Six Highlights From Day Two at LEEDS FESTIVAL 2018 [Photos & Show Review]

Let’s cut to the chase here, we had a great first day at Leeds Festival so we headed to the site for day two with plenty to look forward to including a secret set by Sheffield rock heavyweights Bring Me The Horizon. Blessed with awesome weather for the best part of the day, the likes of pop-punk trio Waterparks, punk rockers The Used and Underoath smashed out brilliant sets while Wolf Alice continued to go from strength to strength with their deserved Radio 1 Stage headline slot. Here are six more highlights from day two.

1. We’re a little bit obsessed with Piff The Magic Dragon
Piff The Magic Dragon burst onto our screens a few years ago on America’s Got Talent. Now a permanent fixture in Las Vegas, Piff is a household name across the world even having been invited to support Mumford and Sons on a selection of their US shows. Back for his second consecutive year at Reading/Leeds, the alternative stage is packed out as, accompanied by Mr.Piffles, Piff treats fans to another suitably bonkers half an hour of laugh-a-minute magic. A must see for everybody!

2. Indie rock bands win the battle of the genre’s again
Another day another battle between rock and grime with the guitar bands coming out on top again with The Kooks and The Wombats both showing that, no matter how hard the rest of the world may try, when it comes to guitar-based rock, us Brits have it licked. Like The Courteeners and The Vaccines twenty-four hours ago, both bands drew massive crowds to the main stage as fans of big, bouncy hooks flocked to get a slice of indie rock from two more of the UK’s favourites.

3. 2019’s Festival Headliner? Look no further than Bring Me The Horizon
Their secret set quickly became a not-so-secret set so, unsurprisingly, the Radio 1 Stage on Saturday afternoon was packed to the rafters as the Sheffield rockers made their return following the release of their new single “Mantra”. If you’ve seen the band in recent years you’ll know what a quality band they turned into but, watching the band here on Saturday, things seemed to have shifted up a notch or two. Fronted by the heavily tattooed Ollie Sykes, Bring Me The Horizon showed, thanks to an astonishing performance, exactly why they’re being touted as future festival headliners.

4. The girls rocked hard at Leeds Festival
People are always quick to moan about the lack of female acts on festival line-ups but, as the Leeds line-up showed, there was plenty of female musical and comedy talent out there. Across all stages there was a solid female presence on the bill from LA punks The Regrettes opening the main stage to the punk hardcore of the Petrol Girls propping up the early starters on the Lock-Up stage. Elsewhere there was the eclectic pop of Rae Morris right through to Maggie Rogers and Radio 1 Stage headliner Wolf Alice. The girls didn’t just rock the music stages either with both Tiff Stevenson and Shazia Mirza providing the laughs on the Alternative Stage.

5. Post Malone is a genuine superstar
LA-based rapper Post Malone recently jammed with rock royalty in the form of Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler. That alone makes him alright in our eyes although, come the end of his super-chilled out set, Malone has well and truly won us over with his “I’m lovin’ every moment of this” smile, his laid back tunes and his blend of rock, hip-hop and rap. The fact that the sun blazed down on the main stage as Malone performed shows just how little can go wrong for this man at the moment.

6. Fall Out Boy party hard in Leeds with a sizzling headliner set
After the Kings Of Leon the night before, it was upto Fall Out Boy to bring a rock party to Leeds Festival as they closed out the Saturday night with a suitably sizzling headliner performance. Exploding onto the stage under a cloud of streamers, the American rock act battled with sound gremlins to deliver a top drawer performance packed with classics like “Sugar We’re Going Down”, “Dance Dance” and the appropriately named “Thks Fr Th Mmrs”. Pete Wentz strutted about the stage brandishing an impressive guitar/flamethrower unit and, with the rest of the set littered with pyro and fireworks, this was certainly a night full of mmrs for their huge fanbase.