Reading and Leeds 2025: 5 Acts to Catch this Weekend Author: Giselle Libby
2025’s festival season is in full swing, gracing music lovers around the world with glorious lineups and weekends they won’t forget. Next up is the legendary Reading & Leeds weekend, a pair of simultaneous festivals in the UK. The Reading Festival, the older of the two festivals, is the longest-running popular music festival in the UK and adopted the current two-site layout in 1999. This year, the lineup includes everyone from Chappell Roan to Royel Otis to Amyl and the Sniffers - but if you’re headed to the festivals this weekend here are some acts to catch where you may discover your next obsession:
Sunday (1994)
Sunday (1994) embodies all of that in poetic unison, a perfect throwback to an era where perseverance, like film slowly developing in the dark, comes into majestic black and white beauty just as their latest EP Devotion does for the listener. This LA band, filled with beautiful people has crafted one of the finest nostalgic sonic journey, an EP that plays out like a classic film; elegant, remote & venerable then crescendoing into purposeful emotion that feels like honey in your ears. Catch their set at the Festival Republic Stage Saturday at 2:25 PM.
SOFIA ISELLA
Songwriter since 8 and violinist since 3, SOFIA ISELLA is carving out her own lane of dark pop. When she’s not opening for Taylor Swift’s historical Eras Tour, she’s working hard on producing, playing guitar and piano, and writing her own music at only 20 years old. She released her debut EP I Can Be Your Mother in 2024 and followed it up this year with I’m camera . Her performance style is interactive, gothic and completely hypnotizing. Make sure to catch her set at the Festival Republic Stage Friday at 3:45 PM.
Glixen
Phoenix-based shoegaze outfit Glixen recently returned with their sophomore EP, Quiet Pleasures. The five-track body of work, a unique and intriguing blend of ethereal melodies and crushing distortion, explores weightless melancholy and immersive noise. Following their breakout with their EP, She Only Said, this dynamic blend delivers an evocative and profoundly textured listening experience. With influences ranging from My Bloody Valentine and Hum to Björk and Godflesh, Glixen pushes shoegaze into modern territory, crafting cavernous and intimately emotional soundscapes. Catch their set at the Festival Republic Stage Friday at 1:15 PM.
Luvcat
Somewhere between an underground Parisian jazz bar and the curious world of a Tim Burton film, you will find Luvcat: the UK’s emerging indie-pop star. You may have seen Luvcat on TikTok, performing her hit single “My Man” with a glass of wine in-hand, or perhaps you caught her traveling with the circus shortly before fleeing to pursue a musical career. Enigmatic, whimsical, and full of theatrics, witnessing the rise of Luvcat feels like the beginning of something special. Catch her set at the Festival Republic Stage Sunday at 5:15 PM.
Snow Strippers
The future of dance music has never looked better. Everyone's favorite party monsters, Snow Strippers, keep the night going with their latest EP, Night Killaz Vol. 2. The project sees Snow Strippers dive further into their trademark sound without risking their integrity or core identity. The duo maintains a fantastic balance of going hard and exercising emotional catharsis. With the incredibly tasteful house influences and the increasingly sexual and drug-obsessed imagery surrounding this album's rollout, the eight-track collection explores wildness, unhinged thoughts, being of oneself while tackling relational apathy, and the desire for pleasure no matter the consequence. Catch their set at the Festival Republic Stage Saturday at 9:10 PM.