“Oh shit I’m nervous,” sheepishly smiles Fred Again.., looking out at the vast crowd of young and beautiful ravers gathered for his Reading 2024 Saturday headline slot, a lairy bunch that came to party. “I wanna say I know how you’re feeling because when I was 16, this was my first festival.”
He’s done the rite of passage of getting your exam results and jumping on a train with your tent and a bag of cans, heading into your first full weekend of proper hedonism – repeated annually until many folk hit that time or age when the zeitgeisty line-up doesn’t connect in the same way. The names that filled those headline slots were often wielding guitars, and there was a time when anything resembling pop might get bottled from the stage. At the same time, the history of Reading & Leeds is also the history of dance, and there’s always been a place to rave here. Now, a nervous dance nerd and his decks are in the spot where Nirvana once stood, and he knows what it means.
Emerging from the crowd by surprise on a B-stage to play to the audience in the round, it’s clear from the off this ain’t gonna be your standard Reading headline set. With a sun-kissed blissed-out sound and superclub light and laser show, we’re transported from a chilly Berkshire field to what could be a moment from Tomorrowland or a late-night Primavera sesh.
‘Turn On the Lights again..’ washes over Little John’s Farm with a euphoric balm, ‘Adore U’ unites with its retro housey bounce, and things get a bit hectic for the rock-spirited ‘Places To Be’. We could do with some more intense drops, and given his collaborations with the likes of Anderson .Paak, Charli XCX, Berwyn, Skillex, Stormzy, AJ Tracey, Lil Yachty, The Blessed Madonna, one might have hoped for a guest turn or two? Maybe a few more B-stage reappearing theatrics and some high drama? Saying that, he and his right-hand man Tony Friend (dance maestro formerly of Modestep) can’t physically or emotionally give any more as they go to war with decks, synths and keys.
“About nine months ago, I was going through a whole bunch of shit,” offers Fred, sharing how he heard the “most beautiful” lyric that lifted him out of darkness, inviting the audience into a sing-song of “I’ll let you take a piece of me, I hope you get the peace you need”. The lad’s got a beautiful voice, to be fair, and the crowd sing the fuck out of it in response. There’s an emotional weight to Fred’s brand of dance that really carries, especially on the post-lockdown catharsis of ‘’Marea (we’ve lost dancing)’.
Staring out at the hordes on one another’s shoulders as the fireworks light up the sky, gleaming in his Fontaines D.C. shirt (a band who laid claim to a future headline slot earlier today), he’s every bit the young fanboy he was at his first festival; a mirror to the sea of Reading revellers before him. He knows what they want, and he gives it to them. Fred Again.. redefines what an R&L headliner can be.
Fred Again..’s Reading 2024 setlist was:
‘Turn On the Lights again..’
‘Mainstage’
‘Danielle (smile on my face)’
‘adore u’
‘places to be’
‘Chanel’ / ‘A New Error’ / ‘Sabrina (i am a party)’ / ‘leavemealone’
‘peace u need’
‘BerwynGesaffNeighbours’
‘Jungle’
‘Rumble’ (Skrillex cover)
‘France Freestyle’ / ‘Rumble (Baby Keem cover)’
‘Angie (i’ve been lost’) / ‘Clara (the night is dark)’
‘Marea (we’ve lost dancing)’
‘Billie (loving arms)’
‘Carlos (make it thru)’ / ‘adore u’ / ‘Kahan (last year)’ / ‘stayinit’ / ‘Hannah (the sun)’
‘Delilah (pull me out of this)’
‘peace u need (Reprise)’
Follow all of the action as it happens on the NME Reading & Leeds liveblog here.
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