Billie Eilish made history over the weekend as the youngest artist ever to headline Reading Festival. Performing to around 100,000 people, the 21-year-old LA singer-songwriter topped off an uneven edition of the annual Thames Valley gathering. Once a byword for heavy rock and loud guitars, Reading has become more youthful, diverse and pop-friendly over the past decade, though it still has gender imbalance issues. Eilish is one of just six or seven female artists to top the bill in over 60 years.
This year’s line-up also featured a rich array of rap, grime and drill performers, mostly from London. One early highlight was Croydon native Loyle Carner, who sprinkled his soulful pop-rap set with gentle self-help sermons about breaking the cycle of trauma and rejecting toxic masculinity. Even if his songs were a little too mellow in places, who could resist a big-hearted crooner who runs cooking classes for kids with ADHD called Chili Con Carner?
