Reading Festival 2024: FLO pay homage to late R&B icon Aaliyah in live debut
FLO have honoured Aaliyah by putting a twist on the late singer’s 2000 Number One, ‘Try Again’, while performing at this year’s Reading Festival.
Today (August 23), the British girl group made their live debut at Reading, performing to a lively crowd on the BBC Radio One stage. Despite their microphones faltering throughout the set, the trio managed to perform a slew of their nostalgic R&B that has gone viral on TikTok time and time again.
A standout moment of their set came when the members – Stella, Renée and Jorja – sang their sultry third single ‘Summertime’. In the middle of the song, they switched out the original instrumental for the iconic Timbaland-produced one from ‘Try Again’. Further into their live rendition of ‘Summertime’, they did a dance break – something Aaliyah helped revolutionise in her short career before her untimely demise in 2001 when she died in a plane crash.
They have done this mash-up before live, notably during their first-ever Coachella, Governor’s Ball and Glastonbury sets.
@theliyahrich THIS MASHUP IS INSANE #flo #flolikethis #aaliyah #govballnyc #govball2024 #govball @FLO
FLO also reminded the crowd that they “just announced” their debut album, ‘Access All Areas’, which will be out this autumn. “That’s a huge milestone so we wanna take it back to where we started,” Stella said before the whole group launched into their 2022 breakthrough track, ‘Cardboard Box’. Check out the full setlist below.
FLO played:
‘Not My Job’
‘Immature’
‘Summertime’
‘Caught Up’
‘Fly Girl’
‘The Lead’
‘Losing You’
‘Cardboard Box’
‘Check’
‘Access All Areas’ will be out on November 15 via Warner Music. Fans can pre-order and pre-save the record here.
The news comes after the trio released a string of singles this year, including ‘Walk Like This‘, ‘Caught Up’, and ‘Check’ with Kehlani.
Speaking about the upcoming record, FLO said: “’Access All Areas’ is a labour of love. To us, it represents our growth and dedication to making girl group history, to making a project we are truly proud to call our debut album.”
It will also serve as the follow-up to their 2021 debut EP, ‘The Lead’. Since then, they have won the BBC Sound of 2023 poll as well as the BRIT Rising Star award in the same year.
Recently, FLO announced that they’ll be playing Hackney’s Colour Factory next week (August 29) to support the album news. Only those who have pre-ordered a physical album will have access to the pre-sale at 9am BST on August 28. Then, a general sale will happen the following day– you can buy tickets here.
FLO will support Kehlani on the US leg of her ‘Crash’ world tour – you can find tickets here.
In a four-star review of FLO’s live show in London back in March, NME shared: “FLO are always admirably on point, laying down each set piece with a nerdish level of care. The group wrap up with a gorgeously, purposefully pared-down rendition of ‘Cardboard Box’, doubling down on the notion that stars of their magnitude understand when their own brightness might eclipse the thing they’ve set out to achieve.”
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