skepta’s lil’ bro JME rocked up to Leeds’ Main Stage with grime crew Boy Better Know.
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Scottish synth-poppers Chvrches battled the rain during their Leeds set, but came out on top in the end.
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Nas brought some of his finest tracks to the NME/Radio 1 Stage, including ‘Hip Hop Is Dead’ and a cover of Eurhythmics’ ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)’.
EDM megastars Diplo and Skrillex closed the first day’s proceedings on the NME/Radio 1 Stage with a shedload of bangers in their set.
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Disclosure co-headlined Leeds on Saturday night, and the Lawrence brothers didn’t disappoint. They played a hit-loaded set perfectly laying the groundwork for Foals’ closing performance.
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Welsh grime punks Astroid Boys delivered one the surprise joys of the weekend – their Radio 1Xtra set was seething, exciting and explosive, marking them out as one of the UK’s most promising young bands.
As Harry Hill would say: “Fiiiiiight!”
Imagine being in the middle of ‘This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race’ and being faced with this terrifying sight.
He is safe… for now.
That light is not dangerous; it is a guarded source of light and Pete is safe.
Machine Gun Kelly lived up to his live name and looked quite frightening.
