Looking at her 2017 version of herself with bangs on the screen, Charli XCX's first words were: "It makes me feel embarrassed, to be honest." During an interview with BBC Radio 1, she was asked to review clips of her past performances at Reading & Leeds, which turned into a public execution of her hairstyle.
In 2017, she performed the single "Boys" with a live band behind her. She had forgotten about it, but she only remembered that it felt like "it was a cool performance" at the time. When I sang "I Love It" in 2019, the weather was the key word: "It was really hot that day, very hot. I kept my hair short and cut my bangs at that time. I hated that hairstyle... When it gets hot, my bangs will stick up on their own, which looks bad."
When asked what it was like to go from the audience to the stage and see the audience's reaction, she said that she was actually a music fan who grew up in Reading: "Every time I perform there, I think, this is the music festival I grew up going to. It's a bit surreal. People in the audience will really go all out to get high, which is cool and a bit scary."
A clip from 2022's "Beg For You" made her laugh and talk about her hair color history: "I had some of the worst haircuts and hair colors ever when I was at Reading & Leeds, and that seems to be true." She added: "What happened happened, I had a lot of fun, it was a different era, a different stage."
Charli XCX will headline Reading & Leeds for the first time this week, making her return to the Twin Cities music festival since 2022. This performance follows the new album "Music, Fashion, Film" and will launch a North American tour with Underscores in September. Talking about her first headline show in 2026, she said the audience can expect "a show that is very different from any show I have done in the past."
"This will be my first performance in the UK singing new songs and using a new stage setting. I hope everyone will like it," she said. "If you don't like it, that's okay, I'll see you then. It'll be great."
Charli XCX will perform at Reading's main stage The Grid at 7.45pm on Friday night, and will move to Leeds on Saturday night at 7.10pm. Headliners on the 2026 lineup also include Florence + The Machine, Fontaines D.C., Dave, RAYE and Chase & Status. The rest of the list includes Skepta, Sombr, Role Model, JADE, Kneecap and others.
