The organisers of Reading Festival 2024 have released a statement apologising for Lana Del Rey‘s set last night (August 24), which was cut short.
The pop singer was the penultimate headliner on the main stage who was set to close out the second day of the festival alongside Fred Again.. The ‘Ride’ singer is set to perform at Leeds today (August 25) at 7.30pm.
In a statement posted on Instagram Stories, it reads: “Due to an error by the Reading production team we accidentally cut Lana Del Rey’s incredible set short by 5 mins, we apologise unreservedly to Lana and her fans.”
Del Rey showed up roughly 15 minutes late to her set which was slated for an 8.00pm start. To kick off her performance, she treated the rowdy crowd to a shortened version of her 2019 track ‘Norman Fucking Rockwell’. “Hello Reading, hello London. Look at this crowd,” she said before jumping into ‘Arcadia’, ‘Without You’, and ‘West Coast’.
After wrapping up her set with ‘Video Games’, the singer announced “Thank you so much Reading, thank you. We are going to sing a couple more songs. As long as we can until they pull us off.” Unfortunately, it was then that the festival had cut her set by accident. She then sat on stage and watched fireworks go off. See fan footage of the moment below.
Lana’s set gets awkwardly cut short,
her: ‘love that ✌️🙂✌️’ #ReadingFestival2024 #LanaDelRey pic.twitter.com/ABypT77y8f
— Abbie (@abbiezlreynolds) August 24, 2024
Reviewing Del Rey’s Reading set, NME wrote: “There are some beautiful moments here – if you can shut out the bass. ‘Summertime Sadness’ finds the star and her backing dancers holding up art deco-style mirror boards, turning Del Rey into a 1920s statue. ‘Ride’ is as exquisite as ever: scenes from its music video, interspersed with shots of Lana in real time, fill the screens and pull you into her gorgeous visual world. ‘The Grants’ and ‘Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd’ give her backing singers a moment in the spotlight, their incredible vocals covering Reading in powerful, poignant emotion.”
Reading & Leeds Festivals 2024 kicked off yesterday (August 23) at their usual sites of Richfield Avenue (Reading) and Bramham Park (Leeds) – see here for how you can follow along at home on BBC iPlayer and elsewhere if you were not able to secure a ticket.
The festival boasts Fred Again.., Lana Del Rey, Liam Gallagher, Catfish And The Bottlemen, Blink-182 and Gerry Cinnamon as its six headliners this year.
Reneé Rapp, Pendulum, 21 Savage, Denzel Curry, Kenny Beats, Nia Archives, The Wombats, Rachel Chinouriri, Hak Baker, The Last Dinner Party and more are also expected to play.
Check back at NME here for the latest news, reviews, interviews, photos and more from Reading and Leeds 2024.