Sigma have spoken NME about their upcoming appearances at Reading & Leeds 2023 – where they will close out the festivals by hosting the world’s largest silent disco.
The silent disco will be the first of its kind to be held at the festival – which will take place this weekend (August 25-27) – and will see the Brit-nominated duo end the three-night run with a bang as they will each hold their own DJ sets at the two sites.
With an expected 60,000 at both locations, Sigma’s silent DJ set will simultaneously take place on the main stage on Sunday night of each, following performances by this year’s headliners Billie Eilish, Sam Fender, The Killers, Foals and Imagine Dragons.
Speaking to NME, Sigma’s Joe Lenzie has told us about what the mammoth set means to the group, and shed insight on how he and bandmate Cam Edwards have plans to custom-tailor their show to make it their most unforgettable night yet.
NME: Hello! How are you? You must be keeping busy in the run-up to the festival.
Lenzie: “I’m good, I’m good! Always busy… best way to be though. Lots going on.”
How are you feeling about hosting such a big event for Reading & Leeds? Has the set being a silent disco changed the way you’re preparing for it?
“To be honest, we’ve actually never done a silent disco, so I don’t know what the implications of people wearing headphones are!
Recommended
“I’d imagine that you don’t get to feel the bass because you don’t have the massive rig, but I’ve never actually been to one, so I don’t know what the actual experience is like. We’re kind of shooting in the dark a little bit! But for a main stage event we’ll be playing sing-along remixes and big bassline stuff.”
How are you going to change it up from a regular set?
“Well, usually we have an MC but, on this occasion, we’re not allowed to have vocalist performers on stage. We’re not allowed to do that, so that will completely change the dynamic in itself because when you’ve got someone constantly interacting with the crowd, you get more of a connection with them.
“It’s going to be completely different to what we’re used to… But I’m excited by it.”
What does it mean to Sigma to be giving Reading & Leeds its first-ever mass event after the main line-up?
“From our perspective, it’s a massive deal that they’ve offered us this opportunity to do this – particularly with talk about potentially breaking a world record!
“I think to close off the festival is such a huge thing. I’m not sure how much energy the people are going to have at that stage because, by Sunday night, people can sometimes be a bit weary. But it’s actually a massive moment that’s quite momentous for us.”
Something else unusual about the set is that both you and Cam will be performing separately – you in Reading and him in Leeds. Is there a sense of friendly competition there? Or maybe some secret weapons in your respective arsenals?
“We’re just always trying to get a good response. But [with us performing at the same time] we’re not going to be able to see what the other person is doing!
“Generally we’ll play very similar sets because we’re both representing Sigma, but we do DJ individually quite a lot. It’s quite a kind of regular thing for us. We’re into similar styles of music when it comes to Sigma, but for me, I make so much music, so I’ll play probably like 80 per cent the stuff that I’ve made. So yeah, it’ll be pretty bespoke I would say.”
Sigma recently teamed up with Gardna to release new track ‘City Lights’ – tell us about the collaboration. Can we expect to see the song featured in the set?
“100 per cent! With Gardner, we’ve been watching what he’s been up to for the past couple of years, and his work ties in really nicely with the project that we’re working on at the moment, which is going to be the next album, ‘London Sound’.
“It is essentially us going back to our roots and all of the influences that we had when we were starting out making music and immersing ourselves in the club world of the early ’00s. I think what Gardner is representing is a throwback to a lot of that stuff in his own music too, so what we put together was quite reminiscent of what we’re trying to achieve.”
Will you be previewing any more new music in your set?
“We’re about to move into our final album with the record deal that we’re in, so it’ll give us a chance to showcase all of our brand new music that a lot of people haven’t heard. We’ll be playing quite a lot of that stuff amongst some of the classics.
“We’ve got five more singles leading into the album – which is coming out in January – so we’re going to be premiering all of them! Even some bits that might not even make it as singles we’ll be playing. We’re just excited to get it all out on that big stage.”
The set is being billed as the world’s largest silent disco – how do you feel about putting on something monumental to live up to that?
“Obviously we’re going to play our hits, but also showcase some of the other remixes and stuff. We’ve got some bespoke edits of tracks that we know are real crowd-pleasers.
“The structuring of the set is what’s important, though. Grabbing those moments where you catch the crowd having a sing-along moment, and then you can take them on a little journey. It’s about getting it so that it flows smoothly enough so that the crowd are entertained and they get their moments, but also we get a chance to kind of maybe play something a little bit gritty in between… then we all get to have fun.
“We’ve been doing it long enough to know what’s going to work in a certain environment, but like I said, we’ve never done a silent disco before, so this might be a completely different experience! Fingers crossed!”
Historically, Reading & Leeds is a rock festival that has adapted with the times to reflect and celebrate a wide variety of genres – what does it mean to you to represent dance music at the festival?
“Other sides of the music probably weren’t represented as strongly in those early days because there wasn’t so much of a scene for that music at the time. I know there were some moments in Jungle that got some major label attention, but I feel like it’s only since the ’00s that dance — drum and bass in particular — was taken seriously as a business.
“So now it’s definitely exciting to be one of the few that’s chosen to [represent the genre at the festival]. The culture has become so much bigger. Particularly now, drum and bass is just absolutely massive. So it’s gonna be an honour to be gracing that stage.
“Now, one of my top five festival moments of all time was last year in a dance tent at Reading when we played. It was just like the most insane, insane experience that I’ve had at a festival, which is why we love to come back every year. So, please, Reading, keep looking at us, and Leeds, as well!”
Why should festival-goers finish their night off at the silent disco with you?
“Because without it, the festival is not going to be complete, so you’ve got to come down.
“You’ve got to just let your hair down, have fun, sing along, get ready for those dirty, grimy moments that are going to be in the set, which there definitely will be. Let’s enjoy it.”
Sigma’s set will be held on the Main stage from 11pm, and you can find details on how to get your headsets for the show here.
Reading & Leeds 2023 takes place this weekend from Friday 25-Sunday 27 August. Foals headline alongside The 1975, Billie Eilish, The Killers, Sam Fender and Imagine Dragons. Visit here for tickets and more information, and here for the latest NME news, reviews, interviews, photos and more action from R&L 2023.
Sigma’s new album ‘London Sound’ will be available next January via 3 Beat Records.