Reading Festival 2025: Glitter, Guitars and Unforgettable Moments (Review)
Reading Festival has always promised a heady mix of chaos and joy, but this year it outdid itself. Across three sun-splashed (and occasionally muddy) days, the Berkshire fields became home to pop royalty, rock carnage, and some truly unexpected surprises.
The Main Stage transformed into a shadowy, magical realm, with a fierce all-female band painting the scene. Chappell Roan, 2024’s breakout star, finally made it to Reading after a journey that was anything but ordinary.
She appeared shortly after 7 pm, dressed in bright crimson, and sporting a simply stunning black “bat wing” headpiece.”
If a performer defined the weekend, it’s her. Think gothic fairytale meets neon disco nightclub — that’s the energy she brought to the stage. With a castle-like backdrop, vampiric dancers, and a roiling mass of fans completely covered in glitter singing along with every lyric, it felt like a momentous performance. “Good Luck, Babe!” lit up the night, while “Pink Pony Club” transformed the festival grounds into a joyful queer celebration. She stopped at one point to take in the crowd, and remarked, “Thank you so much for loving and standing by me. This is honestly a dream come true.” Chappell Roan didn’t just arrive — she arrived at Reading fully formed, a headliner in waiting.
Hozier’s Soulful Pause
As the lights danced and the flame splashed into the sky Hozier offered an altogether necessary exhale. As my body adjusted to twilight and the fading sun I had the experience of something like awe. Something beyond awe, which I won’t mini-describe…yet. As Hozier’s voice found its way through the surroundings of rattles, rumblings of dropped phones, dancing in various interpretations, and echoes from the beer tents, it occurred to me when the hit single “Take Me to Church” became a cut-off stiffness that whatever this staged Indian Summer, festival headlining or a stage-surfing congregation shared a coherent relationship over the inexorability of the hardship of suffering as humans, like in Gaza. Hozier spoke of compassion – one’s neighbours, aspirational do-gooders, and merely preserving one another – who simply wanted to see each other safe not as Jewish, as a Muslim, as LGBTQ+, as respecting the dignity of style as not just simply being – as a human. This also got loud, instinctive cheers, vapours of applauses, sniffles or roils of heads nodding, across the many clusters of the audience. Hozier’s audience as if you guess was raising their hands above their heads and they were clapping clearly, shouting – yelling in vocal support, together. I could sense it was effecting him (moving), and I sensed it was.
Saturday was the day of Bring Me the Horizon who made the show into a full-blown sci-fi metal experience. Blinding LEDs, blazing pyro, and swirling pits entered the crowd as they tore through “Happy Song” and “Shadow Moses“. The energy never let up, it was heavy and intoxicating, every beat rattling the field. Not surprisingly, the most memorable moment of the night was the band’s stripped down cover of “Wonderwall” when thousands of voices rose as one, arms were draped over new friends, and the audience sung together, in between loud heckles, and inevitably forgetting the words, everyone gave it their all. For a few minutes, there was chaos and connection, and by the last drum hit, the crowd was exhilarated, connected, and invested in the spectacle that only Reading can truly deliver.
Who knew nostalgia could be this rowdy? Limp Bizkit charged through “Nookie” and “Break Stuff” like it was 1999 all over again. Fred Durst was prowling the stage, Wes Borland played the role of a sci-fi villain, and the audience kept losing themselves in the chaos. There were surprise covers (yep, even George Michael got a look-in), and a fan got pulled up on stage to jam with them. It was sloppy, loud and you can’t forget it if you tried.
Reading wouldn’t be Reading without the curveballs. The Kooks brought out none other than Rebel Wilson for an impromptu “Gangsta’s Paradise” sing-along — a gloriously bizarre moment nobody saw coming. Meanwhile, Caity Baser’s not-so-secret set packed the BBC Introducing stage to bursting, and Wunderhorse proved they’ve officially graduated from promising newcomers to serious festival players.
Why Reading 2025 Felt Special
What a year of contrasts it was: the flamboyant pageantry of Chappell Roan, the vulnerable calm of Hozier, the raw power of Bring Me the Horizon, and the unhinged stupidity of Limp Bizkit. And then, to close out Sunday night, Travis Scott put in an Astroworld-level performance, ramping the intensity of the Main Stage to a fever pitch, while high-energy stage theatrics, low-frequency beats, and waves of fans inside heaving equally had the crowd going apeshit. But Reading 2025 wasn’t only about the music; the mood, where strangers had instant friendship in the mosh pit (not to mention the occasional glitter shower), and the collective gasp while fireworks adorned the last night.
Reading 2025 wasn’t just a festival. It was a celebration of why we return again and again: The stories, the madness and the memories we will still be smiling about long after we’ve washed the mud off our boots.
