Reading and Leeds Festivals Brings Back the NME Tent (Kinda)

We have just about managed to shake the dust out of our clothes and recover our voices after Reading, but one thing keeps replaying in our heads: the Chevron Stage. It was the stage everyone seemed to be talking about all weekend, and with good reason. This year it moved inside a giant tent, and for the first time in years it felt like Reading and Leeds had rediscovered that old NME magic.

From LEDs in the Open to Enclosed Chaos

We caught the Chevron Stage last year when it was still outdoors, and while the design was striking with its futuristic LED rig that arched across the roof and poured light over the performers, it sometimes felt a little exposed. This year’s decision to enclose it in a huge canvas tent completely changed the dynamic.

The same LEDs are there, the same geometric strips of colour bending and pulsing to the music, but in the darkness of the tent it becomes overwhelming in the best way. The light show feels alive, reflecting off the crowd and making the whole space throb with energy. It was as if the stage was built for this environment all along.

The Ghost of the NME Tent

For those of us who have been going to Reading and Leeds long enough, the sight of a packed tent instantly stirs up nostalgia. The old NME/Radio 1 Stage was legendary, hosting some of the most unforgettable sets in the festival’s history. It was vast, hot, and chaotic, and the atmosphere inside was unmatched.

That stage was controversially removed when the festival introduced two main stages, a move that many felt diluted the character of Reading and Leeds. Last year’s Chevron experiment started to reverse that decision by bringing back a big second stage, albeit outdoors. This year’s tented version feels like the full circle moment.

The Best Bits, All Rolled Into One

What makes the new Chevron Tent so special is how it bridges both eras. It has the capacity and intensity of the old NME setup, the sense of being in a self-contained world where the crowd and the band are locked together. But it also has the cutting-edge design of last year’s Chevron, with its stunning LED work that feels tailor-made for today’s genre-blurring, visually ambitious acts.

Standing in that tent this weekend, we could not help but feel like Reading had found a way to reclaim part of its identity. It was a space that felt modern yet rooted in tradition, as much about looking forward as it was about honouring the past.

After all these years, it really did feel like the NME tent was back, even if the sign above the door now reads “Chevron.”

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