The best music weekend in Reading is back! The 2026 line-up includes Scaler, Panic Shack, Snayx and many more top new talents. Includes interviews with Good Health Good Wealth, Lost Velvet and Puma Theory.
We went to a lot of live music last year, but the absolute best day was the Saturday at Are You Listening? Festival. So many new and exciting bands to explore was a very special experience for an absolutely brilliant value price. There have been a few last minute changes to this years line-up. The very good Chartreuse have had to pull out, however a fine addition has been found in the form of Steve Lamacq favourites Mên An Tol, the very distinctive Cornish flavoured rock band. There is also now a Secret Set listed from a “Festival Favourite.” No rumours have yet reached our ears about who it might be. There are some slight venue differences this year. South Street Arts Centre is not part of the mix, though live music is going on later at St Laurence Church and starting earlier at Sub89.
There are some HARD choices to be made this year. Panic Shack overlapping with both Good Health Good Wealth and Scaler is utterly brutal. ELLis-D and Puma Theory is a tough guitar band overlap, especially as Adult DVD start before either finish. We really want to see Native James, but we also don’t want to experience major FOMO if the Secret Set at the same time turns out to be a monster. We may well be dipping between sets like an all you can eat buffet, though if we are really enjoying something we will see it to the end and try and catch the other band another time.
Five lesser known artists to watch:
5) Slag: Impressive Brighton based indie and alt-pop band with a quality recent EP. 4) Native James: This Ipswich rapper sounds like all the best raps out of nu-metal and Cypress Hill at their rockiest, bordering into a genuine metal sound. Impressively heavy. 3) My First Time: We have been really blown away by the recorded work of this Bristol alt-pop group. 2) Bucket: If you can resist the pull of the excellent Adult DVD then this Irish band are going to be like getting punched in the face, in a very good way. HEAVY. 1) Daufødt: If we can bear to pull ourselves away from Snayx early then this Norwegian punk rock band might be the surprise package of the weekend.
Tickets are available for Friday night and for Saturday from: https://areyoulistening.gigantic.com/are-you-listening-festival-tickets There are not many left though, so get in quick!
Friday the 8th May
Friday last year was a bouncing mosh-pit curtesy of Sprints. It will be a different vibe this year with three tuneful bands bringing laid back grooves and sunshine feels. Ciao Lucifer kick of the weekend, danceable, sunny indie music from a duo from Amsterdam. Pale Blue Eyes are also about having a pleasant, fun time with guitar and synths to the fore.
The Friday night headliners are Cassia. If you aren’t aware of them they have a fantastic sound mixing sunshine indie with a hint of Afrobeat. They will appeal to fans of bands like Good Neighbours, Foster The People and MGMT.
Saturday Venues and Stage Times:
Are You Listening? Hub (AYL? Hub):
This is the on the day wristband exchange, box office, information centre and only outdoor stage area – located in the Market Place in central Reading. This venue is free to all people and all ages.
| Miss Hunte | 12:00 – 12:30 | Reading based singer of Neo-Soul, Jazz and R & B. |
| Jewels Vass | 13:00 – 13:30 | Solo acoustic set – upbeat Reggae, Soul, Blues and Ska. |
| Grace Pounds | 14:00 – 14:30 | Indie folk singer songwriter. |
| Bryony Williams | 15:00 – 15:30 | Indie singer songwriter with an alt-rock edge. |
| Darius Zaltash | 16:00 – 16:30 | Four very impressive tracks on streaming, heartfelt emotion with a rock edge. |
| No Worries If Not | 17:00 – 17:30 | Tongue-in-cheek Oxford based electronic dance duo. ‘Big Baguette’ will tell you if this is your cup of tea, or not. |
| DJ: AF | In between the live bands | Guitars, electronica, funk and soul. |
The Face Bar
300 capacity venue that is generally home to Reading’s sweatiest mosh-pits. About a 14 minute walk from the AYL? Hub.
| Bone-Idle | 16:45 – 17:15 | A very decent indie-rock band hailing from Reading. One for 90s guitar fans. |
| ELLiS-D | 17:45 – 18:30 | Ellis Dickson is a genuine talent, his band play riff heavy, garage-psych-rock. |
| Uncle Peanut | 19:00 – 19:30 | Local Reading legend, somewhere between The Streets and Madness. |
| Dogshow | 20:00 – 20:45 | Two brother’s making electronic music dressed as dogs. Very much a marmite band. |
| Good Wealth Good Health | 21:15 – 22:00 | See Below. |
| Murkage Dave | 22:45 – 23:45 | One look at his list of collaborators will tell you just how highly regarded this electronic-indie-hip-hop blending artist is. |
Good Health Good Wealth mix indie, spoken word and UK garage. We talked to Bruce Breakey ahead of their AYL? Festival appearance.
