Reading Festival 2025 witnessed a surprising and crowd-pleasing moment when Hollywood actress Rebel Wilson joined indie rock band The Kooks on stage for an impromptu cover of Coolio’s Gangsta’s Paradise.
The Pitch Perfect star, currently in the area filming a new movie, reportedly contacted The Kooks ahead of their main stage performance, expressing interest in joining them for a song. While Wilson is a longtime fan of the band, she admitted to frontman Luke Pritchard that there’s only one song she knows all the lyrics to — and it’s not by The Kooks.
I JUSY WATCHED REBEL WILSON SING GANGSTA’S PARADISE WITH THE KOOKS????😭😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/kFxGyYu8bZ
— lottie ❀ (@ihrtsadiee) August 22, 2025
A music insider shared, “Rebel loves The Kooks, but lyrics aren’t really her thing — except when it comes to Gangsta’s Paradise. So that’s what they played.”
And then The Kooks brought out Rebel Wilson to cover 'Gangsta's Paradise', I suppose. #RandL25 pic.twitter.com/Sd7puLsrev
— Andrew Trendell (@AndrewTrendell) August 22, 2025
The moment arrived mid-set when Pritchard told the crowd they were about to “film a scene from a movie” and introduced Wilson as “pop star Tazzi Young,” her character from the film she’s working on. Wilson, dressed in a torn shirt over a laced black top, took the mic and suggested the Coolio classic to roaring cheers.
Despite Pritchard’s playful protest that they’d never performed the song before, the band launched into Gangsta’s Paradise with Wilson leading the vocals. The audience responded with enthusiasm, clapping and singing along. Wilson added to the spectacle by spraying a bottle of what appeared to be champagne before drinking from it and shouting, “Let’s get drunk!” before exiting the stage.
The Kooks’ performance included a mix of fan favourites like Naive, She Moves In Her Own Way, and Ooh La, drawing a strong reaction from the packed crowd. Wilson’s surprise appearance only added to the energy of a day that also featured performances from Chappell Roan, Hozier, Rudimental, and Bloc Party.
The moment has sparked speculation about a potential future collaboration between Wilson and the band.
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