The producer and dj At the moment his name is Fred Again (London, 42 years old) and he performed this Friday in Madrid “spontaneously” within his project 10 Weeks, 10 Songs, 10 Citiesa tour that tours ten cities for ten consecutive weeks and in which he composes and publishes a new song at each stop. The British revolutionized the 9,500 people who packed Hall 6 of IFEMA, which had a special installation for the occasion that gave the public the feeling of being in some “cool” club in Berlin. He dj With less appearance of it, he brought out his refined electronics in an event that began at 10:30 p.m. on Friday night and ended at six in the morning on Saturday. In the programming of this unique party, attendees danced in this order to the rhythm of Drea, Skin On Skin, and of course to the rhythm of the protagonist, Fred, who first offered a show shared with Skin On Skin, and then, his solo performance, the most anticipated moment. To close, Toccororo, which Fred received on the table.
The beauty of this tour is that everything is on the fly, Madrid has been the third city after Glasgow and Brussels. And the stops of this tour They are announced a few days before the performances, designing an absolutely improvised route for the public. Something very common for his followers. Fred Again had already performed in Spain before, one of the last times at the Primavera Sound festival, but this return to the capital has caused so much excitement that tickets quickly sold out.
Fred Again said in a recent interview with a British media outlet that he loves shows in which he feels he has exactly the same energy as the audience, hence the surprise factor. “When the energy is like ‘I’ve been waiting for this all week and this is my Friday night, we’re going to have a magical time together,’” he said. He also insisted that the timing of this project was intended to allow him to have six days free a week to compose the songs that will be part of the project. USB002, which will also become a vinyl next December.
His proposal in these events is to create a space in which to enjoy music without having to worry about recording videos with your cell phone. And to do this, at the entrance to the event, the production staff handed out some stickers to cover the camera lens, as shown in the instructions published on their website. Of course, a large part of the public chose to eliminate them and record Again. Nobody wanted to stop sharing on their social networks that they were seeing the dj of the moment.
But who is Fred Again and why does he generate so much excitement every time he announces something? The real name behind the endless Again of his username on social networks is Frederick John Philip Gibson, an artist with the soul of a hugely successful producer with 3.5 million followers on the social network Instagram alone, with 18 million monthly listeners on Spotify and who has massive performances on YouTube, where his session at the Boiler Room in London already brings together 48 million visualizations.
The New York Times He called his rise to fame the fastest rise anyone had made in dance music in recent years. His production, open to all types of collaborations and the magic of his live performance, is seasoned with his spontaneity in the shows he announces at the last minute or improvises in places as random as his friends’ rooftops in London. Precisely the specialized magazine DJ Mag, which places him as number 33 in the world, highlights one of these Tiny Desk-style but electronic concerts, the one he did in Naples, as one of his milestones, was that he offered a small live show just above the square where he had played while the audience dispersed, at his friend Fede’s house.
Fred Again is the youngest artist to win the award for best producer at the Brit Awards (he did so at the age of 26), and he began collaborating as a producer with figures such as Ed Sheeran, until he established himself with the trilogy Actual Life in 2020, closely linked to the experiences during the pandemic, something that made her empathize with a large generation. But his love for music and production has existed in him since he was just a child. At 16 he joined a local a cappella group led by legendary experimental producer Brian Eno and at 21 he collaborated with him on albums. It was at 25 that he had his first success as a producer for his work on George Ezra’s number one song, Shotgun.
Frederick John Philip Gibson, known artistically as Fred Again, comes from a family linked to the British aristocracy and one of his great-grandmothers was married to Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond novels. And all that British halo is noticeable in their concerts, where everything is quite diplomatic for a rave. Fred produces and excites when he plays with his hands, which he moves in a characteristic way and who know how to perfectly control the bodies that flood every room and every festival he visits. What you dance is house melodic, rhythms that Again creates so you never lose track. And if you do, it and its microphone remind you where you are.
With almost half a million views, Marea (We’ve Lost Dancing) is the greatest exponent of his sound, a song he made with his partner DJ The Blessed Madonna and which praises the communities forged on the dance floor with synthesizers. Following in popularity are topics such as Delilah (Pull Me Out Of This), Leavemealone —for which he received a Grammy nomination alongside Baby Keem—, Adore u o Jungle. And they all sounded more epic than ever this morning in Madrid.
In August 2024, Fred Again became the first dance artist to headline the Reading and Leeds Festivals. The Guardian He noted that he could be described as the Taylor Swift of the dance world: “a musician and dj that attracts both unconditional love and skepticism.” And yes, the audience that packed his party in Spain this Saturday has little to do with the one that filled the same venue just a week ago to attend one of the most iconic techno festivals, Time Warp. Again brings together younger generations and with a more naïve and more international spirit. It didn’t seem like the typical audience that attends an electronics event, but it’s just that This artist’s work is more like a chapter of Skins than to a night at the Fabrik nightclub.
Again is great at collaborations: his predilection for sharing has made him join forces with electronic pioneers like Four Tet, Overmono and Skrillex, and even with rappers like Baby Keem and Lil Yachty. And in his sessions he is always well surrounded. He is known for his “secret” raves and for selling out in minutes. As he has done on this occasion, although less extreme, he often announces and acts a few hours apart, and always on the same day. His secret shows give him a certain respect among the masses. underground and contrast with his enormous popularity and his spirit mainstream. This spontaneity and the self-taught nature of his music are part of the formula for success that makes you think that Fred is also human and that maybe you, too, can be like him.