EXCLUSIVE: Charli XCX has played her first UK concert since releasing new music, debuting her new era - but fans in the audience were antsy for the return of party girl era and brat10:35, 29 Aug 2026Updated 10:36, 29 Aug 2026Reading Festival had been caught between blistering sunshine and biblical levels of rain - and headliner Charli XCX's set was equally extreme for audiences.‌The 34-year-old singer took to Reading Festival's main stage, The Grid, on Friday 28 August, to perform her first UK full set of new album Music, Fashion Film. Thankfully, the heavy rain that plagued Skepta eased off by the time Charli was on stage, but the drenched audience struggled to muster up much energy for the new music.‌Charli, dressed in black and white, performed to sea of people in 'brat' green. There were huge cheers when she started with single Rock Music. But by the time she sang about how the "dance floor is dead", sparking controversy with Madonna, but perhaps proven right by the polite head bopping of the people in my section of the audience.‌Backed by a live band, she then ran through Yeah, her take on Blur's Song 2, and Card Declined, for which she was joined by a huge cast of dancer/models who posed along a three-storey set of scaffolding.For those of us who loved brat but didn't really know Charli's other music (most of the crowd where I was standing), this wasn't what we've spent all day waiting for. We'd crammed ourselves under tents to hide from the rain, paid through the nose for mediocre pizza and hopped in the mud from foot to foot hoping the long line for the loos would speed up, all because we wanted to end our night reliving the brat days. So when Charli finally played 365 and party 4 u, the relief was palpable.‌The change in the audience was instantaneous. Gone were the beleaguered kids still wiping wet strands of hair away from the face and tapping their feet, trying to play it off as rhythmical tapping rather than disappointed impatience. They were all replaced with hyperactive screamers, belting the lyrics and jumping in the air. When Charli started to play Guess, one woman begged the person next to her to "guess the colour of my underwear".Charli herself was relatively reserved throughout the set, shedding her party girl persona. Though she still wore ripped shirts and shorts so small they could be knickers, she also wears a blazer and stands stoically for her final song Nothing Lasts Forever. She doesn't really interact with the crowd at all during her Music, Fashion, Film songs, not even looking at us, instead choosing to stare into the far off distance.Article continues belowWhen she's gone, the people around me sigh and shift around awkwardly. Fontaines DC are expected on stage soon, but for the girls with 'XCX' painted on their legs, lime green extensions in their hair and dresses that are a perfect replica of what Charli wore to her 34th birthday party, it's time to go.The Mirror was at Reading Festival courtesy of Nordic Spirit.Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .