Roan emerged on stage shortly after 7pm in an ornate crimson outfit, topped with black “bat wing” fascinator that fans immediately dubbed “Chappell Crow-an”.
Skipping across the stage, she opened with three of her most upbeat songs – Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl, Femininomenon and After Midnight – only pausing to shed layers of her elaborate costume.
Over the next 90 minutes, she played practically every song she’s released, including the early release Love Me Anyway and this year’s standalone tracks The Giver and Subway.
Normally, the reliance on album tracks and deep cuts would be a bad sign for a festival headliner – but Roan wasn’t stretching out thin material.
Somehow, nearly every song from Midwest Princess has become a modern anthem, elevating the album to the status of classics like Thriller, Rumours and Back To Black.
Highlights included Hot To Go, with its viral YMCA-style dance routine; and the snarky comeuppance anthem My Kink Is Karma, which Roan dedicated “to my ex who is in the crowd tonight”.
But it was ballads like Casual, Coffee and Picture You that really showcased the star’s voice – all country twang and breathy vocal flips, that puts her on a higher plane than her pop contemporaries.
The constrictions of the festival slot meant sadly there was no room for Roan’s trademark banter.
A highlight of her current tour has frequently come during The Giver – where she pauses the song to read out messages from audience members about their hopeless exes. (Last week in Oslo, she got fans to boo a man called Daniel, who had cheated on his partner “twice in the same Burger King parking lot”.)
Sadly, there was no repeat at Reading, but the singer’s charisma and stage presence were never in doubt.