LEEDS FESTIVAL 2024 — DAY ONE
Day one at Leeds Festival 2024 at Bramham Park, Leeds.
with performances from Liam Gallagher, Catfish & The Bottlemen and More!
Despite a few minor complications, Leeds Festival kicked things off on the friday with performances from Pendulum, 21 Savage, Catfish & The Bottlemen - amongst others.
Waking up on Friday to the horrendous noise of wind outside the tent normally wouldn't affect things too much, however this wasn't normal wind. Storm Lillian ravaged through Bramham Park bringing near 60-70 mph winds and a whole host of carnage: tents flying away, fences and light poles falling and the complete annihilation of two stages in the main arena. There wasn’t much to do here apart from brave the storm (literally) and by the time 2pm rolled around and the arena had re-opened, it was fair to say that spirits had been deflated.
Note: due to the damage from Storm Lillian, Friday ran a heavily reduced schedule with three stages not in use and many acts already canceled.
Pendulum
The first major act we got a chance to see was electronic rock act Pendulum. I’ve been hoping to catch them for a while and was happy their set wasn’t affected by the earlier antics. Rob Swire isn’t the best vocalist in the world but he works well over the pulsating sounds of DnB they produce with live instruments.
Bursting out to their most recent track ‘Napalm’ set the scene for what this near hour set would be: pure unadulterated fun. Whatever deflated spirits had been earlier on in the day were replaced with excitement at our first taste of live music.
‘Tarantula’ was played for (apparently) the last time before the exciting chorus of ‘Watercolor’ brought the Aussies set to a close - lifting spirits after a very difficult morning.
21 Savage
Well, more accurately: Marc B ft 21 Savage. This was one of the sets I was most excited to see at Leeds Festival this year. I actually saw 21 the day the lineup was announced and enjoyed his performance then. But it’s safe to say I can’t say the same here.
What should’ve been a quick warmup by DJ/MC Marc B became a near hour showcase of how to kill time, and to be honest he did well considering the circumstances - keeping the crowd energy high playing a mix of big pop anthems and recent rap hits. It was funny to watch him constantly look back hoping for 21 Savage to finally appear and the panic in his eyes increasing.
By the time 21 Savage did appear it was nearly an hour after his scheduled time, and after half-assing his way through a couple of Drake collaborations as pyro and smoke went off, followed by recent hit ‘Redrum’ he left the stage to a chorus of boos and chants of “we want our money back”. 21 Savage? More like 21 Minutes.
Note: apparently Savages on stage time clocks in under ten minutes!
Catfish And The Bottlemen
I’ve waited three years to see Catfish And The Bottlemen, and there was a moment in that time where we all thought Catfish were finished. Causing shockwaves when they got announced as a headliner for R&L 2024 their headline set promised to be a return to form. From the moment the echoes of The Beatles classic ‘Helter Skelter’ blared across Bramham Park and the quartet waltzed onto stage, the atmosphere was palpable. Kicking things off with ‘Longshot’ it didn’t take long for the crowd to be singing every word back to Van and Co.
The setlist here hadn’t changed much from their last time headlining in 2021 but it didn’t need to. Featuring all the fan favorites and hits they powered through with thick riffs and loud singalongs - it would’ve been nice to hear ‘Showtime’ on the set (come one, how do you not sing “when i headline Leeds I’ll be back” in Leeds).
You could tell Van was having the time of his life on stage as well, a far cry from their performance years ago which (by all accounts) wasn’t the band's finest - rumors of dissension in the band seemed to ring true. As Cocoon closed and the band left the stage, leaving Van on his own, the crowd began to sing the chorus back to him, and as tears formed in his eyes as he left the stage one thing stayed true: they’ve still got it!
Liam Gallagher
After a very long and chaotic day it was time for our second Friday headliner - the iconic Liam Gallagher performing the ‘Definitely Maybe’ anniversary set. I’ve caught this set before this year but it sounded great on a festival mainstage. Roaring straight into the set with ‘Rock n Roll Star’ the sing-alongs never stopped coming. LG dedicated ‘Up In The Sky’ to “all the tents that blew away” before dedicating ‘Half The World Away’ to his dog. Liam’s swagger is undeniable and his signature stance may be something of a meme now but as he belts out the Oasis classics he sounds on top form.
‘Live Forever’ remains an all time incredible tune and even though I’m not too fond of ‘I Am The Walrus’ as a closer its importance cannot be understated. Liam is a bonafide solo star now, with an undefinable charisma on stage and a back catalogue of hits it’s no wonder he’s headlined Reading and Leeds twice. But i'm sure the tunes will sound better with the band back together next year eh?
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