The Main Stage at Reading Festival hasn’t seen many acts like Rat Boy. Being entirely honest, the assembled crowd may not have either.
Cascading out, instruments cast aside, for the first few minutes it’s like a mutant evolution of East 17 have forced their way past security as the band jump and shout, occasionally stopping to kick over part of their stage dressing. Some love it, others aren’t sure what’s going on.
The confusion doesn’t last for long, though. When you’ve got tracks as infectious as ‘Move’ in your back pocket, it’s only so long before the party is forcibly started, and so it proves. For all his rag tag stylings, there’s no denying Jordan Cardy is a fully functioning pop genius. Live, it’s a song transformed, taking catchy-as-fuck quick fire rhyme and sending it soaring over Berkshire with a giant indie rock guitar line to boot.
From the boisterous tumble of ‘Knock Knock’ to the shopping channel chic of ‘Get Over It’, there’s every argument that Rat Boy shouldn’t work on Reading’s biggest stage. Within half an hour, every single one of them is in tatters. Brilliant, baffling confusion reigns supreme.