The line-up for Reading & Leeds Festival 2023 has been announced – with Lewis Capaldi, Foals, Billie Eilish, The Killers, Sam Fender and Imagine Dragons revealed as next year’s six headliners.
After 2022’s edition of the iconic twin-site festival saw Arctic Monkeys, Megan Thee Stallion, The 1975, Dave, Bring Me The Horizon and Halsey all top the bill, the August Bank Holiday bash will return next summer with more big names.
After festival boss Melvin Benn teased to NME that two of the top acts booked had topped the bill before, returning headliners The Killers and Foals will be back at R+L, while Fender, Eilish, Capaldi and Imagine Dragons will be making their Reading & Leeds headline debuts.
Other acts on the line-up include Wet Leg, Slowthai, Bicep, Becky Hill, Steve Lacy, Central Cee, MUNA, The Snuts, Tion Wayne and more.
R+L boss and Festival Republic MD Melvin Benn said: “We are delighted to return to Reading’s Richfield Avenue and Leeds’ Bramham Park in 2023 with another epic six headline artists, and an incredible, genre-defying line-up that features some of the very best in modern music. Once again Reading & Leeds is set to be the ultimate bank holiday festival weekend – we can’t wait to be back!”
Tickets go on general sale at 9am on Monday, December 12 and will be available here.
The full line-up for Reading & Leeds 2023 so far is:
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BILLIE EILISH
SAM FENDER
FOALS
THE KILLERS
IMAGINE DRAGONS
LEWIS CAPALDI
ANDY C
BABY QUEEN
BECKY HILL
BICEP LIVE
CENTRAL CEE
CHASE ATLANTIC
DECLAN MCKENNA
DON BROCO
ELIZA ROSE
GEORGIA
INHALER
LF SYSTEM
LIL TJAY
LOVEJOY
LOYLE CARNER
MEEKZ
MK
MUNA
NESSA BARRETT
NOTHING BUT THIEVES
SHY FX
SLOWTHAI
SONGER
STEVE LACY
THE SNUTS
TION WAYNE
TRIPPIE REDD
WET LEG
YOU ME AT SIX
YUNG LEAN
Off the back of their acclaimed and rave-heavy 2022 album ‘Life Is Yours‘ – as well as well-received UK headline gigs and their slot headlining The Other Stage at Glastonbury – Foals have return to headline the festival for a second time. Speaking to NME, frontman Yannis Philippakis promised that the band would be delivering “a maximum Foals show” with some other tricks up their sleeve.
“It feels amazing,” Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis told NME. “We didn’t necessarily expect to do it a second time. To be asked back is awesome. We’ve had a connection to the festival ever since we started and it’s going to be ripping. It’s definitely one of the wildest festivals so for us it’s going to be the perfect headline show. The energy is going to be to the max.”
Read our full interview with Foals here, as Yannis tells us more about their plans for Reading & Leeds 2023, new music, what else is in the pipeline for next year, and the band’s upcoming tour with Paramore.
Billie Eilish last appeared at Reading in 2019 where her acclaimed main stage set attracted one of the biggest crowds in the festival’s history. She heads to R+L off the back of the success of her second album ‘Happier Than Ever‘, and after headlining Glastonbury last year.
The Killers haven’t headlined R+L since 2008, and return to the festival having dropped two huge albums in quick succession with 2020’s ‘Imploding The Mirage‘ and 2021’s ‘Pressure Machine‘. Earlier this summer, having released the one-off single ‘Boy‘, the band told NME that they’d be heading back into the studio with the hope of releasing another new record in 2023.
“We have been hearing about Reading & Leeds since ever we can remember,” said drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr. “Each time we return is a bigger mountain to climb. 2023 serves as no exception. See you at the top.”
Sam Fender hit the Reading & Leeds main stage in 2021 a few months ahead of the release of his runaway second album ‘Seventeen Going Under‘ – which was also crowned as NME‘s Best Album Of 2021. Next summer will also see him play two huge homecoming shows at Newcastle’s St. James’ Park.
“I first went to Leeds Festival with Dean [Thompson, guitarist] when we were teenagers,” said Fender of his slot. “We had a wild time, a rite of passage. Ten years later and we’re headlining. I’m so excited, it’s going to be fucking intergalactic! See you down the front!”
Lews Capaldi played R+L in 2018 on the smaller stages the year before the release of his Number One debut album ‘Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent‘. The follow-up, ‘Broken by Desire to Be Heavenly Sent‘, arrives next May.
“I am so, so excited to be one of the headliners for Reading & Leeds Festival,” said Capaldi. “Unreal that last time I played was to a wee crowd in 2018. Can’t wait to see you all next year.”
Imagine Dragons last graced the Reading & Leeds main stage back in 2016, and will be completing a victory lap of festivals having played at the likes of Mad Cool and Open’er this past summer. They released the sister albums ‘Mercury’ acts one and two in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
“You never forget your first time playing a legendary festival like Reading & Leeds – there’s an energy like nowhere else on the planet,” said the band in a statement. “It’s an honour to come back and headline after all these years, and we plan to make it something we all remember.”
Reading & Leeds Festival 2023 takes place at Little John’s Farm in Reading and Bramham Park in Leeds from August 25-27, 2023. Tickets go on general sale from 9am GMT on Monday, December 12. Visit here for tickets and more information.