Indie Excellence: Live at Leeds In The Park Announce 2024 Line-up

Written by Will Cooper
Edited by Eve Moat

As temperatures drop and the nights draw in, festival season feels a million miles away; dreams of warm, sun-soaked days of drinking and good music may seem far-fetched. But fear not – the countdown to summer can officially begin, as festival line-ups begin to be teased and revealed. Live at Leeds In The Park made their first announcement ahead of the event’s return to Temple Newsam in May next year. 

2024 will see the festival held for the 14th time, with the ‘In the Park’ iteration returning for a third year, in addition to its longstanding inner-city counterpart. Wunderhorse, The Last Dinner Party, and Shame took over the city centre in October’s Live at Leeds In The City, drawing in big crowds across Leeds’ best small venues – a high bar has been set for the summer event. 

Having forged a reputation as one of the best value-for-money day festivals, a strong lineup was inevitable. Sticking with a distinctly-indie theme, The Kooks were announced as headliners. Despite releasing a new album last year, the Brighton-based band will be sure to deliver a set full of noughties indie goodness, with iconic tunes ‘Naïve’ and ‘She Moves in Her Own Way’ guaranteed to get the crowd grooving. 

Following in the same vein, local cult heroes The Cribs will be returning to Temple Newsam, having supported The Music’s reunion gig there in June last year. Declan McKenna helps to balance the old and new, with the emerging indie-pop star expected to play the festival off the back of his upcoming third studio album What Happened to the Beach? 

Future Islands, the American synthpop four-piece, will also have a new album to celebrate – People Who Aren’t There Anymore is set for release in the new year. Festival-favourite Melanie C will be on hand to deliver a typically energetic performance, with plenty of Spice Girls songs thrown in to keep the crowd singing along. 

Any appetite for summery indie-rock will easily be satisfied. Mystery Jets, Vistas, and The Academic are well-renowned for their live performances, filled with plenty of catchy choruses and fast-paced guitar riffs.

The event will also showcase an array of up-and-coming talent from all corners of the UK. After supporting Inhaler on their EU tour, Nieve Ella and her soft indie-pop sound will be a must-see – she could be deserving of a more prominent spot on the lineup by May.

If guitars aren’t your thing, the spoken word hip-hop of Antony Szmierek could draw you in – go and see if the comparisons to The Streets are deserved.  With many more acts to be announced, the scene is set at Temple Newsam for an unmissable one-day musical celebration.

Live at Leeds in the Park will take place on Saturday 25th May 2024. If this line-up has tempted you, tickets are on sale now on liveatleeds.com for just under £70.

LIVE: The Royston Club Flourish at The Wardrobe

Written by Will Cooper
Edited by Eve Moat

There’s something quite special about The Royston Club. As an unashamed lover of some summery indie rock, the sweet nostalgia produced by the Wrexham quartet just seems to hit the spot. Their infectious sound persists throughout the band’s debut album, Shaking Hips and Crashing Cars, released in June this year. Made up of re-recorded versions of early singles and new tracks, this new album and subsequent intimate record store tour generated plenty of excitement within their fanbase, leading to the UK portion of their headline tour completely selling out.

Headed by frontman Tom Faithfull, The Royston Club have been on a roll this year. The band kicked off 2023 with the release of several singles from their upcoming album, followed by some big shows in support of Two Door Cinema Club and The Academic. The Welsh four-piece have been no strangers to Leeds either; they played Millenium Square in support of indie-juggernauts The Wombats in July, as well as closing out the summer at Leeds Festival. After peaking at 16th in the album charts, a sold-out tour is the cherry on top of a thrilling year for the indie rockers.

A night at The Wardrobe set the scene for the sixth night of their tour. Support was provided by Overpass, who warmed the crowd up with a loud, fast-paced set – ‘3AM’ and the catchy ‘Otherside of Midnight’ stood out in what was an unrelenting performance. Soon after, The Royston Club entered the stage and immediately burst into ‘Blisters’, the lead single off of Shaking Hips and Crashing Cars. Defeatist lyrics are contrasted with bouncing riffs and a groovy bassline, with a singalong chorus to match, making for the ideal opener to set the tone for the rest of the set.

Such themes of nostalgic lost love bleed through most of the band’s songs, continuing in ‘Shallow Tragedy’; Tom and songwriting guitarist Ben Matthias shared an intimate moment over the same mic during the relief-ridden bridge, belting out “I don’t mean to be so crude, it’s what you drive me to!” The show continued with a blend of old and new, as the 2019 debut single ‘Shawshank’ was followed by new album opener ‘The Deep End’ and its relentless drumbeat, reminiscent of The Strokes or second-album Fontaines DC. The Wardrobe’s low ceilings and sunken pit allowed Tom’s powerful vocals and the band’s faultless instrumentation to flourish.

A rousing rendition of ‘Cherophobe’ dropped the pace and energy of the crowd down. Although lacking the orchestral backing of the studio version, the performance gave the crowd a much-needed breather before the final three songs of the evening. Fan-favourite ‘Mrs Narcissistic’ was the first of the strong trio; warm and rosy riffs complemented cutting lyrics, that just beg to be screamed back at the band. The catchiest chorus of the night followed in ‘I’m a Liar’; ladened with driving drums, it has all the hallmarks of an absolute indie classic. This perfectly led on to ‘Mariana’, a festival-ready closing track. Scathing lyrics reminisce about whirlwind summer romances, crudely demanding to know “Why are you so f***ing dim?” This marked the end of a polished performance from the young band – such precision that’s truly beyond their years.

The hour-long set absolutely flew by, leaving fans wanting more; a sense of excitement lingered, as I wondered if that was merely a taste of what was to come in the future. The next time The Royston Club return to Leeds, a bigger venue will almost certainly be waiting for them.

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.

Credit: @musicthroughemiescamera on Instagram