The road to Reading & Leeds: Foals’ rowdy history and rise to the top of the festival
“My big thing with Reading was watching Nirvana live there in ‘91 on VHS, again and again,” says Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis of the first time he fell in love with the hallowed fields and legacy of R+L.
“A lot of my dreams of Reading were inherited from that mania around Nirvana and my deep fandom. The idea that we’d ever play that slot, or just be stood on that stage, was mindblowing. It’s humbling to think of all the great bands that have stood there.”
And yet, Yannis and band of brothers will be doing that very same thing once again this weekend. From their first time as scrappy, math-y noiseniks to graduating to the main stage and then their first ever headline slot, Foals’ trajectory on the music scene as a whole can be mapped on them rising through the ranks of the Reading & Leeds line-up.
Now, in the final victory lap for their blissed-out 2022 album ‘Life Is Yours‘ and first major UK festival gig since the return of bassist Walter Gervers, they’re back to do what do few acts get to pull off: their second headline set.
To celebrate, Yannis talked NME through each and every time they’ve played R+L, and what to expect from their glorious return this year.
2007 – The “chaotic” baptism of fire
“I never went as a fan, so my first Reading & Leeds was when we played in 2007. That might have even been our first proper summer of being a band. We’d put out ‘Hummer’ and our debut ‘Antidotes’ hadn’t dropped yet. I remember being on super early in a tent and just feeling a bit overwhelmed by the size of the crowd. It wasn’t even that big, but it was a big deal for us. Before that we’d only ever played Truck Festival in Oxford.
“We knew a lot about Reading because it was just down the road from where we grew up and I had a lot of friends that would go there. It was a rite of passage, and it still is. Playing there, it just clicked with us because there was the right level of this charged, rock’n’roll, chaotic energy and a great, hedonistic time. We felt at home from that first show.
“We were still playing a cover of Gwen Stefani’s ‘Hollerback Girl’. How times have changed! We genuinely and sincerely liked the tune, and thought it would be kind of funny. The joke stopped when we did it for Radio One’s Live Lounge, and it was probably a low point of our entire career! Jack [Bevan, drummer] had gotten ill, but I think he knew how bad it was about to be and thought, ‘I want no part of this’. We got an under-drummer in and what was already going to be an absolute car crash turned into an implosion. Jo Whiley sounded audibly disgruntled. People around us had some work to do to get us back into Radio One!”
2008 – The first “proper moment”
“The big show was the one that we played after ‘Antidotes’ came out. It was a proper moment for us. We’d all picked up plaid shirts from vintage shops as we’d been going really hard on the road that year. We barely managed a shower between the five of us each week. We were living in a van, playing everywhere and were super lean – both physically and as a group. We’d only had 10 songs we’d written and we made them so tight.
“There was so much hype building around us as we’d been playing house parties and there was a serious amount of energy. The bill was great that day – I remember Mystery Jets were hanging around. Plus we’d arrived hungover so the day already had an out-of-body feel to it. We took to the stage and it was the biggest crowd we’d played to so far. If it hadn’t been so friendly, it would have felt like they were baying for our blood.”
“It was an era-defining show for us. I remember climbing up the rigging, jumping into the crowd, having my shirt ripped off and feeling almost flayed from the intensity of the moshpit. I remember doing an interview straight after and trying to describe how it felt to be on stage, and it felt like being possessed by the devil or an otherworldly energy.
“I’ll never forget the faces of the people in the front rows. We’d been playing small 200-300 cap shows, then there was suddenly this vast throng of people. We realised that the songs were bigger than the rooms we were playing. If I had to go back through our career and pick the 10 most significant shows, that 2008 one was up there. I remember coming off stage and thinking, ‘There’s something really happening here with this band’.”
2010 – The coming of age
“Those early tent shows were amazing. Before, it was all about a violent energy and not being a particularly polished show. Next, it was like the show reflected how much we’d grown in the interim. We were playing ‘Spanish Sahara’, ‘Blue Blood’ and ‘Black Gold’. There was a whole other gear to the band. With the club shows and some of our own gigs, sometimes the new ‘Total Life Forever’ tracks didn’t translate as well as we’d expected. Maybe people were expecting ‘Antidotes’ part two, but by the time we’d got to Reading the album had been out for a minute.
