Enter Shikari frontman Rou Reynolds has confirmed that the band’s Reading Festival set being cut short yesterday (August 27) “wasn’t an act of censorship”.

The band were playing the festival’s Main Stage East on Saturday afternoon, when a power outage meant they had to leave the stage and couldn’t return due to tight scheduling.

The power outage occurred just after Reynolds made an impassioned speech about polluting water companies including Thames Water, leading many fans on social media to claim that the band were removed from the stage on purpose, rather than because of a genuine power cut.

Taking to Twitter this morning (August 28), Reynolds quote tweeted a fan who called the incident “political censorship right in front of our eyes” and alleged that the festival had “cut the power” to the band for “speaking the truth about sewage pollution in our waters and Tory greed”.

Clarifying the situation, Reynolds wrote: “Just to clarify everyone – it wasn’t an act of censorship, it was a power outage at front-of-house. Immense bad luck, and of course bad timing.”

“We then had our set cut as the power cut pushed our set over our allotted time slot. Frustrating as hell but the festival has to keep to the timetable understandably, to stop stampedes in between stages. We had a fucking blast though. Big up everyone at [Reading]. Love only.”

In a follow-up tweet, he added: “Regardless of the power cut pause, I still got to berate Thames Water & other polluting water companies in front of thousands of people, + thousands more watching back on BBC.

“So even if it had been an attempt at censorship it was a poor one as I still got to finish the speech.”

We then had our set cut as the power cut pushed our set over our allotted time slot. Frustrating as hell but the festival has to keep to the timetable understandably, to stop stampedes in between stages.

We had a fucking blast though. Big up everyone at @OfficialRandL. Love only

— ʀ⎊ᴜ ʀᴇʏɴ⎊ (@RouReynolds) August 28, 2022

Regardless of the power cut pause, I still got to berate Thames Water & other polluting water companies in front of thousands of people, + thousands more watching back on BBC.

So even if it had been an attempt at censorship it was a poor one as I still got to finish the speech.

— ʀ⎊ᴜ ʀᴇʏɴ⎊ (@RouReynolds) August 28, 2022

Later on in the day at Reading, Reynolds joined Pendulum on stage during their secret set on the Dance Stage, performing Enter Shikari hit ‘Sorry You’re Not A Winner’.

Pendulum’s secret set had been teased across the weekend, with posters displaying their logo also featuring a telephone number. When called, a message said: “Ladies and gentlemen, we understand that you have come tonight to bear witness to the sound of drum and bass. We regret to announce that this is not the case. As instead we come tonight to bring you the sonic recreation of the end of the world. Reading Festival prepare to hold your colour.”

Reading Festival concludes today, with The 1975, Halsey and Charli XCX while Bring Me The Horizon, Wolf Alice and Arctic Monkeys are set to close Leeds Festival.

Check back at NME here for the latest news, reviews, photos, interviews and more from Reading & Leeds 2022.