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Reading + Leeds remains the place to be for rock fans, hosting huge names each year. In 2017, however, it's clear the festival isn’t just about massive mosh pits.

Over the years, the festival has branched out from simply hosting rock heavyweights. It now welcomes big electronic names on the Radio 1 Dance Stage, and a who’s who of hip-hop on the Radio 1Xtra Stage. Not only that - in the last couple of years, pop, rap, grime and dance’s finest have started to take over the festival’s Main Stage and NME/Radio 1 Stage. So if you’re convinced Reading + Leeds is a non-stop rockathon, this might surprise you, as these names all played in 2017:

Even the most stubborn of rock purists has probably heard Anne-Marie. One of pop’s brightest prospects, she’s best known for appearing on Clean Bandit’s gigantic Christmas No.1 Rockabye, and 2017 has seen her taking big steps of her own via top 10-charting single Ciao Adios. She’s far from a squeaky-clean pop product, too, having learnt her trade on the road with Rudimental before going solo. Big festival sets are her bread and butter.

Give it a couple of years, and LA trio Haim could be headlining the Reading + Leeds Main Stage. Debut album, 2013’s Days Are Gone, topped the UK charts, with 2017 follow-up Something To Tell You entering at No. 2. Over the years, they’ve refined their Fleetwood Mac-nodding pop into something retro-laced but ultimately their own. Pop addicts love them, and rock obsessives are beginning to be converted.

Reading + Leeds’ Main Stage used to be a hotbed of mask-wearing rock Gods, nu-metal titans and chugged power riffs. It still is, in some cases, with Korn and Architects appearing on the bill. But a million miles from that world is Bastille, who’ve bit-by-bit crept up festival bills on the back of two chart-conquering albums - 2013’s Bad Blood and 2016’s Wild World. Don't let the group’s glossy production and pitch-perfect vocals deceive you. There’s an edge to Bastille, from melancholy-laced lyrics to the group’s obsession with twisted cinema (they cite David Lynch as their biggest inspiration). It’s this side which makes them perfect for the August bank holiday weekend.

Grime’s relationship with Reading + Leeds goes way back. Godfather of the genre Wiley played back in 2008 (he's returning in 2017). Boy Better Know's Main Stage set in 2016 was one of the genre’s crowning moments. Also last year, Giggs brought the NME / Radio 1 Stage to a frenzy with Whippin’ Excursion. This year he’s stepping up to the Main Stage, riding high on Drake collaboration KMT and the momentum of grime’s unstoppable ascent.

The best popstars have a layer of darkness lurking under the surface. Take New Jersey 22-year-old Halsey, whose Twitter bio used to read: “I write songs about sex and being sad.” Her music openly explores anxiety, mental health issues and her own bipolar disorder. 2017 album Hopeless Fountain Kingdom is inspired by the ultimate romance tragedy, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. She even has one of the play’s most famous lines - “These violent delights have violent ends” - tattooed on her forearm. There’s a pitch black edge to her music that puts her right alongside Jimmy Eat World and PVRIS in the emo stakes.

Dance fever has well and truly swept up Reading + Leeds. Just as you’ll find moshpits opening left, right and centre by the Main Stage, elsewhere on site you’ll see fest-goers having the time of their lives, soundtracked by electronic stalwarts. Few synth-huggers come bigger than Australian producer Flume, real name Harley Streten. Just as an indication of how massive he is, go-to track Never Be Like You has racked up over 300 million Spotify streams. On Saturday night he headlines Reading’s NME / Radio 1 Stage, in what promises to be the biggest party-starting set of the weekend.

Drake might hold the status as Canada’s most famous rapper, but Tory Lanez is hot on his tail. In fact, the two talents have an ongoing beef, with Drake calling out the fast-moving 25-year-old on last year’s album Views. Tory is still relatively new to the game, but he’s earned a huge second-from-top slot on the NME / Radio 1 Stage in 2017, with debut album I Told You out this August.

Testament to Reading + Leeds’ diverse bill, this year a soul-steeped hip-hop producer is playing one of the festival’s biggest slots. Tom Misch’s name has gone skywards on the back of collaborations with Loyle Carner and grime MC Novelist. He finds himself wedged between politicised punks Cabbage and future rock giants Marmozets on the NME / Radio 1 Stage. His J Dilla-inspired, laidback production might not seem suited to barmy festivals, but write off this 21-year-old at your peril.

• ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Music at Reading + Leeds 2017
• Reading + Leeds 2017 - Line-up
• Playlist: Reading + Leeds 2017