Festival season 2023 kicks off with Live at Leeds: In the Park
The sun is out, the pasty white legs, bucket hats and vintage England shirts are back on the fields… it can mean only one thing: festival season is back! This bank holiday weekend saw the triumphant return of Live at Leeds: In the Park, the sister festival to the long-running Live at Leeds: In the City (which is set to take place on October 14th this year). Admittedly, the line-up this year is somewhat lacklustre, and unfortunately dominated by white male acts, the Temple Newsham all-dayer still boasted the likes of The Hives, Two Door Cinema Club and a host of other acts sure to start off festival season 2023 with a bang!
One of the first acts at the festival were Brighton-based Opus Kink, who have gained notoriety for their explosive live shows – including previous sets at Live at Leeds: In the City 2022 and, more recently, at Belgrave’s Dark Arts Festival. In all honesty, Opus Kink did no favours for the rest of the bands set to play throughout the day; they are an incredibly hard band to follow! Masters of genre hybridity, the group rattled through a set of post-punk-meets-jazz bangers in the midday sunshine. Although the full extent of the raw energy and noise present within the Kink’s smaller shows was somewhat lost within a festival setting, the group still managed to connect with the crowd – which was unfairly sparce, owing to queues at the gates – and get people dancing early on. As was mentioned by frontman Angus Rogers during the set, the band had to shoot off to Bristol for a set at Dot-to-Dot Festival soon after, which likely explains why the band were billed so early at Live at Leeds!
The Opus Kink set was played at Live at Leeds’s ‘Dork Presents’ stage; dual stages allowing for no gaps in-between sets. This dynamic staging allowed for maximum music consumption, but also some odd juxtaposition. Take, for instance, Belfast noise-punk group Enola Gay. The four-piece featured within their blistering set, the song ‘PTS.DUP’, the lead single taken from their upcoming album. The track is a furious, gut-wrenching indictment of sectarianism and the DUP in the North of Ireland, which was inspired following a sectarian attack on one of the band members. To go from the anger and heartbreak of that track immediately to the bubble-gum-punk of Panic Shack singing about ‘Meal Deals’ and ‘The Ick’ on the other Dork stage, without any time to process Enola’s set, was incredibly jarring – light and shade, I suppose.
The rest of the day was characterised by dazzling sunshine, good food and a great atmosphere. It would be all too easy to spend all day laying on a bean bag, basking in the heat, were it not for the abundance of great live music occurring from all angles. Notable sets included YouTuber James Marriott, Kate Nash, CMAT and Deadletter – the latter also appearing at the ‘Dork Presents’ stage for a mid-afternoon slot. Deadletter are often compared to Opus Kink, Rogers even introduced their set with ‘Hello, we are Deadletter’, much to the confusion of the audience. Although Deadletter’s set paled in comparison to that of Opus Kink, the group put on a fun, energetic and engaging show. Who knew that post-punk could be made noticeably better with the inclusion of a horn section? X-Ray Spex were ahead of their time.
Ultimately, however good any other band at the festival were, they were playing for second. As soon as legendary Swedish rock ‘n’ roll band The Hives took to the Rolling Stone big top for a headline set, all other sets fell by the wayside. After their rise to fame in the garage rock revival of the early 00s, The Hives quickly grew a reputation as being one of the finest live bands around. In contrast to their live shows, however, the band have been fairly quiet since the release of their 2012 album, Lex Hives. Although there have been sporadic signs of life within the past eleven years, including the release of the Third Man-released single ‘I’m Alive’ in 2019 and a ‘Live at Third Man Records’ album in 2020, the group are now back on the scene and set to release their sixth studio album, The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons, in August of this year. Launching in to their first song of the set, The Hives demolished any sense of apprehension about their return. They were as loud, chaotic and wonderfully energetic as they have ever been! Their incredible set featured ‘golden hits’ like ‘Main Offender’ and their much beloved single ‘Hate to Say I Told You So’ as well as more recent tracks and a handful of songs from the aforementioned new album. The tunes were interspersed with the chaotic ramblings of frontman Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, whose stage presence is night and day from his usual personality; as those who attended the group’s signing at the Crash Records tent were able to witness first-hand. With more festival dates planned for the rest of the year, as well as an arena tour with Arctic Monkeys, The Hives are well and truly back! Let us all hope they never leave us again.
Although the festival officially ended with a main stage headline from Two Door Cinema Club, their set felt more like a cool-down after the rock ‘n’ roll epiphany of The Hives’ set. Overall, though, this year’s Live at Leeds: In the Park was a fantastic success, with the majority of problems which arose at their inaugural festival last year rectified. The festival season is upon us, it is sure to be long and prosperous and, for many, it started at Temple Newsham with Live at Leeds. Roll on next year!
Fortunately, there is not long to wait until the next Live at Leeds festival, with the ‘In the City’ counterpart set to take place on October 14th. Tickets for Live at Leeds: In the City are available now, and the initial line-up announcement includes the likes of Wunderhorse, The Last Dinner Party and The Mysterines.
