The Japanese House reflects on a momentous Reading Festival set

Recovering from a packed show at Reading’s dance tent, and sat on a pile of leftover confetti from Foals’ headline set last night, The Japanese House is reflecting on a defining moment which blew her mind. Despite having fairly sore legs (Amber Bain spent her Thursday night crowdsurfing her way around the Old Blue Last at the debut show of Superfood and Peace ‘super-group’ Radical Lasagne) she’s in great spirits, and still a little stunned from the whole whirlwind experience.

“It was so fun,” Amber enthuses, “and I was so shocked by how many people were there. It was at the Dance tent, and to be honest, I’m not very good with knowing loads of music, but I didn’t really know anyone else playing,” she admits. “They seemed like DJ type people, which is cool, but obviously that’s not my music. That really scared me, but I was blown away, it was nuts.”

Like many other musicians here today, Reading and Leeds feels like a particularly big deal; largely because growing up, The Japanese House came here to watch My Chemical Romance and The National. Years later, she’s up on that same stage.

“If you told me when I was last at Reading that I was gunna be doing that, on that stage, with those people I wouldn’t have believed it!” she says. “I’m so excited about it. I nearly cried, when I came off stage. I was a bit overwhelmed.”