To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
A Beckham kid entering the music industry is undoubtedly a brave move.
When you’ve grown up in the spotlight with incredibly famous parents, being taken seriously in any career is an uphill battle. But to choose music, when your mum is a Spice Girl?
Cruz Beckham and his band, the Breakers, are probably all too aware they have a lot to prove, given the huge running start his name brings.
It didn’t help that the stage they were on at Reading Festival was The Canopy, this year’s replacement for BBC Introducing, which was being dubbed ‘nepo stage’ in harsher online circles.
While the nepotism might get you in the recording booth, there’s nothing quite like a live performance to separate the wheat from the chaff.
At a festival, people vote with their feet, and there’s nothing worse than looking out at an empty or unenthusiastic crowd.
Thankfully for Cruz, his band, and proud parents Sir David and Victoria Beckham (who were of course looking on) The Breakers set had a strong turnout.
The rain might partially be to thank for packing out the tent – shelter was hard to come by at the festival – but it was the music that made the crowd stay.
Cruz’s influences are easy to hear; every indie guitar band before him has similar songs in their discography. However, that’s not to write him off.
Unsurprisingly, the 21-year-old looked right at home on stage and every bit the frontman. He was beaming the whole time as he energetically danced about, guitar in hand.
That smile was matched by his dad standing on the sidelines, singing along to every word. Victoria’s expression was, as usual, unreadable but she happily waved to the crowd, so we can only assume she too was having the best time.
Cruz’s evident skills on guitar, better than average vocals, and the whole group’s sheer stage presence could be the ingredients for something truly magic, if they get a good songwriting team behind them.
Cruz has been songwriting (with some lyrics seemingly taking a dig at his big brother Brooklyn), but a team could push his creativity and provide some big hits, right as the UK is primed for a guitar band domination.
Music lovers have been complaining for years about the lack of bands in the charts. While there’s been some solid movement from the likes of Fontaines D.C. and Wolf Alice, perhaps Cruz has enough cultural cache for the indie sleaze 2.0 floodgates to open.
Regardless of how he got here and the inevitable conversations about his parents’ impact on that career path, it feels like maybe Cruz Beckham and The Breakers could be here to stay.
Cruz wasn’t the only nepo on the Canopy Stage, with headliner Raye’s sister Amma performing an all-too-short set on Saturday too.
Insane vocals clearly run in the family, with Absolutely having taken to the main stage earlier in the day.
Amma performed tracks from her debut album Middle Child, which came out earlier this year, but it was her cover of Unwritten that finally got the largely unmovable crowd singing along.
This phenomenon of fans who seemed to have forgotten how to dance plagued the various stages across the festival. Maybe it was the rain ponchos restricting movement, but even pop icon Jade (who was on top form) had a rather movement-resistant front pit.
She was giving her all on the dance tracks, having opened with It Girl – an absolute banger – it wasn’t until she got to the Little Mix mashup that people really moved.
Even Sombr, who drew in a massive crowd, faced some dead spots where people were more concerned about getting muddy than enjoying the moment.
The 12 to 12 hitmaker also had some tech issues, with both screens going black for an entire song and the bass drowning out his vocals.
Maybe it’s simply the age of Reading’s main demographic, who largely sit around the 18-20 mark, making even me, as a (just about) Gen Z, feel ancient.
It wasn’t even that everyone was on their phone; it’s like even without the mass recording, nobody knows what to do with their bodies anymore.
Or maybe it’s that without the copious amounts of alcohol, people are just too self-conscious to get lost in the music. Whatever the cause is, I hope it’s gone by the time Glastonbury rolls around next year.
As for Worthy Farm’s 2027 line-up, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Cruz and the Breakers making an appearance. He’s primed for a Woodsies debut.