Leeds Fest: A Review
On 29th August, I was lucky enough to attend the Sunday of Leeds Festival. Having never been to a festival, I didn't know what to expect. However, it was an amazing experience.
Act Reviews:
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Easy Life - Easy Life were one of the highlights of my day; despite the early time of their set - they were all full of energy and visibly happy to be there. The set was energetic and entertaining all the way through. Their best songs, in my opinion were 'Daydreams', 'Peanut Butter', 'Ocean View' and 'Nightmares' - as these were the songs where the crowd was the most excited - and the band was at their best. 9/10
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IDKBTFM - IDK opened and closed with bursts of energy in the forms of 'Do it all the time' and 'Choke'. These songs had the most attention-grabbing staging and performance. However, the middle of their set suffered from a slightly bored tone from the band - and the atmosphere was unfortunately not massively enjoyable. 5/10
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The Wombats - The Wombats were also clearly excited to re-join the world of live music - and this was made clear by the energetic performance of the band - as well moments like the wombat dancers coming onto stage. 'Greek Tragedy', 'Cheetah Tongue' and 'Let's dance to Joy Division' were the band's best songs in my opinion, and overall the set was enjoyable all the way through. 7/10
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The Kid LAROI - Unfortunately, The Kid LAROI was the lowest point of the day for me. Despite not being a fan, I was somewhat excited for the set. However, the performance was plagued by low effort from the performer. He only joined in for parts of songs and was mainly playing tracks, letting the audience fill in the gaps - leading me to leaving early. In contrast, the staging itself clearly had effort put into it, with complex light shows and FX for each song. 4/10
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Two Door Cinema Club - Two Door Cinema Club were possibly the greatest act of the day. The stage involved impressive graphics and lights for each song that only added to the incredibly energetic atmosphere. Most of the audience were entertained by the high quality performance for the entire set. I can't recall a single 'bad' song, but 'What You Know' was definitely the highlight - as the crowd loudly sang along to every word - and it was eagerly anticipated. 10/10
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Post Malone - Post Malone, despite being part of a genre I'm not massively into, captured my attention and entertained me for his entire set. With an incredible stage and FX, unlike any other act, as well as high-octane songs like 'Rockstar', 'Better Now, 'Psycho' and 'Circles', the performance became absolutely thrilling. The atmosphere was also brilliant, with the entire crowd convincing Post to down at least 4 drinks - with us all chanting 'DENNIS' to get him more drinks. The performance was incredibly fun to watch and a perfect way to end the festival. 10/10
Positives:
Leeds Fest was surely anticipated, as one of the first major events since the Coronavirus Pandemic, and its safe to say it was met with a large reception, with a staggering 90,000 people at the event.
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I think the festival did a great job at uniting the masses after almost 2 years of wait - with superb audio and visuals as well as on-site security, whom I personally saw assist 2 people who collapsed.
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Overall, the atmosphere was one of infectious excitement, and the music itself was high-quality - especially Two Door Cinema Club and Post Malone.
Negatives:
However, there were of course some negatives. As a festival first timer, I was shocked by the campsites and amount of litter - however, this could be argued as a result of the people and not a fault of the festival.
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Also, the shops sold at severely inflated prices, which felt unnecessary - as the tickets themselves are fairly expensive.
Overall:
Overall, the festival, while plagued by rubbish, did a fantastic job of injecting the excitement of live music back into the UK.
