Skepta played new songs from his upcoming album ‘Fork & Knife’ at Reading Festival 2026 – check them out below.
The rapper played last night (August 28) ahead of his set at Leeds today. His set saw an appearance from Nigerian artist Slawn, who live spray-painted throughout the performance.
During his set, he debuted three new tracks from his long-awaited, forthcoming album ‘Fork And Knife’, which he said he was putting “finishing touches” on back in April.
The album will serve as the follow-up to 2019’s ‘Ignorance Is Bliss‘, as well as his recent house-influenced EP ‘Más Tiempo Vol. 2’. It still doesn’t have a release date, but fans in the crowd at Reading got to be the first to hear ‘Pandora’s Box’, ‘Aloe Vera’ and ‘Innocent Smile’.
While he played ‘Toxic’ his 2025 collaboration with Playboi Carti, Skepta invited two fans onto the stage who had recently gone viral for dancing to the track while working as security at Carti’s recent London show. They subsequently lost their jobs.
“These are my two security guard brothers,” Skepta said, welcoming them onto the stage. “They got fired from their jobs for dancing to Playboi Carti ‘Toxic’, so we had to bring them here live and do this.”
Watch his full set here and check out some highlights below.
Skepta performed some unreleased music at Reading Festival. Sounds a bit like Eminem 🐐 pic.twitter.com/4j951q6TNR
— 9bills (@9bills) August 28, 2026
Skepta invited the two security guards from Wembley, that got fired for dancing, on stage at Reading Festival 😂🔥 #skepta #readingfestival pic.twitter.com/P3nvH97aYK
— oneblackbrudda (@oneblackbrudda) August 28, 2026
Skepta just brought out the two security guards that got fired at his concert on stage with him at Reading festival pic.twitter.com/GZtnLbGGJk
— IamJP 🪖 (@iamjuspat) August 29, 2026
Earlier this month, we caught Skepta’s set at Sziget Festival in Budapest. In NME‘s round-up, we wrote: “Whenever an artist starts their set with one of their biggest songs, you know you’re probably in for a stacked performance. That certainly was true of Skepta’s main stage show last night, which kicked off on an instant high with ‘Shutdown’.”
NME also gave his last album ‘Ignorance Is Bliss’ four stars, writing: “So although album five lacks the narrative that made ‘Konnichiwa’ so compelling (a victory lap for grime’s commercial renaissance, it also reasserted his DIY credentials), this sounds like a record from a rapper with gallons of creative juice in the tank.”
Check back at NME here for the latest news, reviews, photos, interviews and much more from Reading & Leeds 2026.
