Leeds Festival: a changing identity

Written by Will Cooper
Edited by Eve Moat
Photography by Emie Grimwood

Leeds Fest is unique. The Yorkshire-half of the twinned event is one of the biggest music festivals in
the UK, regularly bringing in nearly 100,000 attendees across the August Bank Holiday Weekend. It
has become an infamous rite of passage for UK festivalgoers; anyone who has been before will be
familiar with the chaotic events of Sunday night, where bonfires and Purge-esque carnage has
become a regular feature of the festival. Since its inaugural event in 1999, Leeds Fest has built up a
formidable reputation across the European festival scene. However, since the cancellation of the
festival in 2020, its distinctive character has started to lose its edge.

Across the last 24 years, a mix of huge exclusive headliners and the best up-and-coming
underground talent ensured that Leeds Fest was the place to be for rock fans. Iconic sets from the
likes of Green Day and Foo Fighters not only set exceptionally high standards for future lineups, but
also drew in a core rock-focused fan-base for the festival. Recent lineups, however, have drifted away
from the heavier bands that you would once expect to see on stage at Bramham Park, instead
concentrating on more mainstream artists. Take this year’s headliners, for example – American pop
sensations Billie Eilish and Imagine Dragons epitomise the change in direction the festival has taken
in the last few years.

These changes been exemplified by the new format of the last three iterations of the festival, where
six headliners were spread across two main stages. While great in theory, it simply results in the
booking budget being spread more thinly – such dilution of headline talent won’t necessarily
produce a more exciting lineup. Would you rather form a lineup around six great headliners, or three
outstanding big-name headline acts?

This shift towards a broad church approach has, as you would expect, left some fans longing for a
more “traditional” Leeds lineup. A quick look in the replies to any tweet from the official R&L Festival
Twitter account will reveal cries for the return of bands like Rage Against the Machine and Red Hot
Chilli Peppers. Moving away from the traditional rock-focused lineups of the 2000s and early 2010s,
in favour of a wider range of musical genres, has seen a loss of the festival’s traditional identity. This
transformation was perhaps inevitable, given that rock music is just not as popular among young
people as it once was.

Such a change is not inherently negative, despite what a vocal minority may try to tell you on
Twitter. Mainstream artists are mainstream for a reason – they’re popular! Some of the biggest
names in pop music, like Billie Eilish, have been attracted to the festival in the last couple of years;
Leeds Fest has clearly maintained its status to some degree. Since 2020, the festival organisers have
a lot to be proud of, namely the ever-increasing gender diversity of their lineups, and successfully
navigating new challenges posed by COVID-19 and Brexit.

Nevertheless, the festival remains in a tricky spot. The last three lineups have lacked coherence – it
is difficult to effectively bring together such a broad range of music. By trying to appeal to
everyone’s taste, they risk pleasing nobody. Simultaneously satisfying fans of rock, pop, grime,
house, metal, and drum and bass is impossible. Festival goers are beginning to vote with their feet –
this year’s event was the first not to sell out in recent memory.

Without a clear target audience, Leeds Festival is at risk of getting left behind if their scattered
approach continues to deliver weak lineups. Alternative festivals are growing in size and stature, and
can offer more focused and consistent lineups. If you’re into heavy rock music, why would you go to
Leeds instead of Download Festival? If you want “proper” dance music, Creamfields or Boomtown is a
more appealing proposition. To remain one of the key institutions of the UK music scene, Leeds Fest needs to create its own distinct identity once again. This is not to say the festival needs to revert to
what it once was; rather, the organisers need to commit to a clear direction for Leeds Festival to take in
the future.