Reading & Leeds boss tells us about “groundbreaking” new stage The Chevron

Reading & Leeds have unveiled details of a huge and “groundbreaking” new stage, with The Chevron debuting at the festival this summer. Check out video above, with photos and an exclusive interview with festival boss Melvin Benn below.

Speaking to NME last year, Festival Republic boss Benn teased that “stage changes” were on the way – potentially seeing an end to the two main stage format of recent years. Now, after sparking speculation on the recent line-up poster, details of The Chevron have been announced.

The Chevron will boast the world’s first outdoor floating LED video sky canopy, and has been created especially to host dance music, pop and hip-hop acts – with the stage this year being headlined by The Prodigy, Sonny Fodera and Skrillex, as well as seeing performances from the likes of Nia Archives, Denzel Curry, Barry Can’t Swim and Kenny Beats. The world’s biggest silent disco will also return to R&L, but in its new home of The Chevron.

The 40,000-capacity open-air venue’s video canopy will be made up of hundreds of thousands of programmable LED lights, “turning the sky into a dazzling, reactive display” and boasted as “a feat of engineering, as the LEDs will appear to be hovering in the air”.

A press release revealed: “The canopy will bathe the audience with dynamic light and the mesh is 90 per cent transparent, so fans can dance under the open sky into the early hours.”

Festival boss Melvin Benn described the new stage as a “testament to Reading & Leeds’ continued commitment to innovation and industry leadership”.

“I felt that I could still accommodate the six headliners on what would essentially be Main Stage East,” Benn exclusively told NME. “What I was seeing was an emergence of a really strong popularity of dance music coming back again in a very powerful way. We needed to look for a different environment of a stage, and felt that the success that we had with the silent disco at Reading & Leeds meant that it needed a better home.

“I also really wanted to have a stage that dance acts, hip-hop acts [and] pop acts could all feel that it was their own. The Chevron is building on the Reading & Leeds logo, and it just happened. We got some inspiration from what was the LS23 stage for late nights in Leeds and wanted to build on that.”

Check out our full interview with Benn below, where he told us more of what to expect from The Chevron, R&L’s evolution far beyond “a rock festival”, his picks of this year’s line-up, and who he could see stepping up to headline in future.

Hello Melvin. This is an impressive stage – especially considering most dance festivals don’t even have anything like this. 

Benn: “Creamfields and TomorrowLand are massively successful at this sort of thing, but what I’m finding is that festival-goers that come to Reading & Leeds are not single-genre music listeners even remotely. Last year, the crowd for Becky Hill was just absolutely phenomenal – but equally, the main stage headliners were totally different but still pulled huge audiences.

“We can present different genres very comfortably, and dance, hip-hop, pop and UK grime needs that home. The Chevron can do that.”

Will all the headliners be using the screens to put on a bespoke show?

“The headliners on all stages always create their own show. We facilitate that but don’t direct or interfere. It’s not a demand from us, but it’s a particular desire that headliners always bring. Effectively, we have a video mesh roof that will be all-encompassing and give the artist an opportunity to create in a way that they haven’t done in the past – and not just the headliners.”

Reading & Leeds have unveiled new stage The Chevron for 2024. Credit: Press

You’d expect acts like The Prodigy and Skrillex to really throw the kitchen sink at it though, right? 

“Oh, 100 per cent! I expect the kitchen sink to be thrown at it.  For me, I wanted The Prodigy to present in a way that was different. They’re back playing live in a manner that is just awesome, and fans will just lap that up. For me, it’s an opportunity for them to shine in a way they haven’t before – even when they’ve headlined Reading & Leeds. This video roof will just be an extraordinary addition.”

There are those who complain that R&L isn’t a pure “rock” festival anymore, but then you look at a band like The Prodigy’s history and you could say the history of dance has been always been present on the line-up, right? 

“Of course, Reading did start as a rock festival but what I have to remind people is that it went bankrupt as rock festival in 1988 – that’s when Vince [Power, promoter], myself and Mean Fiddler took it over from 1989. From 1989, it hasn’t been a rock festival. From 1989 onwards, it was an indie festival throughout the ‘90s, but we also added dance music and hip-hop. It went bankrupt as a rock festival in 1988 and hasn’t been a rock festival since then.

“Reading & Leeds, for all the time under my tenure, the one thing that I can be absolute on is that it doesn’t stand still. We reflect what is the beating heart of youth and music culture. The minute we stop doing that, people will look back and say, ‘Oh, that used to be that festival that did that sort of stuff’. We not. We’re the festival that changes with music interests.

“If we don’t keep changing, then we have no future. I’m incapable of standing still musically.”

This year’s six headliners (Liam Gallagher, Lana Del Rey, Blink-182, Fred Again.., Gerry Cinnamon and Catfish & The Bottlemen) certainly seem to cross all the genres. How have you found the reaction to the line-up so far?

“It’s been off the scale. The top six headliners tick all the boxes, but you’ve always got to look at what’s coming down below them on the bill. Nia Archives for instance is up there near the top of the Chevron stage, but she came through the ranks. The depth of the Reading line-up is always what shapes the future. We’re seeing acts coming through very early on as the youth culture sees it comes through, and we’re helping to shape who those future headliners are.”

Is there anyone lower down the bill you can see stepping up to headline in the future?

“There’s a huge amount of strong names there. Fontaines D.C. are just getting stronger and stronger, Reneé Rapp is massive in that sense too. They’d be the ones that jump out at me. They’re not just emerging, but they’re going through those steps of becoming future headliners.”

Judging by your comments, does this mean Becky Hill might headline next year?

“Oh, I don’t think so. We’re not talking about next year, but she did have an extraordinary set in 2023. The really interesting thing is how much those moments open my eyes. The Becky Hill set last year was a real eye-opening moment. I like Becky Hill and think she’s great, but I didn’t expect the audience to be quite as big as it was. To me, that says, ‘This is my audience and this is where they’re at’.

“Yes, of course they’ll flock to see Blink-182 and Liam Gallagher, but they won’t pull their nose up at Becky Hill. It was an amazing time.”

With the audience more forgiving, would you bring back Daphne and Celeste? 

“No, no, no, no, no – we’re not ready for that!”

Who do you think will have those kind of ‘moments’ like Becky Hill this year? 

“The Last Dinner Party have just come from nowhere, but the extraordinary thing about them is just how good they are live. You think, ‘My god, here are a band who can really play, engage, and the audience are completely with them’. Writing and recording great songs is one thing, then to play live and have the audience in your hand is another. That’s what makes great bands, and I think The Last Dinner Party are one of those that will come through.”

Anyone else you’re particularly looking forward to seeing this summer?

“I’m really keen to see 21 Savage live because I haven’t yet. That’s going to be a really great opportunity for punters this year. He’s very high on my list, along with Spiritbox – who are incredible – and Reneé Rapp.”

Will there be any other major changes to the site at Reading & Leeds or is everything else as you’d expect it to be? 

“There are always changes, but the big change is the Chevron. As I said to you last year, I was on-site and excited about it because I could see it there and then. I could have articulated it at the time but I just wanted to get all my ducks in a row, the costings right and check all the acts would be happy to play on it. We sent the acts the mock-ups of what it would look like and they’re all super-excited. I think the audience will be too.”

I suppose this means there’s no end to how the stages at Reading & Leeds could change in years to come?

“Literally, that is my point. There’s no ability to stand still with youth culture, and there shouldn’t be. That’s why R&L is a very special place – because you are living a moment that will never be lived again.”

Reading & Leeds which will return for the August Bank Holiday weekend. Tickets are on sale now for both locations and are available for purchase here (for Reading) and here (for Leeds).

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