Becky Hill has sparked a fierce debate among festivalgoers after being booed by some audience members during a surprise set at TRNSMT.
A TikTok video from the weekend appears to show sections of the crowd leaving while others boo after the singer revealed she would be performing an entire set of unreleased music.
The clip, which has attracted thousands of views, was captioned: ‘Not Becky Hill getting booed and everyone leaving.’
The reaction has divided fans online, with some arguing that the chart-topping singer badly misjudged her audience by turning a festival slot into what was effectively an album preview.
‘Sorry but a festival slot is not the time to do a set full of new songs only,’ one viewer wrote.
Another added: ‘Worst idea ever at a festival.’
A third commented: ‘I love Becky Hill but I would of been fuming, no Disconnect or Afterglow.’
Others questioned whether audiences should really be expected to stand through half an hour of songs they’ve never heard before.
‘No one goes to a gig to hear songs they don’t know,’ one person argued. ‘They want to sing along with the hits. Even Bowie did a tour that was just the hits.’
The moment occurred during Hill’s appearance as TRNSMT’s secret act on the King Tut’s stage.
Although organisers had initially kept her involvement under wraps, her appearance was revealed earlier this month.
When she took to the stage, however, Hill had another surprise for fans. ‘The reason why it’s a secret set is because it’s all new music,’ she explained.
‘Sometimes as an artist you have to ditch the tunes they know you for and play something new.’
The singer is currently gearing up to release her third studio album, Rebecca, in September, and used the set to give fans an early taste of material that has yet to be released.
Predictably, not everyone was thrilled by the prospect.
Some audience members reportedly drifted away as the set continued, while videos circulating online appear to capture pockets of dissatisfaction among the crowd. However, plenty of fans rushed to Hill’s defence.
‘Everyone is overreacting to this, to be honest,’ one person wrote.
‘She was doing a secret set, announced months after the rest of the lineup, on a smaller stage, in a slot normally reserved for newer artists. Festivals are all about discovering new music, this is fine.’
And those who stuck around were ultimately rewarded.
According to reports from the festival, Hill closed her set by treating loyal fans to two of her biggest hits, Afterglow and Disconnect, prompting cheers from the remaining crowd.
The singer’s gamble raises an interesting question about what festivals are actually for.
For some fans, they are a place to hear the songs they already know and love. For others, they remain one of the few spaces where artists can still take risks and introduce audiences to something new.
Unfortunately for Becky Hill, a sizeable portion of the TRNSMT crowd appears to have voted for the former.