Musical edging. That’s what the Sekszusjes in their erotic tent a little further down might call what Fred Again.. is doing tonight at Lowlands. The British DJ proves to be the master and lord of delaying the collective orgasm of the great orgy called Lowlands. Sometimes he plays the piano for ten minutes, tells stories or simply radiates his gratitude before finally throwing one of his many hits over the Alpha area. So Fred’s debut as Lowlands’ closing act is not the banger that part of the audience had expected in advance, but a sensitive and endearing pop concert in which every highlight reaches the heavens.
Photography Hub Dautzenberg
The story behind the sensation that is Fred Again.. is known to most people by now. About three years ago, the DJ broke through with Actual Life, a record that is completely of this time. A kind of diary set to music, released in the middle of the gloomy corona period, full of mostly melancholic dance partly built up from samples of social media clips, voice memos and field recordings.
Fred understands that today’s young people no longer go to the dance floor to shake out their feelings. The young person wants to share their feelings with the world, because maybe the world can still use that. In the Alpha he highlights a song lyric by the relatively unknown soul singer Lady Wray, which touches him ‘in a million ways’. I’ll let you take a piece of me / I hope you get the peace you need. That’s how he is in the game.
Where Peggy Gou hid behind a large turntable on Friday and didn’t let anyone into her bubble, Fred Again.. invites his audience to keep a close eye on him. When he starts the slow build-up to the opening number Kyle (I Found You) at half past ten, we literally watch him through the cameras in his equipment.
There is no question of spinning records with this DJ. Every track is constructed with virtuoso fingerwork and you see the sometimes socially clumsy DJ completely throw himself into making music. His visible passion contributes to the enchantment of the audience in and around the Alpha during enormous highlights such as Marea (We Lost Dancing), Leavemealone, Delilah (Pull Me Out Of This) and Danielle (Smile On My Face). That audience surrenders itself to the beat with heart and soul.
He takes people along beautifully in his creative process. At the end of Adore U you know exactly which button on the installation has to be pressed to call Obongjayar. Fred Again.. has managed to get all the guest artists in his songs to collaborate on his Actual Life concept. Each one of them recorded videos for him with their mobile phones, which the DJ will conjure up on the screen tonight during the accompanying songs.
In these clips we see Berwyn, Anderson. Paak and Flowdan singing and rapping while casually walking through their own neighborhood. These ‘home videos’ also give Fred’s music a personal element that is often missing in not only electronic dance, but actually all popular music.
Sometimes Fred’s procrastination threatens to change from pleasant teasing to unintentional bullying and you long for him to finally pick up the pace. This happens, for example, when he invites Romy on stage, who has just finished her own gig in the India. Instead of immediately starting Stronger, Fred tries in vain to get the audience to join in a moment of collective singing. He takes far too long to do so.
But when the ecstatic climax of the emotional house banger finally sounds through the Alpha and far beyond, you have completely forgotten the slight irritation of the moment before.
Seen: Lowlands 2024, Saturday (22:30). Read all our reports of Lowlands here.
