After his set in Leeds on Friday night, Scott took to social platform X to ask fans for footage of the crowd during his first two tracks, describing the reaction as “mad wild.” Watching his Reading Festival intro, it’s easy to see why. Just like at Leeds, the crowd erupted as Scott launched into the frenetic and sprawling “CHAMPAIN & VACAY” from his Jackboys 2 project, before seamlessly transitioning into his recent single “DUMBO,” set against a dazzling backdrop of fireworks and pyrotechnics. Chances are, he’ll want a video of this one as well.

Travis Scott’s Circus Maximus tour, which began in late 2023, has been his most ambitious yet. It kicked off with a grand performance at the actual Circus Maximus – Rome’s ancient chariot-racing arena – and the tour has kept up that same sense of epic scale since. Just look at Scott’s current stage setup: towering carved heads, massive stone boulders and rising platforms (think The Flintstones meets The Jetsons). While things were scaled back from the grand set-up that we saw during Travis Scott’s London show last year – likely due to festival production limitations – Scott still delivered a slice of his dystopian, slightly prehistoric-themed spectacle. Flanked by large boulders and a fire pit, he loomed over the crowd for much of the show. As ever, Scott’s stagecraft leans toward the cinematic.

While Scott’s set pulled from right across his back catalogue, it leaned heavily on tracks from his latest solo album, Utopia. As the rapper himself shouted at one point during the set: “Utoooopiiiaaaa!” – and the choice cuts from the record didn’t disappoint. “TOPIA TWINS” sparked a raucous NSFW singalong, while “I KNOW ?” was sleek and infectious. Perhaps the standout moment, though, was Scott’s poignant rendition of his Bon Iver and Sampha collaboration “MY EYES,” a smooth, autotuned ballad that saw him channelling a Frank Ocean-esque flow and displaying a rare sense of vulnerability. It was a lush, emotive performance and offered a welcome pause from Scott’s otherwise high-octane set.

You can usually tell which track is primed to go off in a live setting. For Travis Scott, that song had long been “SICKO MODE,” the moment Drake’s vocals hit and the beat began to gear up, full energy from the crowd inevitably followed. But judging by his Reading Festival performance, Utopia standout “FE!N” might have just overtaken it. The Playboi Carti collab sparked the most visceral crowd reaction of the night, a full-blown moment of delirium that undoubtedly left vocal cords strained. It’s no surprise, really – the track was built for moments like this. Sadly though, unlike at Scott’s Rolling Loud set last year, there was no Owen Wilson cameo this time around.

Highlights from 2018’s Astroworld shone brightly at Reading Festival. Sure, even if ‘FE!N’ ultimately stole the show, there’s still no track in Travis Scott’s catalogue that rivals “SICKO MODE” as an all-round hit. The beat switches, the flow changes, the strung-out psychedelic atmosphere – it has it all. Meanwhile, the woozy, synth-laced “BUTTERFLY EFFECT,” the explosive, bass-heavy “NO BYSTANDERS” and the hypnotic “STARGAZING” all served as reminders of why Astroworld remains the album to beat in Scott’s discography.

Earlier this summer, ahead of the new Clipse record, Pusha T had some pointed words to say about Travis Scott, seemingly unimpressed by Scott’s alleged lack of loyalty to his rap peers. But Scott doesn’t appear fazed one bit. At Reading Festival, he made it clear he’s not in the business of picking sides. It was interesting that his setlist included a Drake collab (“SICKO MODE”), a Kendrick collab (“goosebumps”), as well as “Type Shit,” his track with Future and Metro Boomin from We Don’t Trust You – the album that sparked the entire Kendrick vs. Drake drama. As if that wasn’t enough, he also performed songs he has with both Kanye West and Playboi Carti (“Praise God” and “BACKR00MS”) –  two more artists recently caught up in their own feud. All of which suggests one thing: Scott isn’t interested in keeping up with hip-hop beefs – and he’s definitely not taking sides.

Scott closed his Reading Festival set with a special treat for long-time fans, telling the crowd: “I don’t know how many of you know this song, but this is for my day one ragers.” He then launched into a condensed version of “Oh My Dis Side,” a fan favourite from 2015’s Rodeo. It’s a track he rarely performs; in fact, this marked only the second time since 2017. The song itself serves as a nostalgic snapshot of Scott’s childhood and rise to fame, a fitting choice to reflect how far he’s come as an artist. As fireworks lit up the sky, Scott then exited the stage to the sound of his SZA collaboration “TELEKINESIS,” his voice echoing in the background: “I can see the future, it’s lookin’ like we leveled through the sky.”