Kasabian headlined the first Thursday night Leeds Festival has ever staged, playing a hit-heavy set on 27 August to open the northern half of Reading & Leeds 2026. The Leicester band had topped the bill there in 2012 and 2017, but never on a Thursday, because until this year there was no Thursday to top.
The slot came with a new stage attached. Reading & Leeds overhauled its arenas for 2026, and Kasabian christened the revamped main stage, now called The Grid, with Serge Pizzorno making full use of a runway that put him well out into the crowd. "We're making history!" he told them, having already pointed out that nobody had headlined a Thursday at the festival before.
The weather cooperated, which was not a given. Heavy rain hit Bramham Park earlier in the day and a thunderstorm sat in the forecast, but the set ran dry from start to finish.
Arkayla opened the night, bringing scrappy indie songs across the Pennines from Manchester. Frontman Cal Blakebrough stopped to take stock of the size of it, recalling watching Post Malone from the same field at 16, and Fortune Teller drew the weekend's first mass singalong as the arena filled.
The Lathums followed with their Wigan take on Americana. Vocalist and guitarist Alex Moore introduced Sad Face Baby as the closer, and the rousing How Beautiful Life Can Be landed hard enough that the set felt close to headline weight itself.
Kasabian arrived to black-and-white television static across the screens and went straight into Club Foot. Pizzorno demanded moshpits, took the crowd through Call and Underdog, then ran Days Are Forgotten into Shoot The Runner before a long, psychedelic reading of Empire.
The band's delayed ninth album, Act III, follows on 4 September. Leeds and its sister site file under indie and rock on the festival tracker, and this year's edition also saw Reading & Leeds partner with Spotify on personalised playlists. Pizzorno's summer had already taken in two nights on stage with Calvin Harris at Hampden Park.
The facts
- Kasabian played Leeds Festival's first Thursday headline slot on 27 August
- They previously headlined Leeds in 2012 and 2017
- The main stage has been renamed The Grid
- Their ninth album Act III is due on 4 September 2026
- Arkayla and The Lathums opened the night
- The set opened with Club Foot and included Empire
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