MUSIC PREMIERES
“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.
‘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.
Check back here for the latest news, reviews, photos, interview and more from Reading 2024.
MUSIC PREMIERES
Lykke Li didn’t hold back when speaking about the making of her sixth studio album, ‘The Afterparty’, during a listening session in Los Angeles earlier this year. “Let’s talk about the album. It was a motherfucker to make,” she admitted to the crowd. While balancing motherhood, the chaos of modern culture shaped by Trump and AI, and her own desire to create something more “extroverted, impulsive and chaotic” than ‘EYEYE’, as she previously shared with NME, the Swedish alt pop star arrived at a headspace that “feels like it’s 4am and the sun is going to rise”. The record captures that blurry final moment before regret, exhaustion and reality settle in, which makes it even more emotional considering she has hinted this could potentially be her final album.
There is something fitting about how brief the project feels. With only nine tracks running across 24 minutes, it never overstays its welcome. Lykke immediately drops listeners into the atmosphere with opener ‘Not Gon Cry’, painting a picture of those lonely early morning hours with the line, “No angels here tonight, no dancing queens.” Alongside the shadowy pulse of ‘Happy Now’ and the twisted disco energy of ‘Lucky Now’, she revisits the emotional yet dance driven spirit of her earlier material while blending in the sharper, more confident attitude heard on ‘So Sad, So Sexy’ and the shimmering influence of her 2019 Mark Ronson collaboration ‘Late Night Feelings’.
The emotional fallout begins to settle in quickly. ‘Famous Last Words’ carries a lush orchestral sadness as Lykke reflects on lessons that only came after years of chaos and late nights, confessing, “I had to crash and burn to tell the tale.” Then comes ‘Future Fear’, a delicate acoustic track with robotic textures that stares directly into anxiety and uncertainty with the chilling question, “I’m going to a dark place, do you need anything?” Meanwhile, ‘So Happy I Could Die’ glows like sunrise after a sleepless night, holding onto fleeting moments as she sings about “slipping through the hourglass”.
Throughout the album, Lykke Li vividly captures the beauty and wreckage of reckless nights with the vulnerability that has always defined her music. On ‘Sick Of Love’, she channels heartbreak into revenge, wanting to “make you beg for it” after rejection in a way that feels spiritually connected to Robyn’s ‘Dancing On My Own’. One of the strongest moments arrives with ‘Knife In The Heart’, a track that fully embraces her desire to become the “rock god” and “fuck boy” she spoke about, firing back at anyone who tries to tear her down with the words “you can spit, you can walk on me” while delivering one of the catchiest songs she has created in years.
Closing track ‘Euphoria’ leaves behind the same bittersweet feeling that runs through the rest of the album. With sweeping strings, pulsing beats and emotional intensity, Lykke Li reminds listeners that nothing lasts forever as she sings, “Player play your song, waste the night away”. Like the fading energy of the perfect night out, ‘The Afterparty’ ends in a haze of beauty and uncertainty. If this truly is her farewell, she leaves with one final intoxicating statement, though it still feels like there could be another chapter waiting.
