Heavy rain subsides as Charli XCX takes to stage at Reading Festival
By Casey Cooper-Fiske, Press Association Senior Entertainment Reporter
Heavy rain at Reading Festival subsided as Charli XCX delivered the first full UK set of her Music, Fashion, Film era.
The 34-year-old opened with fuzz-drenched, electronically manipulated rocker Rock Music, which also opens her latest record, before embarking on a set which drew heavily from Music, Fashion, Film and also featured songs from her Wuthering Heights album, released in February.
She kept words to a minimum throughout the set, telling the crowd towards the end: “Thank you, Reading.”
Despite the change in sound towards more instrument-based music, many of Brat’s rave-inducing classics remained in the set on Friday night, such as 360, Von Dutch and Guess, with many being mixed with snippets from songs on Music, Fashion, Film.
Before Apple, she teasingly said: “Here’s a classic for you, Reading.”
Unlike on the Brat tour, which saw her mostly performing alone with the exception of the odd special guest, at Reading Charli, whose real name is Charlotte Aitchison, performed flanked by hordes of dancers, and with a full live band.
The dancers were dressed all in black, matching Music, Fashion, Film’s dark cover, which features The Velvet Underground’s John Cale, who features on Wuthering Heights’s House, director Martin Scorsese and fashion designer Marc Jacobs.
2007 saw Charli handed a cigarette by a dancer which she took one puff of and then handed back, while Pink Diamond from How I’m Feeling Now began as the sun set.
Fireworks and flames exploded as Charli sang her part of House, which features a spoken word part by Welsh singer Cale.
She also performed two of her B-sides which were made available to fans only on YouTube, Instagram and Apple Music in Playboy Bunny and If You Take Away The Music Then What Has She Got?.
The set finished with Nothing Lasts Forever, the closer from her latest record, with director David Cronenberg’s repeated words of “they are dead, they are gone, nothing lasts forever” echoing over the main stage.
She began the set in a blazer and trademark black shorts before changing into a long blue dress and later a torn white shirt.
It comes after a rainy start to day two of the music festival, with attendees pictured frolicking in the rain and many hiding beneath plastic ponchos as they braved the poor weather conditions.
Others remained in good spirits, laughing and posing for photos despite their outfits being covered in mud.
Many artists braved the rain to perform at the event, including US rock band Geese – who ended up drenched as heavy downpour seeped through the tent during their set at The Gallery stage.
Frontman Cameron Winter tried his best to humour the damp crowd as he jokingly told them: “Don’t drink the tent water, it’s not good for you.”
Other acts performing during on Friday include Gene Gallagher, the son of Oasis frontman Liam, and his band Villanelle, as well as YouTube star turned musician James Marriott, singer Skye Newman and rapper Skepta.
Charli’s headline gig follows on from her secret small-scale show at London’s Scala in July ahead of the release of Music, Fashion, Film on July 24, and she has recently performed songs from the new album at a number of shows including a set at Lollapalooza in Chicago.
The Cambridge-born singer also released Wuthering Heights earlier this year, her companion album to Emerald Fennell’s film of the same name, as well as her film, The Moment, a semi-fictional look at the release of Brat and the world tour that followed.
2024’s Brat launched a cultural moment in “Brat summer” causing a frenzy on social media which involved sultry fashion choices inspired by the green and black album cover.
She has also appeared in other film projects this year including Pete Ohs’ Erupcja and Julia Jackman’s 100 Nights Of Hero.
