After sticking it out through the rain, fans at this weekend’s Reading Festival were rewarded with a career-spanning headlining set by drum’n’bass veterans Chase & Status. The English duo ran through their biggest hits with a slew of special guest singers, rappers and MCs.
While Chase & Status are no strangers to Reading & Leeds Festival, this was their first shot as full headliners, as well as the maiden year of the event’s new main stage, which they named ‘The Grid’ in their new redesign of the arena. After debuting in 2009, they were the pre-headline act before Eminem for the 2013 line-up, bringing the sound of the festival’s dance tent to the biggest stage.
This year’s bill saw a set of 6 headliners, all from the UK and Ireland. Friday kicked things off with Fontaines D.C. and Charli XCX, Saturday kept it moving with Raye and Dave, before Sunday finished with Florence + The Machine giving way to Chase & Status.
Reading has a reputation for surprise performers and secret sets, with Royal Blood and Jamie T both popping up around the site at short notice, and the Sunday closing act was no exception. Chase & Status were assisted by many of the biggest names in British music, starting with rapper ArrDee on their joint hit ‘Liquor and Cigarettes’ before NADIAH came out to sing on ‘Count On Me’. The pace kept going, with D Double E performing ‘Levels’ and Novelist joining for ‘NRG’, before remixes of Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic’ plus Shy FX and UK Apache’s ‘Original Nuttah’ with help from IRAH.
Next it was Flowdan’s turn on the mega-hit ‘Baddadan’, with their frequent collaborator Takura showing up for a massive rendition of old school anthem ‘No Problem’. Later in the evening, they were joined by Clementine Douglas on ‘Mixed Emotions’ and Tom Grennan on ‘All Goes Wrong’. The festival ended with the group’s classic track ‘Blind Faith’ with Liam Bailey, before IRAH came back out on ‘Program’.
The pair played a few of their new 2026 tracks which will appear on their eighth studio album ‘Generic Everything’, including ‘Disgruntled’, ‘Gone Too Far’ and ‘Carnage’. Also on the album is a song with dubstep innovator Skrillex, who the band played back-to-back with at Boomtown Fair this August where they demoed a new mix together – this appears on the album as ‘Essa Ta Quente’.
‘Generic Everything’ releases on October 9 2026. Chase & Status are set to round their year out with a run of US live shows, but a run of UK dates to celebrate the album release could happen this year. For now, you can check below for the setlist from the Sunday night at this year’s Reading Festival – a full recording of the set is available on BBC iPlayer until the end of September.
1. ‘Rage’
2. ‘Selecta’
3. ‘Streetlife’
4. ‘Disgruntled’
5. ‘Liquor & Cigarettes’ w/ ArrDee
6. ‘Count On Me’ w/ NADIAH
7. ‘Levels’ w/ D Double E
8. ‘Don’t Be Scared’
9. ‘NRG’ w/ Novelist
10. ‘Toxic (Chase & Status Remix)’ / ‘Original Nuttah ‘25 (Chase & Status Remix)’ w/ IRAH
11. ‘Baddadan’ w/ Flowdan
12. ‘Disconnect’
13. ‘No Problem’ w/ Takura
14. ‘Backbone’
15. Mixed Emotions /w Clementine Douglas
16. ‘Gone Too Far’ w/ Debbie
17. ‘All Goes Wrong’ w/ Tom Grennan
18. ‘Carnage’
19. ‘Blind Faith’ w/ Liam Bailey
20. ‘Program’ w/ IRAH
