Charli XCX live at Reading 2026: a stylish, cinematic, but sometimes underwhelming performance

Charli XCX thrives in the dark. It’s where her songs make most sense, the shadows allowing you to cut free from your inhibitions and just be. But when her Reading 2026 headline set kicks off – the bill has her performing before co-headliners Fontaines D.C. – the sky is still so light you can spot a huge rainbow arching over the festival site. As pretty as that sight is, it’s also unfortunate for the star. The first chunk of her set feels a little flat in these sub-optimal conditions, the glitchy electronics of ‘Track 10’ and ‘Pink Diamond’ diluted by the lingering light. But the show must go on, and Charli’s brought with her a production that’s both simple and staggering – a multi-level system of platforms that’s topped with a giant speaker stack, which her band, dancers and she herself scale as the performance ticks on. Charli’s well-deserved ascent to the top of the bill comes in tandem with her latest album, ‘Music, Fashion, Film’ – a record that finds her grappling with the levels of fame ‘Brat’ brought to her and toying with the world’s perception of her, while doing a hard reset on her sound. ‘Rock Music’, the album’s first single, wiped the slate clean and ushered this new w...