Villanelle will make their Reading and Leeds Festival debut today, with the grunge-revival band promising to bring "energy" to their performance. Formed just three years ago, the quartet have already toured the UK and the US.
The group, consisting of Gene Gallagher, Jack Schiavo, Ben Taylor and Bleu Otis, will take to The Canopy stage later today. The festival is one of the biggest in Europe, with around 130,000 music lovers expected across both sites.
No nerves ahead of festival slot
Despite their success, there are no nerves among the band members. Instead, fans can expect 30 minutes of intense energy.
Speaking to the Mirror, Jack said: "We're very excited to be playing Reading and Leeds this year. Being a London-based band, Reading was the festival we'd go to as teenagers, so it's really exciting now to be playing it as a band."
Just over two months after the release of their debut EP, Measly Means, the group have different ways of narrowing down their set list for festival performances compared to headline shows.
Ben commented: "There's always a different approach to the set list depending on the type of show we're playing. For something like Reading and Leeds, we'll have a set that's full of energy - that's what we always want to bring."
US tour and upcoming UK headline shows
Their slot comes after supporting Deftones at Outbreak Festival in London, following a mammoth tour across the United States, including a performance at Lollapalooza in Chicago. They will head back to America next month, performing across Texas, Georgia, California and Arizona.
"Touring the US has been a fantastic experience," Gene said. The frontman, son of Oasis legend Liam Gallagher and All Saints singer Nicole Appleton, added: "America is such a vast place to tour, so you get to experience so many different types of places that bring so many different types of energy - that makes playing shows even more exciting. It's also a great way to test out some of the new material we've been working on recently, and that's always inspiring."
Fans across the UK can look forward to the group's biggest headline shows to date in November, with performances in Glasgow, Manchester and London's Scala.
Speaking about the upcoming shows, Bleu said: "We're incredibly excited for the headline tour this year. We wanted to make our UK shows special and take this year of touring and throw it into our biggest shows - it'll be a great tour for sure."
Dream line-up revealed
Despite playing alongside the likes of Raye, Chase & Status, Florence + The Machine and Dave, Gene has revealed his dream Reading and Leeds line-up, which includes Fontaines D.C., who are also headlining this year.
The rocker said: "Fontaines D.C., Deftones, Foo Fighters, The Strokes, Limp Bizkit." Last year, Limp Bizkit played Reading and Leeds and treated fans to an unexpected appearance from Gene's dad, Liam, and uncle Noel, who were enjoying their Oasis Live '25 reunion tour.
As the rockers prepared to perform "My Way," a joke picture of the Manchester rock legends appeared on the screens, and the sold-out crowd erupted into cheers.