Reading Indie Life: You played the Chevron Stage at Reading and Leeds Festival last year, how was that as an experience?
Bruce: Yeah, mental, I mean the Reading one in particular was like, I mean for us coming on at like 11:00 AM there was loads of people there so that was really mental. That was like a sort of pinch me moment and we had like a good little Firm with us. We had a lot of mates, it felt very special. It’s obviously like very strange for someone that has kind of – we’re not new, but newish to a lot of people playing on the stage that big and to see so many people there was amazing man. We’ve got another festival in Reading next weekend, that Are You Listening? Festival. That’ll be nice to go back on a slightly more intimate scale as well and see the people. Yeah, mad, mad times. To be honest, all those festivals are crazy. Like playing them is still a very pinch me moment.
How does it compare to do a festival compared to doing your own headline shows?
Totally different kettle of fish to be honest. It’s like festivals are more like big supports because you’re like, you’re selling yourself. So you’re, you’re having to win people over. You’ve got a few people that you know, but obviously at our point where we’re, you know, playing our first shows at some of these festivals, a lot of people still don’t know us. So you’re, yeah, you’re trying to win them over. Whereas at your headline, you can fully do what you set out to do. You know, we can make the show a proper show. It’s not like, OK, we’ve got half an hour, let’s put all the, all the sort of quick bangers in. In your headline you can take a bit more time, you know, yeah, make, make a bit more of a statement with it, which is nice. But we enjoy both. I, I like winning people over. I like when you start and there’s no one there and then by the end it’s chocka.
So you’re coming to Are You Listening? Festival next Saturday. Are you just coming down for the show or is there anyone you’re looking forward to catching on the bill as well?
Well, hopefully if we can, I want to see Murkage Dave after us. He’s been a friend of ours for quite a few years and it’s nice that we’re both sort of on the same little circuit. So if we can, if we’ve got the time, then we’ll stick around and watch him because he’s got the new album out, the Brute Force album, which I really like. So yeah, that’d be good. That’d be really good.
You can read the full interview at:
Our write up of ELLiS-D supporting Gans:
Sub 89
600 Capacity club and live music venue hosting Saturday headliners Panic Shack.
| Native James | 14:30 – 15:00 | Genre bending Ipswich based rap-artist. Pleasantly heavy. |
| The Borough | 15:30 – 16:00 | Young, local, indie band who are worth your attention. |
| Slag | 16:30 – 17:15 | Impressive Brighton based band veering between alt-pop and art-prog-punk. |
| Puma Theory | 17:45-18:30 | See below |
| Mên An Tol | 19:00 – 19:45 | Impressive melodic-indie that leans into a sort of folk-rock sound at times. |
| Snayx | 20:15 – 21:00 | Our non-negotiable must see of Saturday. Punk trio with a hefty live reputation. |
| Panic Shack | 21:45 – 22:45 | Indie-punk band that absolutely know how to bring the party. |
We spoke to Puma Theory recently, Reading’s next big guitar hope:
Reading Indie Life: What is the backstory to Puma Theory?
Puma Theory: We (Jacob & Cam) initially met many moons ago at an Amazons show at Sub89, we hit it off immediately, but it wasn’t until a little way down the line that we began to play music together when we were both looking to start new projects.
It became clear in those early sessions that we shared the same ideology and tastes when it came to songwriting and music in general. So we started writing together, it wasn’t long until we had a batch of songs ready to share with the world. We knew from the start that it was always going to be a band project so we got in touch with a few close friends that help us expand the project to a full band for live shows.
You have just put out an EP of live recordings. Why did that feel like the right next step for you?
We felt like it was the right way to present the band in its current form, its exciting to be able to share a snippet of our live shows to audiences that’d haven’t perhaps made it down to a show yet. It was also an opportunity to to share a version of ‘Telephone Man’ to the world which is one of our favourites to play live.
For anyone who hasn’t seen Puma Theory yet how would you describe the live show?