“‘Spanish Sahara’ had become part of the culture and was an ‘important’ song that year. It’s not like now where you put out a song but the moment can be quite brief; it seemed to hold a place in people’s imaginations for the whole year. Due to all that and the structure of the song, by the time we played it at Reading it felt like such a physical release. It was ecstatic. We were capable of conveying much more emotion than before. In 2008, we were juveniles. By the time we came back in 2010, we were more at our peak.”
2013 – The main stage debut
“We played third from top. It was us, Chase & Status and then Eminem. All of these Reading & Leeds were like signposts showing the momentum of the band. You can’t really say that about other festivals, but then it’s also testament to how much R&L can propel a band. They really believed in us. They said, ‘Foals can deal with this slot, so let’s give them that platform’.
“The sun was shining, it was beautiful. I slightly regret the t-shirt I wore that day – it was quite loud! I also remember adding ‘My Number’, ‘Prelude’ and ‘Inhaler’ from ‘Holy Fire‘ into the set, and that was incredible. We were out of the tent and with the main stage, and we had to create the atmosphere. There’s no contained ambience. It was a challenge and we’re quite self-critical, but Melvin Benn [R+L boss] came up to us after the show and said, ‘You’re going to be topping this bill and headlining Reading at some point’. That was an amazing thing to hear at that point. It was really powerful. It felt like Reading was our home, but we had something to grow into.”
2015 – The secret slot
“That was sweaty! That was back in the tent. It was the day ‘When Went Down’ had come out, and it was great to launch it from back where the band had started. To go back and realise how much we’d grown and how small the tent felt was interesting – but super fun.”
2016 – The first time headlining
“Obviously that was a big deal. We’d been touring ‘What Went Down’ so bookended that whole era at Reading & Leeds. To finally achieve that moment that long been rumoured was special. We were so nervous all day. The backstage is a totally different environment for headliners and you get your own little compound to hang out in. Once we got out on stage, it was just the culmination of so many different things. We’d only headlined Latitude before that, which was an amazing experience in itself. You realise that these opportunities don’t come every year, so you have to cherish it.
“We managed to really be in the moment with that gig. We had pyro too, so I was slightly concerned about getting singed! We partied the night away then went to Leeds where there was a torrential downpour, which was really intense. I remember getting into the crowd, just marauded by wet anoraks. I loved both of those gigs in different ways. At Leeds I wore a shirt that said, ‘Protect me from what I want’. These headline sets were what we’d always wanted, but needed saving from ourselves in a way.
“We don’t get nervous often, but all day we were pacing and restless. There was a lot of frenetic energy backstage. When we got out there, it was like one of those rotor rides at an amusement park where it all starts moving then you just stick to the wall.”
2023 – The great reunion
“We’ve got a great visual show planned, changing the set up, we might have a couple of surprises too. We’re just going to play an awesome fucking show. We might play a new song too; it depends if we can get it rehearsed in time. It’s going to be a spectacle, like it has to be at these gigs.
“We’re playing really well and we’ve got Wally back in the band. That’s been everything. The vibe on tour is amazing and we’re having the best hangs we’ve had in years. He’s back for good, so there’s a whole new lease of life for us.
“There was a puncture to the gang when he left, so he’s refreshed everything and made us really excited. You realise why we knitted together so solidly before. The bass players we’ve had since have been amazing, but there’s just this quality to the way that Walter hits the bass. It’s like the chewy centre to a hard caramel outer edge. You need it in the right place. Now looking back, we’re the tastiest chocolate bar in the whole shop.”
“We’ve got some downtime and I’ve got this Tony Allen stuff coming out hopefully in the early start of 2024. Maybe we’ll do some shows for that. For Foals, we’ve got a plan to not have a plan. We’re going to have a bit of a break. There are some bits of music that we’ve been excited by and they’ll be the thing that will lure us back into the studio – but not immediately.
“We haven’t been on the road in the UK that much lately so we’ve been longing to play a big show. This is going to be a celebratory end moment for ‘Life Is Yours’. Hopefully people will come out for a triumphant end.”
Reading & Leeds 2023 takes place this weekend from Friday 25-Sunday 27 August. Foals headline alongside The 1975, Billie Eilish, The Killers, Sam Fender and Imagine Dragons. Visit here for tickets and more information, and here for the latest NME news, reviews, interviews, photos and more action from R&L 2023.
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Andrew Trendell
NME
