Leeds Festival (w/ The 1975, Sam Fender & more) Closes Festival Season with Huge Bank Holiday Weekender

A staple of the August Bank Holiday weekend calendar since the ’70s, Reading Festival and it’s sister weekender in Leeds is seen as the final blowout of the Summer Festival calendar. This year, the double-event saw headliners Billie Eilish, Sam Fender, Foals, The Killers, Imagine Dragons and The 1975 bring Summer crashing to a wild conclusion.

V13 took ourselves off to Bramham Park in Leeds and you can check out how our weekend at Leeds Festival went down right here.

Friday

Having just dropped their debut album A Call To The Void, Mancunian alt-rockers Hot Milk kicked things off for and, while the crowd were still looking relatively fresh-faced, the duo’s opener “Party on my Deathbed” could possibly have been the anthem by the time Sunday night came around. Now, festivals are all about discovering new acts and there plenty of those to be discovered and ones to watch on our list after Friday including the quite brilliant indie-pop of MUNA on the Main Stage and Ethel Cain on the Festival Republic Stage both of whom had recently been warming up crowds for boygenius.

Elsewhere pop/opera/classical singer Rina Sawayama dropped a cheeky bit of Korn into her set while British rockers Don Broco had the field absolutely bouncing with a pyro-drenched set. More new acts to add to our “Just Discovered” list including Welsh newcomer twst who puts smiles on faces with her own brand of futuristic pop while Grandmas House crank up the punk for those who want something a bit more gritty.

Wrapping up our first day, Becky Hill brings with her a polished pop show which would have been seen nowhere near a festival like this five or six years ago but is now one of the big draws. Which left it up to the two headliners to wrap up Day one. First up were Las Vegas rockers Imagine Dragons who delivered a confetti-drenched set of stadium-sized bangers like “Believer” before the masses who weren’t already camped out by the Main Stage East, hot-footed it over to grab a spot for the return to Leeds of alt-pop superstar Billie Eilish who made sure her debut UK festival headline set was one to remember.

Saturday

Day two and a few line-up changes saw rapper Lil Tjay make an appearance twenty-four hours late. Trippie Redd dropped off the line-up while the ever-energetic Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls were bumped up the bill and had the field pogoing along to their full-throttle punk rock set. Local lads Yard Act have been making a name for themselves with their unpredictable live shows so it was no surprise to see a large crowd turn out in the sunshine for the time to shine on the Main Stage. Sea Girls and You Me At Six brought bit more of a mainstream edge to the day.

A rather unusual pairing saw indie rockers The Murder Capital make a rowdy appearance on the Dance Stage while quirky Londoners The Last Dinner Party and Scottish alt-pop/rock duo Yonaka were just two of the highlights on the Festival Republic Stage. Unsurprisingly though, the not forecast blazing sunshine kept fans at the Main Stage as folk stars Wet Leg delivered a fun-packed set while Mimi Webb added her own brand of Summery pop to the day.

Over to the two headliners to finish off our day in the sun and first up were indie rock favourites Foals who delivered a suitably blazing fifteen song set which saw frontman Yannis join the crowd for “What Went Down” before the band rattled through “Two Steps, Twice” from their debut album to bring their set to blazing conclusion. Which just left Sam Fender to bring Saturday to a close with one of the biggest gigs of his career.

Throughout the day it was hard to ignore the amount of Newcastle United shirts as the Toon Army descended en masse down the motorway for his headline set. Labelled as the UK’s own Bruce Springsteen, Fender delivered a set fit for a festival headline slot as the his straight-from-the-streets stories like “The Kitchen” and “Seventeen Going Under” sounding huge. Despite a couple of stoppages for crowd problems, Fender powered through his set and, as “Hypersonic Missiles” brought the night to a close you’re left wondering where he goes from here.

Sunday

Considering the meteoric rise of Saturday’s headliner, it won’t be long before early afternoon slots like this one are a thing of the past for Liverpudlian Jamie Webster who has plenty of fans in attendance for his gritty set. Sadly, while the rain held off for the opener, a torrential downpour drenched crowds as alt-pop favourite Baby Queen bounced through edgy modern-pop anthems like “Internet Religion” and “Dream Girls”. For something a bit rougher round the edges, High Vis and Scowl cranked up the noise on the Festival Republic Stage with ferocious sets.

Despite the overcast clouds threatening to drown out the day alt-rockers Chase Atlantic brought enough pyro to blow away the rain while indie kids Easy Life laid down some chilled-out tunes as the sun started to peek through. Back on the Festival Republic Stage though, things were getting a bit more edgier again as the green-haired Zand and the wonderfully haunting tones of Mothica had us again yearning for the times when we’d have a full day of bands like this gracing the stage. It wasn’t to be though and we took our spot for the Irish lads of Inhaler who gave fans exactly what they wanted proving to be a hit with the girls crushed on the crash barrier.

Now a regular sight at Leeds and Reading, rap, hip-hop and grime was well represented this weekend with the Sunday seeing both Knucks and Central Cee pulling in big crowds. The latter coming armed with a gang of masked-up friends on stage and enough pyro to burn down the entire site and, judging by the mass exodus after his set, was a popular choice amongst the younger fans.

Drafted in to replace Lewis Capaldi, seeing The 1975 performing a headline slot at Leeds Festival is now becoming a regular thing. Paying tribute to the Scot early on in their set, Matty Healy leads the Wilmslow band through a nineteen song set, a large chunk of which sees them perform their eponymous debut album in celebration of it’s tenth anniversary. It now almost feels like the band are Reading/Leeds go to when they need someone to call on but, judging by the reaction to their set, a large portion of this crowd who were still partying hard would happily have the band back again and again.

With that our Leeds Festival and Summer Festival season came to a close. With the sounds of Brandon Flowers and The Killers wrapping up the main stage proceedings behind us, we headed for the car park, exhausted but heading home with another hatful of great memories from another truly fantastic weekend in Leeds.

Leeds Festival returns in 2024 from August 21st to 25th at Bramham Park and you can get all the ticket and line-up details here.