It’s twenty years since I last came to Leeds Festival and it’s fair to say that a lot has changed in that time.
The venue itself for starters: it was at Temple Newsam back in the day but has found a permanent home at Bramham Park near Wetherby since then and it seems to be thriving here. The shuttle bus to get here from Leeds City Centre is well organised and gets here pretty quickly. A delay in the doors to the arena opening has me getting a little twitchy as I’m keen to catch a band on early, but finally they open and we’re in.
The layout inside is great; I walked from one end of the arena to the press area in 10 minutes, passing the different stages along the way, multitudes of food and drink options, fairground rides and clothes stalls. I’m relieved I’m in and settled early doors, as high on my list for the weekend to see are Minneapolis five-piece, She’s Green, who are starting to gain some traction after a couple of really good releases.
If anyone was here for Thursday night and stumbled into The Canopy stage unaware of what to expect around Friday lunchtime, then they’ll have had any hangover shaken out of them fairly quickly once the hazy guitars kicked in. They only have twenty minutes to play a handful of tracks, but they leave their mark. Think Slowdive and early Ride as reference points and you won’t be far off. Early days for such lofty comparisons but everything points to them being the real deal, shoegazy goodness for the win.
Westside Cowboy are up next for me in The Ballroom. I’m a longtime fan and I’ve written about them a couple of times recently, but an opening duo of recent single ‘Kick Stones (The Boys)’ and the “weeeeeestside cowboooooyyyy” screamed intro to I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Love (Until I Met You)’ are the perfect way to get a festival crowd onside and they do just that, blowing through a brilliant set under the billowing red drapes and chandeliers of the tent set up.
The vibe of the music might be different with Holly Humberstone on nearby stage The Gallery, but she’s equally enjoyable. A really good voice, variety in the pace and style of the songs and clearly a person comfortable on stage as she gives a confident, ballerina-esque performance in her elegant onstage movements, I clearly need to give her albums a proper listen, although I’ll have to wait for a digital version of unreleased track ‘Too Cute To Be Lonely’ that she treats the crowd to in her set.
It’s the same stage for Julia Wolf, not someone I’m familiar with and not someone I’d class as my style of music necessarily, but that’s the beauty of festivals like this with stacked line ups – you can take a punt on someone you wouldn’t normally buy a ticket for with no risk. I’m pleased with this particular punt. Wolf delivers a classy mix of heavy-ish rock with a vocal that skips on a line somewhere between pop and operatic, ‘Defend’ and ‘Life Is a Struggle’ are two highlights, with the former even throwing an acoustic guitar intro into the mix.
Blossoms are another band that I’ve not maybe listened to as much as I possibly should have done, but they show in their set why they are a mainstage (The Grid as it’s called) act. Frontman Tom Ogden is everything you’d expect; he can sing, obviously, works the crowd and likes to give out anecdotes between songs. As he does with ‘Additional Driver’ that he introduces by telling us about a surreal, fever-dream style incident with the police after a car accident. This went on to inspire the song. They play all the big tracks, it turns out I know more songs by them than I thought I knew and liked and after a joyful set that even brings the sun out for large periods, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot of this crowd snapping up tickets for their newly announced date at Leeds First Direct Arena on the 3rd December in support of their forthcoming 6th album Wedding Cake.
I catch a bit of Violet Grohl in The Canopy. Obviously, her name and the leg up it gives lends a certain weight of expectation on her. She’s on a small stage with a decent crowd and she can definitely sing. The criticism I would have of her is the same as her Dad’s band – beyond the first couple of albums that Foo Fighters released, it feels a bit formulaic. She isn’t yet owning the stage either – standing chewing gum while singing means she doesn’t punch very powerfully against better shows on the day, but fair play for a decent cover of The Breeders.
Now if you want someone who owns the stage and has an audience eating out of the palm of her hands, then it’s time for Florence and the Machine at The Grid. Yes, she’s much further into her career and has the hits to back her up, but this is stagecraft, the vocals are fantastic, she’s theatrical and flowing and the set balances the old and new perfectly. ‘Say My Name’ and ‘Raise Me Up’ sound massive, especially when she goes straight from the latter in to ‘You’ve Got The Love’. It turns out it’s her birthday today as well and after she lets that slip (three times), the crowd serenade her with a rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ although it’s fair to say it’s not as tuneful as her singing!
Before she plays ‘Buckle’ she tells the crowd “I shouldn’t really be singing this song now as I’m too old to be singing about someone not texting me back at this age but you love it so much I have no choice”. She’s right. The crowd sing along and are with her all the way through it. The biggest reaction though amongst the huge crowd is for ‘Dog Days Are Over‘.
I’ve retreated further towards the back and when the opening bars of this strike up, I witness teenagers sprinting down the hill to get into the crowd to witness it; it’s a strange phenomenon to witness, being as they’ve missed the rest of her set, but if anyone deserves it, it’s Ms Welch. It is her birthday after all, you know.
While Florence would have been a more than suitable headliner on the mainstage, I skip the actual headliner to instead take in one more act I have very little knowledge of – Paris Paloma. Once again, the gamble pays off, she’s the closing act today in The Ballroom and she twists, twirls and occasionally strums her way through a really enjoyable set. ‘Good Boy‘ has Self Esteem vibes about it in the messaging and style, while I also think of Chvrches and Olivia Rodrigo in places, too. None of them is ever a bad thing in my mind, but she is very definitely her own voice and a star in the making in her own right.
Her beautifully put rant against AI and speaking up for the arts, artists and musicians prior to ‘Miyazaki’ (a song inspired by the namesake Hayao Miyazaki) is absolutely on the money and reminds everyone we should all appreciate the arts.
I feel I and thousands of others most certainly have today.
Main image: The Canopy stage.
