A track nobody had heard before, Brazilian vocals laid over double-time drums—this was the last surprise Skrillex had for the Boomtown crowd. On Sunday night, August 16, the American producer closed out the Hydro XL stage at Matterley Estate with a set spanning his catalogue right through to his recent album *SOMA*. Toward the end of the show, Chase & Status walked onstage for an impromptu B2B with Skrillex, dropping the unreleased Brazilian vocal track and leaving plenty of fans wondering whether it was a hint at an official collaboration between the two acts.
Chase & Status later wrote on social media: "Big up @Skrillex for bringing us through. Boomtown crew showed up." Footage from the moment also surfaced on the TikTok account @chaseandstatus_massive, tagged with #chaseandstatus #skrillex #boomtown and more.
The joint appearance came after some earlier trouble during Skrillex's set—his performance was paused for around 20 minutes over crowd control concerns, with Skrillex urging attendees to look out for one another during the break before the music resumed.
For Chase & Status, the Boomtown appearance looks more like a warm-up. Two weeks from now, they'll headline The Grid, the newly launched main stage at Reading & Leeds, topping the bill in Leeds on Friday, August 28, and in Reading on Sunday, August 30—marking their only full show of 2026. They'll share headliner status with Charli XCX, Dave, Florence + The Machine, Fontaines D.C. and Raye, making up Reading & Leeds' first all-UK-and-Irish headline lineup in 25 years.
Reading & Leeds also announced its biggest overhaul yet, with the new Grid main stage joined by expanded site layouts at both locations. Festival director Melvin Benn told NME that the changes have him "more excited about Reading & Leeds than at any point since starting the Leeds show back in 1999," calling it the start of "the next chapter" for the festival.
Skrillex headlined Sziget Festival in Budapest last week, with NME's live coverage describing a show where "fireworks, smoke and lights cut through the night sky like lasers," featuring a set that ran through the Jack Ü classic "Where Are Ü Now," a mashup with Don Toliver's "E85," plus "Ratata" and "Diwali" with rapper Beam and rising Indian star Naisha.
