It’s that time of year again when parks and fields are filled with stages, punters and of course bands. May bank holiday weekend is always the starting point for festival season in the UK and up first is the ever growing Live at Leeds in the park returning to Temple Newsam for another big year with a stacked line-up.

England has seen a heat wave sore across the country over the last few weeks so of course the weekend the festivals started, the poor weather would make its return. With threats of rain inbound, the raincoats and ponchos would be packed but thankfully not required with the dreaded downpour staying away.

Typical UK weather aside, we are here for the music and kicking off our day would be music royalty – Natasha Bedingfield brought the party vibes to a very busy Main Stage North. Having played Radio One’s Big Weekend the day before, she was fully warmed up for her Leeds crowd kicking off her set with the incredible ‘Love Like This’ quickly followed by ‘Pocketful of Sunshine’ – the big crowd was already in fine voice straight from the off.

Mid set seen a few covers thrown in to keep the vibes high – Coldplay’s ‘Politik’ receives a big reception right before ‘Zombie’ by The Cranberries gets the volume up even higher. Rounding things off it was the highly anticipated big hitters in ‘These Words’ and the classic ‘Unwritten’ were greeted by two mammoth singalongs, looking around seeing so many people on shoulders, with their arms around friends and singing their hearts out just highlights how loved and appreciated Natasha and her music still is – I mean these songs will live on for years to come and will always be main stage festival sized anthems. I’m just thankful we didn’t feel the rain on our skin.

A quick hop over to Main Stage South for one of my ones to watch of the weekend – The Amazons arrive celebrating the release of their recent record ‘21st Century Fiction’ and with a good mix of fans and newbies, it’s the perfect time to showcase their latest work. Kicking off with a single off their debut album, ‘In My Head’ gets the ball rolling before setting into to the new record. ‘Night After Night’, ‘Pitch Black’ and ‘Joe Bought a Gun’ all massive tunes off the album getting a great reception from fans – this record has taken things up a level for the band and sounding even bigger live. The Reading boys round off a killer set with more old school classics with ‘Mother’ and the old timer finale ‘Black Magic’. Time and time again this band go above and beyond when they play live and produce massive sets on the big stage. They have fully grown into the role of a main stage band over the years and a quickly projecting their way up to the top.

Sticking with Main Stage South, indie kings The Pigeon Detectives were next to bring the action and given there has been some time since there last release, this was basically a set for the hits and I am all for that, a career steeped in nothing but bangers, we were really in for a treat. The boys started big, singer Matt Bowman runs on stage dressed in the slickest tiger print jacket you ever did see, gulps a huge mouthful of water and in Triple H style sprays it everywhere and throws the bottle straight into the crowd as they go wild to ‘This Is an Emergency’ quickly followed by ‘I Found Out’ - personally two of my favourite Pigeons songs so to kick off that big really got the buzz going.

They certainly are no strangers to the big stages at festivals having been doing their thing for over two decades, their stage presence is still as energetic now as it was back in 2004. Matt refuses to stay still as he covers every single inch available to him including multiple trips to the pit and crowd surfing - the energy was matched by the crowd as they scream back every word sung to them, what feels like such a nostalgic moment still seeing these songs being played live. They would throw in some more recent material from 2023’s TV Show record playing ‘Falling to Pieces’ before keeping with the classics like ‘Everybody Wants Me’ then rounding off with ‘Take Her Back’ and of course one of the biggest indie anthems ‘I’m Not Sorry’. What I loved most about this set is the fact the Rothwell band still look like they love what they do - 20 years in a band is a very long time and to still smash it on the big stage says so much about what this band are all about.

The theme of the day so far is the main stages - next were back at Main Stage North for another one of my must see acts on the bill. Norwegian singer Sigrid really brought the dance vibes to the day even with the sky beginning to dull over and the cold setting in, the crowd really gave everything to this set. With new music on the way, today was the perfect time to show the world what she has been working on and straight off the bat starting her set with one of they new songs ‘Always Be Your Girl’ - a new direction from previous releases and something I for one am really looking forward to.

