Yard Act shouts out Sam Fender and brings out the dancers at Reading 2023

Law on building sites opened the main stage to Reading 2023 today (Friday 25 August), paying tribute to Sam Fender as well as the dissemination of impressive choreographies. Check out photos, images and more below.

While many gathered on the BBC Radio 1 dance stage to watch the Bombay Bicycle Club surprise secret setYard Act drew an impressive crowd to open Main Stage East.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the stage, coming from a recently gentrified suburb of north Leeds, the one, only, Yard Act,” frontman James Smith said, introducing the first track “Dead Horse,” which bled directly in “Dark Days”. before a strong moment and a first mass song of “Pay Day”.

Yard Act at Reading 2023. Credit: Andy Ford for NME

Calling “For One Out” to “everyone who was dragging themselves out of their tent just to see what was going on,” Smith then invited the crowd to raise their hands for the first “audience participation” show.

Another highlight came from the recent new single ‘Trench Coat Museum‘, complete with impressive choreography courtesy of Smith and some of the dancers the crowd had already seen were models.

Reading thread:
first show – Yard Act
had no idea who they were. I just went to see the main stage. fucking amazing. I was scared off by the fake statues. this might be one of our new favorite bands. pic.twitter.com/s0EoQDFDp1

— snow ❄️ – reading festival (@snow_i_guess) August 25, 2023

Highlighting the honor of playing the Southern equivalent of their home festival in Leeds (“It’s basically the same thing, but in a parking lot in Reading”, Smith spoke of R&L as a “field full of people wanting to unleash” and told the crowd to make the most of their time here with “the people they care about”.

After a moving outing of the existential ‘100% Endurance’, Smith paid tribute to tonight’s headliner, calling on the crowd to “Shout for Sam Fender, Shout for Yard Act, Shout for Life”.

“Being a 33-year-old modern man is fucking hard work,” he concluded before an ecstatic close of “The Overload,” inviting a huge hole down the left side of the stage.