Reading and Leeds Festival organisers faced an overall challenging weekend, with many setbacks threatening the smooth running of the 5-day event.
Up in West Yorkshire, Storm Lilian brought 70mph gusts that swept away many campers’ tents. Perhaps more upsetting for festivalgoers was the closure of three stages. Many highly anticipated acts such as Nia Archives and Skrillex weren’t able to perform their sets, leaving fans completely devastated. The weather conditions continued to batter Leeds. 21 Savage arrived on stage 40 minutes late and only gave an 11-minute performance.
Down in Berkshire, the drizzly rain had less of a dramatic effect, but there were still complications. Rather than stage closures, Reading was plagued with sound and technical difficulties throughout the weekend. After Renee Rapp had her set in Leeds cancelled, she headed to Reading on Sunday for her Main Stage performance, but it was cut short after collected rain from the roof poured onto her set. She only sang four songs.
More positively, there were some improvements to the festival that were new for 2024. The usual Main Stage East vs Main Stage West was replaced with the ‘Main Stage’ and ‘The Chevron Stage’, giving homage to the festival’s iconic logo.
The open-air venue of the Chevron Stage, with a 40,000 capacity, features the ‘world’s first floating video canopy’, with hundreds of thousands of LED lights illuminating the sky above festivalgoers. An immersive experience was created, the lights syncing to the beat of the music.
This is certainly a step up for the UK’s largest music festival, befitting for its youthful audience. Chevron was graced with headliners such as The Prodigy, Barry Can’t Swim, and 4am Kru.
The festival notorious for its post-GCSE age group continues to attract a young demographic. Both Raye and Fred Again commented that Reading was their first festival experience fresh out of school.
What was formally a rock music orientated festival has now become a beating heart for a variety of music genres. It welcomes legendary heroes such as Blink-182 and Liam Gallagher as well as popular artists like Lana Del Rey and Two Door Cinema Club.
While Friday’s poor weather in Reading held out until the evening, the night-time downpours left Saturday in a saturated state calling for the wellington boots.
The skies cleared up in time for Raye’s stellar performance. Raye acknowledged how Reading is a place for upbeat music and a great time. She made the hilarious remark that the crowd looked ‘like beautiful grass’ when they waved their hands to the music.
Lana Del Rey’s performance, however, didn’t seem to live up to the same tempo. Lana kept to the same set list she has used throughout her Ocean Blvd Tour and many commented that it was ‘not the right [vibe] for the festival’.
After arriving 15 minutes late on stage, it became apparent that the aforementioned Chevron stage, which had The Prodigy playing at the same time, was drowning out the Main Stage music. Mid-way through her performance, Lana questioned ‘can you hear me over that techno?’, to which the audience chanted back ‘turn it up, turn it up’.
Problems went from bad to worse, as the screen visuals, the backing track and her singing were badly synced. The audience struggled to sing along, the vibe turning awkward and jarring. At one point, Lana turned to her pianist and said ‘just stop’ when her earpiece became faulty.
She sat downcast on the stage after her mic was cut, and all her and the crowd could do was watch the fireworks rocketing off into the sky. Songs were exchanged for silence bar the few cheers for the firework display. It was later confirmed via a social media update by the festival’s official account that Lana’s performance was ‘accidentally’ cut short by the production crew.
Emerging from the smoke machines, Fred Again appeared on a B-Stage to perform his first song of the night. Reading transformed from a cold field with a low-spirited crowd into a rave that rivals Tomorrowland. With Fred Again lifted up high on a rising platform stage, complete with a laser show across the vast crowd, the performance was utterly immersive, original, and unlike any other headliner that has been on the Reading Main Stage.
He knew what the audience wanted from his performance, and he didn’t hold back. Flipping between the Main Stage and his B-stage, he quite literally became part of the festival as he performed amongst the crowd. Sporting a Fontaines D.C. T-shirt, he was proven to be a festival fan just like everyone else.
The festival continues to diversify the artists it invites to Richfield Avenue and Bramham Park each year. Fred Again was a bold move, but one that paid off significantly. The 31-year-old started his set with such an energy that it was infectious; everybody was energetic for the entirety of his 75-minute set.
While the American rock band Blink-182 gave an iconic performance on Friday night, it was Fred Again who rocked the crowd’s world. He redefined what a Reading headliner could be.