Like a lot of the acts caught today, Sigrid certainly falls into the category of incredible stage presence, with a huge smile on her face she covers every area from left to right while also keeping the crowd engagement going as she goes - something that really goes a long way especially with a festival environment. The set was a solid mix of new releases and she dropped in four new tracks along side some of her classics like ‘Don’t Feel Like Crying’, ‘Burning Bridges’ and crowd favourite and set finale ‘Strangers’.

As the day sadly comes to a close, it’s time to catch one of tonight’s headliners and for the first time of the day heading into the Big Top tent to catch Whitburn legends The Snuts. Rising up through the ranks of the Scottish music scene, these boys have built their own empire and achieved many lifelong dreams in such a short period of time. From selling out iconic Glasgow venues like King Tuts & The Barrowlands to playing main stages at the likes of TRNSMT, Tramlines & Glastonbury while also selling out The Hydro, the have gained hero status. Now they set their sights on festival headline slots as they aim to climb bills to the top - tonight headlining the DIY Big Top, they proved why they are ready for the big slots with an enormous set.

They have a big catalogue of tunes that will certainly make shows like this a hard one to narrow down a set - tonight they get the ball rolling with two big numbers in ‘Always’ followed by ‘Fatboy Slim’, a single that was an instant hit even before its release. The tent is rammed full and the volume is at such a high, quite a surreal moment watching a band I watched for the first time in 2017 headline a festival stage less than 10 years later. The intro to ‘All Your Friends’ is enough to get the adrenaline pumping hard, the riff dropping into the bass line is some of the bands best work and should forever be a staple in any set.

Newer songs like ‘Millionaires’ & ‘Gloria’ both received well by fans and sung with so much passion but for me the biggest moment of the night was singer Jack Cochrane announcing the next song, something he said is as old as you can get and a song they never play much now - taking things back to the very start with a stripped back stunning version of ‘What’s Going On?’, an emotional throwback to where it all began for these boys back in the day. Before they end, the biggest singalong of the night comes from yet another special song as they nod to home with ‘Glasgow’ - this song means so much to so many and it was sung loud and proud. “I’ll always love the way that you say Glasgow”

We now conclude what has been another special year at Live at Leeds with tonight’s main stage headliner. Bloc Party are here to celebrate one of the greatest and most iconic records ever written by playing ‘Silent Alarm’ in full, a record that has been a staple in the indie scene for 20 years. To hear this album in full is such a special experience not only for myself personally, but for everyone in this field who has grown up with this band and their music in their lives.

The most enjoyable part of the set was not knowing what song was coming next, with each song jumbled up it still kept that element of surprise we all love about any set, this would see songs from that record plus some old timers randomly thrown in when you least expected. With ‘Banquet’ being 8th in the set and the iconic ‘Helicopter’ played during the encore, it was amazing to get to hear other songs out with those big hitters at different parts of the set. Hearing ‘Compliments’ being played live was such a big moment knowing the band haven’t played this since 2019. Another big shoutout for when they played ‘Song For Clay (Disappeared Here)’, throwing in a snippet of Sneaker Pimps ‘Spin Spin Sugar’ as the intro was quite something to witness. One thing for sure is that Bloc Party still have it, after al these years of playing they can still produce huge headline sets like tonight and look good doing it. The Leeds crowd fully went for it from start to finish adding to what was a very special evening.

There we have it, another year at Live at Leeds comes to a close and as someone that’s been to the last 3, today has certainly been the best yet. A killer line-up and big changes to the site layout has made this year what it was and a huge credit needs to go to the whole Live at Leeds team for making it all happen. Is it 2026 yet?

Festival Review: Live at Leeds In the Park

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Festival Review: Live at Leeds In the Park

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