Tramlines 2024: “You Know, Sheffield is One of My Favourite Cities”
Written and Edited by Eve Moat
Photography by Eve Moat
What a weekend! Tramlines Festival in Sheffield landed on the beautifully sunny final weekend of July, and lived up to its reputation via its star-studded line up and electric atmosphere. Featuring headliners Paolo Nutini, Jamie T and Snow Patrol, alongside many more musicians, big and small, local and far-and-wide, Tramlines 2024 was nothing short of wonderful.
Personally, I started the Friday afternoon by going to see up-and-comer Bethany Grace, who secured her slot in the festival’s line-up by winning the public vote, and happens to be my friend from school. With my more of my friends playing in her band (Adam on bass, and Alex on guitar), as well as Toby on drums, the whole performance was so much more meaningful to me. Seeing how they have all grown since we were 11 years old is fantastic, and they have all come so far and deserve immense success. I cannot wait to see where they all go from here!
Next, I moved to go and photograph Bombay Bicycle Club, who were amazing as always and got the crowd bouncing. I guess you could say they are Always Like This.
Paolo Nutini brought the evening to a close, playing a full two hour set, which can only be praised. Having an amazing group of friends surrounding me made this experience even more incredible, and I am sure that other audience members would agree that the set felt better when with the right people. Nevertheless, Nutini had a jam-packed set filled with all different styles and created different atmospheres with each new song. I personally enjoyed his live version of ‘New Shoes’ as he gave it a new flare, despite the mixed reviews this received as some onlookers hoped for the studio-style version.
Day 2 brought many indie icons and I started my day watching the Everly Pregnant Brothers, A.K.A. Tramlines’ special guests and one of Sheffield’s musical heroes. For those new to their music, they are a parody band playing hits with their lyrics changed to be sang in the Yorkshire accent and dialect, as well as the content relating to issues affecting the north. This was followed up by me interviewing three members of the band including Pete McKee, one of the band’s founders. Interview coverage to follow.
After interviewing the band members, I managed to watch and photograph Leeds and West Yorkshire originated band English Teacher. They looked striking and sounded electrifying whilst also retaining their signature melodic and mellow sound. Calm and collected merged with hard-hitting lyrics and crashing high hats.
Over on The Library Stage, supported by Tramlines’ Pattern and Push initiative, hip-hop and RnB artist Lavelle was cooking up a storm, with many of the crowd screaming for more, photographers going mad for a snap of the up-and-comer, and her backing dancers bringing the energy to the sunny tent. The crowd were bouncing and hanging on her every word. To top it all off, she is Sheffield-based and everyone watching wanted her to succeed even more because she is local and champions the local music scene.
One of my favourite performers, for his facial expressions, energy and warm-hearted nature, was Tom Grennan. He remarked, “you know, Sheffield is one of my favourite cities”, and went on to explain how much the people of Sheffield care, the warm welcome he receives and how we’re a little crazy but put our all into festival attendance and the music we cherish. In relation to that, when he introduced the track ‘Here’, he explained that “if it was dark, I’d put a light up and that represents that person you are thinking of” to show how your friends and family are always there for you. This really showed how connected he was to the audience. My personal favourite moment was when he first arrived on stage and saw a crowd member’s sign saying ‘GILLETTE, THE BEST A MAN CAN GET’, to which he responded by singing the same line and in turn missed his que for the following song as he was so thrown off and busy laughing at the hilarious banner. Another hysterical moment was when he remarked, “I need a haircut, ‘cos my hair is in my eyes” completely randomly and unprovoked (other than that his hair was probably entering his eyes).
To round off my Saturday, I decided to watch Holly Humberstone’s full set after photographing her first few tracks. Despite my disappointment at the lack of ‘Sleep Tight’ within the set, my mind was opened to so many other brilliant songs that I hadn’t discovered previously. To share a secret, I haven’t been able to stop listening to them and they now live in my head rent free. Some of these tracks include ‘Dive’, ‘The Walls Are Way Too Thin’ and ‘Falling Asleep at the Wheel’. Humberstone’s lyrics really moved me and struck deep as I related to her words like they were about my own experiences. For example, “Just for a second your talking, but I’m just pretending you have my attention” from the aforementioned ‘Falling Asleep at the Wheel’ doesn’t just sound beautiful when sung with breathy tones and the rise and fall of the song’s melody, but takes my breath away and causes a heart-wrenching feeling in my chest especially if I myself sing it due to how much I relate to this line. I connect with these lyrics, not because of my boredom in past relationships, but the other person causing my brain to have so much to think about that I didn’t have the capacity to be paying attention to what they were saying in the moment. “Come on and wake me up” reminds me of my friends having to open my eyes to reality when I had fallen asleep at the wheel. Humberstone therefore shows through her lyrics that people interpret these fragments of language in different ways and can be helped and healed by their different connotations. I had no idea how much I would enjoy (and needed to hear) her set, but I am so glad I managed to catch it (and on camera too).
The final day was packed with artists of different genres and eras, bringing in a wide variety of festival goers of all different ages and musical likes. Lime Garden brought a grungy-feel to their set, with the crowd being intrigued by their unique sound. ’90s to early ’00s style sunglasses adorned by lead singer Chloe Howard and drummer Annabel Whittle gave the piece a futuristic aesthetic whilst reminding people of a style from a few decades ago. That same day was their guitarist Leila Deeley’s birthday, and she looked very into the music and into her chords. As did Tippi Morgan (bass), with green lights all round and a spotlight brightening herself and her bass. All round, the crowd loved them and they should be proud of the performance as it looked and sounded great.
Example created an example for hip-hop, house and EDM artists at Tramlines 2024, playing hits from throughout his career in the British sunshine. Of course, everyone was jumping, including Example, who had to dry off with a towel not long into his set. This provided for a change in pace on the Main Stage, and fit the vibe as the sun had come out.
Briefly seeing the Sheffield-originated band The Human League, with frontman Phil Oakey remarking, “I used to live on that road just over there” when he lived in Hillsborough. It was like they were coming home, and choruses of “don’t you want me baby” made sure the band knew that. They were followed by Snow Patrol, both of which were enjoyed by the masses.
To finish off the weekend, Leeds local band Yard Act took to the stage and wowed with new material that’s fresher and more different than ever. The performance shone with their backing vocalists and dancers, who were dressed in trench coats, just like the band’s song. Here at The Gryphon we love Yard Act as our local band who we’ve covered since they started out. This performance truly showed why they’ve shot to success the way they have. We can’t wait to see what they do next!
Tramlines 2024 was a major success! Roll on Tramlines 2025!