I think we always aim to give an honest portrayal of the emotions underpinning the songs. The songs were definitely written from a place of strong feeling, so we try and convey that visceral emotive nature in our performances. I think we’d like to deliver the sort of show that makes everybody feel welcome too. Without sounding too virtuous, we aim to deliver the sort of show that makes people feel comforted and a part of something without fear of judgement.
Who are the bands and artists that inspire you?
We are heavily inspired by rock artists like Queens of The Stone Age along with The Black Keys & Drenge. We have a great deal of respect for artists that can manage to balance powerful live performances that you can lose yourself in with introspective songs that reflect lived experiences.
Purple Turtle
One of the longest running independent bars in Reading and champion of all types of live music. Generally has the best sound and lighting of any of the venues.
| Lost Velvet | 14:00 – 14:30 | See Below. |
| Lemonsuckr | 15:00 – 15:45 | Impressive Brighton based post-punk/indie band with a formidable live reputation. |
| Stupidchief | 16:15 – 16:45 | Berkshire band leaning into grunge and alt-rock, no strangers to the Purple Turtle. |
| Blood Wizard | 17:15 – 17:45 | One of the more intriguing acts we have enjoyed whilst researching this years AYL? line-up. Alt-rock? Grunge-pop? Singer songwritery? |
| Bucket | 18:15 – 19:00 | Just released a phenomenally abrasive new EP called ‘Mosaic.’ Brutal Dublin based noise-makers. |
| Double Yellow Lines | 19:30 – 20:15 | Impressive teenage band from Oxford. Everything from moshing to disco is thrown into the blender. |
| Daufødt | 20:45 – 21:30 | Ferocious Norwegian outfit with a brilliant line in punk-rock. |
St Laurence Church
At least 350 standing capacity. Very close to the AYL? Hub.
| Ladylike | 12:30 – 13:00 | Gorgeous analogue driven guitar sound. Will appeal to any Windmill Scene fans. |
| Charli Lucas | 13:30 – 14:00 | Holly Humberstone-esque sound with, at times, more of a rock edge. |
| Secret Set! | 14:30 – 15:15 | ???????????????????????? |
| Pan Amsterdam | 15:45 – 16:30 | Shape shifting, jazz leaning hip-hop. From Houston. |
| My First Time | 17:00 – 17:45 | Check out the phenomenal self-titled EP from March this year. Impressive indie-alt-pop outfit from Bristol. |
| Adult DVD | 18:15 – 19:00 | Rising stars of dance-punk, synth rock. Bags of attitude. |
| Yard | 19:30 – 20:15 | 3 piece electro-punk noise band from Dublin. One for fans of Nine Inch Nails/The Prodigy. |
| 1-800 Girls | 20:45 – 21:45 | Producer and DJ Jake Stewart blends a range of electronic dance music into one forward thinking package. |
| Scaler | 22:15 – 23:15 | Incredible Bristol band destined for great things. Mixing electronic music with rock and flecks of metal. Heirs to Massive Attack. |
| Tigers on Vaseline | In between bands | Indie/electro/retro /alt pop DJ. |
Milk
The late night Are You Listening? venue with DJ sets running through until 2am.
| Famous Red Tights | 17:45 – 18:15 | New Reading based singer songwriter. |
| Surprise 2nd Set | 18:45 – 19:15 | ???????????????????????? |
| Cholly | 19:45 – 20:15 | Oxford based electronic artist who is retuning after performing at the AYL? Hub last year. |
| My Liberal Pony | 20:45 – 21:15 | Samples, electronica and “experimental freak pop.” |
| Dan Le Sac | 21:45 – 22:15 | Local hip-hop/electronica legend recently pulled out of live retirement by Benefits and now still booking new events. It will be fun. |
| Tracks & Grooves | In between the other acts. | Reading based DJ with a wide and eclectic taste. |
| DJ Saba | 22:45 – 23:45 | House and dance beats. |
| O.T.R.D. | 23:45 – 01:00 | Short for On The Right Day. Makers of UK garage and house. |
| Gilbert | 01:00 – 02:00 | Blends house, electronic and other influences. |
Advice for First Timers
Three key things to keep in mind. 1) Allow time to get between some venues. Facebar to the AYL Hub is about 14 minutes to walk between. 2) There are more tickets out there than spaces at any venue so if you are super keen on one of the bigger names you might want to get down a bit earlier to guarantee a spot. 3) There will be great things clashing, accept that wherever you end up you are going to have a very good time.
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