Yes, comments section, we see you, so let’s say it together now: ‘Reading is not a metal festival!’ However, the annual rock and pop gathering had a particularly heavy year in 2025, with Bring Me The Horizon headlining and Limp Bizkit and Enter Shikari also enjoying prominent spots on the bill.
As a result, we sent a correspondent to Little John’s Farm to ask the 80,000-plus post-GCSE attendees (and a handful of artists) what the most metal thing they’ve ever done is. The answers ranged from the expected – such as moshpits – all the way to the ludicrous – mainly, getting a very intimate piercing in a tent. You can see the full array of answers in the TikTok video we’ve embedded below.
A lot of the people we asked mentioned catching Bring Me and Limp Bizkit as the most metal thing they’d ever done. Another person said they were in a moshpit so rough that they lost a contact lens and an earring, so fair shakes to her: she goes hard!
Reading festival took place last weekend, from August 22 to 24, with the event and its twin up in Leeds, held at Bramham Park, always falling on the UK August Bank Holiday weekend. As well as Bring Me The Horizon, it was headlined by Hozier, Chappell Roan and Travis Scott. The 2026 edition will take place from August 28 to 30.
In an interview with NME conducted last weekend, organiser Melvin Benn confirmed that he had two headliners for Reading and Leeds 2026 booked, with the third “not far away” from being confirmed.
“I’ve already got headliners for two of the three nights booked already for next year, and I’m really confident about the artists,” he said. “I feel like we’re in a stronger position than I can remember for an awfully long time. I can’t remember when I’ve ever had two of the three nights booked by this stage. We’ve had one booked by this stage, but I can’t remember ever having two of the three.”
