Reading and Leeds festivals have announced their headline acts for 2024, with Fred Again, Lana Del Rey and Gerry Cinnamon all headlining for the first time.
Fred Again’s booking continues his journey from backroom pop producer to underground dance star to bona fide mainstream name, having headlined Parklife festival this summer and secured one of the biggest crowds of Glastonbury 2023 for his performance on the Other stage. He – alongside sparring partners Four Tet and Skrillex – was also last-minute replacement for Frank Ocean to headline Coachella earlier in the year. He has said Reading and Leeds will be his only UK festival performances in 2024.
Lana Del Rey was also an acclaimed performer at this year’s Glastonbury festival despite a late start because, she told the crowd, “my hair takes so long”. A five-star Guardian review described it as “compelling and brilliant, a showcase of one of the world’s greatest living pop stars”. She continues to tour her album Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, which is up for album of the year at 2024’s Grammy awards in February.
Gerry Cinnamon returns to Reading and Leeds for the first time since 2021, saying in a statement: “Last time was absolutely fucking bananas. Was first gig straight out of lockdown, heavy emotional. Headlining now so we’ll take it up another level again. Buzzing to be back. See you there.” His folk-hero status has ballooned even more in the interim – the Scottish singer-songwriter is now a stadium-filler in his home country, playing two nights at Glasgow’s Hampden Park in 2022 plus a string of outdoor concerts elsewhere. The booking will have fans hopeful for a third studio album next year, to follow 2020’s No 1 hit The Bonny.
The trio of newcomers are joined by three Reading and Leeds stalwarts: Liam Gallagher (playing Oasis’s Definitely Maybe in full) and Catfish and the Bottlemen, who each headlined in 2021, plus Blink-182, who topped the bill in 2010 and 2014. Also announced for lower down the bill are Raye, Skrillex, Spiritbox and Digga D.
Tickets for the festivals, which take place between 21 and 25 August, go on sale at 8.30am on Thursday 30 November.
