Fred again.. will perform the final show of his sold-out eight-day residency at The Shrine Auditorium on Thursday night. After his eighth show, Fred again.. will earn the title of most consecutive shows ever performed by a single artist at the space in its 97-year history, according to Billboard.
Fred again..,whose real name is Fred Gibson, is a UK-based producer who has worked with artists such as Ed Sheeran, Stormzy, Burna Boy and Aitch. He launched his solo career in 2020, and his fame skyrocketed since.
The eight-day stop at The Shrine was part of the tour that Fred again.. announced in June. He visited various cities worldwide starting in September, including London, Paris, New York and Los Angeles. Prior to this, he performed at Coachella to nearly 100,000 fans in April.
“This is my second time seeing him. I actually saw him at Coachella as well,” said Isabella Paladines, a senior business administration major. “I definitely listen to his music and when he DJs in town, I sometimes make the time to go.”
Around 40,000 tickets were sold across the eight nights at the Shrine, each filled to capacity.
Given the venue’s convenient location next to USC’s campus, many USC students attended the shows. Some even bought tickets for multiple nights, including Bella Raiszadeh, a health and human science major who attended three of the shows, and Arno Abrahamian, a geodesign major who attended two.
“I literally thought it was surreal. Everything is so raw when you’re there listening to him,” Raiszadeh said. “Every single time I turned around, someone was crying. So I feel like it’s very, very emotional. It’s like a safe place.”
“Everyone was in tune with. Everyone was having a great time,” Abrahamian said. “He really had a way of kind of captivating the audience for being just like a house performer.”
Thursday night’s 8:30 p.m. performance is scheduled to be the final show of the tour.
“I went to opening night and last night, and I would say that last night was a lot better,” said Abrahamian. “Over time he just got the hang of how to perform in front of this L.A. crowd, and I think he just became more comfortable performing, and he did a lot better on the job.”