Leeds Festival

The buses crammed with welly clad campers slowly emerging, one after the other off of the bendy roads leading into the festival site. Despite the misting, relentless rain, spirits were high, with an electricity in the air that no storm could dampen. A wave of people, saying goodbye to exams, work and responsibility for one weekend. Here to dance, to mosh, to sing their hearts out to old favourites and discover new talent in the vast labyrinth of stages on offer to explore.

The excitement has been building all week, and it's easy to see why. Leeds lives up to the hype. With the name of one of the largest cities in the North, you could be forgiven for assuming the festival might boast a more urban vibe. Yet, just a short shuttle bus ride from the station and you're suddenly faced with beautiful Yorkshire scenery, where the Leeds festival site is based in Branham Park. Waiting inside the gates, with the big tops and beer tents, its own precious and unique eco system for one weekend of the year. At the heart of that? An enthusiastic crowd of tens of thousands of people, willing to make the most of the last real weekend of summer (come whatever weather) and an eclectic mix of new bands, alongside of once-in-a-lifetime headliners.

For this year's edition, I can't see how anyone could be disappointed with the line-up. With extraordinary stage shows from the likes of Biffy Clyro, and an explosive, vibrant set from the Foals which had people singing and stomping in the rain. Over to the high level live discoveries such as Cage the Elephant, where you walk away with a new favourite song and whole spotify album back-catalogue to now go and pillage.

Great comedy sets from Bill Bailey and Russell Howard and many other A-list comedians provided light relief during the showers. And this is before even getting to the big names such as the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, who gave the best possible closure to the festival imaginable. Needless to say, it’s been hard to stand still, even when faced with the mud.

In addition to the already fomo-inducing list of acts and stages, the Relentless stage and it's line-up was particularly intriguing. Whilst Leeds festival has in the past been notoriously associated with being mainly rock and indie focussed, in recent years dance venues such as the Relentless stage have gone from strength to strength.

Withdrawn in an atmospheric, almost magical forest, a geometrically shaped arena blasting some of the best dance and electronic music on offer at the festival. With the likes of Luke Hassan and Hannah Wants both delivering energetic and memorable performances. Nothing there seemed to stop the party animals, with over 14,000 people trudging through the mud each night to get to see the artists and experience the buzzing and magnetic atmosphere of the woodland stage.
The diversity of the acts, the wide open spaces and the feeling of freedom from the real world, for a few days of muddy responsibility-less bliss. There's a definite art to the festivals that have been running for years and have the right balance between the solid infrastructure of carefully selected, trusted stage line-ups, with the new and exciting options and experiences on hand. And Leeds certainly hits that. No matter who you went to see, or who you ended up cheering on, the smiles and applause resonated so much louder than the thousands of pairs of wellies splashing in the mud. I will definitely be back.