The Reading Festival had seen Metal, punk, grunge, hip hop, dance, grime and indie genres at the shows during its lifespan but never had a sickly-sweet, high-energy teenie pop. Pop duo Daphne and Celeste were added to the poster for Reading and Leeds 2000 and were in middle of a bill featuring Rage Against The Machine and Slipknot. This drew some flake from the wild crowd.
The New Jersey poplets had attained some moderate success in the UK with three top 20 singles, including a cover of Alice Cooper’s School’s Out. Evidently, that was enough for them to be booked on the main stage of the UK’s biggest alternative festival. But that was a total mess.
Daphne opens up on the wild experience
Daphne had an interview with The Guardian in 2015 when she recalled the incident. Despite the flak from the crowd, she revealed how Slipknot and Rage Against The Machine had responded to the performance.
“Backstage, Slipknot and Rage Against the Machine were coming up to us and telling us how hardcore we were,” Daphne – real name Karen DiConcetto – told The Guardian. “How they wouldn’t have stayed out there. It was definitely the best thing we did, our crowning achievement.”
You can check out the performance below:
This year’s edition is packing a six-headliner bonanza of Rage Against The Machine, Halsey, The Arctic Monkeys, Dave, Megan Thee Stallion and Bring Me The Horizon.