I hope she plays ‘Hot To Go!’ On 22 August, Chappell Roan made a triumphant return to British soil – delivering her first-ever UK festival headline performance at Reading. For an artist whose persona is rooted in queerness and unapologetic self-expression, her place on the festival’s famously straight-coded main stage felt profoundly symbolic.
Less than a year ago when The Midwest Princess last toured the UK, she was playing venues with capacities under 5,000. Fast forward to summer 2025, and she’s commanding attention of one of the country’s largest festivals, performing to a sprawling audience of around 100,000. The leap is staggering, but also a testament to her incredibly well-earned rise, which has been almost a decade in the making.
Clocking in at approximately 90 minutes, Roan’s set spanned 17 songs and wove together dark-fantasy visuals with her signature theatricality and bold pop bravado. She took fans on a journey from Saskatchewan to the Pink Pony Club, mixing tracks from her iconic debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, with selections from her eagerly awaited sophomore effort – most notably ‘The Subway’, which was released on 31 July and debuted at number one on the UK’s Official Singles Chart. Hearing tens of thousands scream its outro made it clear that the song is already an anthem.
Chloe Newman / Reading Festival
The setlist comprised a compelling selection of favourites, including ‘Femininomenon’, ‘Casual’ and ‘The Giver’, showcasing the breadth of her creative world – from glitter-soaked pop numbers to vulnerable ballads tinted in heartbreak – each delivered with the intensity of someone staking her rightful claim to a stage of this magnitude.
