The 1975 pay tribute to Lewis Capaldi as they stand in for him at Reading 2023

26 August, 2023

The 1975 at Reading Festival 2023

The 1975 gave Lewis Capaldi a shoutout during their Reading Festival 2023 set tonight (August 26). The band replaced Capaldi as headliners after the singer pulled out of the fest.

“Well, first of all can we have the loudest round of applause in our set for Mr Lewis Capaldi who couldn’t make it tonight,” frontman Matty Healy told the crowd right before playing their hit track ‘Chocolate’.

The 1975’s replacement of Capaldi came after the latter announced that he would be taking a break from all live performances – including Reading & Leeds – for the time being following his Glastonbury showcase to focus on his mental and physical health. The band announced during their TRNSMT set earlier this year, that they’d not only be taking the headline slot but would also be performing their 2013 self-titled album in full during their Reading set.

“So, on Saturday at Reading and Sunday at Leeds in celebration of 10 years of our debut album, The 1975 will be playing that album in full in support of our good friend Lewis Capaldi,” he told the TRNSMT crowd. “If you’ve got tickets, good for you. If you haven’t, go and get them. We’ll see you there.”

Eslwhere tonight, during the intro to their song, ‘It’s Not Living If It’s Not With You’, The 1975 played their gag where Healy goes to say something controversial and then the band cut him off with the beginning riff of the song. This time the frontman poked fun of the fact that he didn’t have anything controversial prepared to say.

“I don’t have a racist joke ready” he said right before the band started to play the opening of the track.

Elsewhere in their Reading set, The 1975 gave The Killers who are also headlining the festival today a shoutout. “Who’s looking forward to Mr. Brightside?” Healy asked the crowd. While The 1975 and The Killers are tonight’s Reading headliners, Leeds will see performances from Sam Fender and Foals.

Last night (August 25), Reading Festival headliner Sam Fender charmed the audience with a performance worthy of a five-star rating from NME. NME‘s Andrew Trendell wrote of the performance: “Fender, an artist dealing solely in reality and singing straight to the heart to the young crowd with the world at their feet, makes that seem all the more possible. He’s a mirror to this audience, and that’s why belongs on this stage more than anyone.”

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