Leeds Festival 2024 - DAY THREE

By Soph Ditchfield and Nic Howells.

The Leeds Festival of Sunday afternoon felt like a completely different world (Half a world away, if you will) than the windswept chaos that was Friday, and the uneasy perseverance of Saturday. Some people may have seen the last day of the festival as a mercy killing, despite the fact it had some of the weekends biggest attractions by far. Those who didn’t pack their lives back into cars on Sunday morning and stuck around were in for a treat.

Unfortunately, that treat did not bestow itself upon Courting, who are brought on stage first instead of Zino Vinci. That statement is by 0 means a knock on Courting’s ability, more so on the crowd who were waiting for a certain ‘Young and Beautiful’ star later that day, and as a result gave a quality band like Courting a reception that was Summertime Sad. Courting themselves rumbled through ‘Tennis’ and ‘Jumper’ and sounded excellent in doing so, the indie rock/punk sound is an excellent starter at a festival. Also the fact they spliced some of ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ with their song ‘Crass’ has insane metrics considering what followed in the next 48 hours. They roll through some beefy renditions of ‘Famous’ and ‘After You’ and look like real rock stars. Good lord this band deserved better. 

Over on Festival Republic, Dead Pony started things off on a much more energetic and responsive note. The burst of life from some edgier rock music was badly needed after a more muted response to the genre throughout the weekend for anyone not called Blink. The electronic element of Dead Pony’s sound definitely drew in some more curious ears, as they enter to a remix of ‘Voodoo People’ by Pendulum before dropping straight into ‘Ignore This’ from their own repertoire. The Scottish mob were leaps more energetic than other opening acts from the whole weekend and it births some movement and mosh pits from the crowd. Anna Shields is down on the barrier almost entirely throughout ‘23 Never Me’ which is definitely the visual that prevailed from the set. ‘About Love’ and ‘Rainbows’ are a show of the acts versatility as well, and Dead Pony are reaping the rewards for that given they’ve just toured with international stars Against The Current. Over the last year various facets of Dead Pony’s acts ave polished up a lot, bt an unexpected addition was the presence of actual Dead Pony (See Also: Inflatable Horse), Derek. As they wrap up with ‘Cobra’ & ‘MANA’, it's very important to lets fans of this set know Dead Pony are out on headline dates at the end of the year. You need to see this band. 

DEAD PONY

Photos by Soph Ditchfield.

Over on the Main Stage, a major name from previous years bills, The Last Dinner Party add an exciting and eclectic vibe to the lineup. This a huge slot, and a deserving band for it. Also the nicest of touches is that Abigail Morris on vocals actually introduces each member of the band just before playing ‘The Feminine Urge’, which was rarely if at all seen on the main stage over the weekend. This said di a lot with a little, by comparison, there’s been indie, angst and a lot of hype about the more mainstream acts at the festival this year that let The Last Dinner Party’s set go by as actually one of the sleeper best on the bill. Personal favourites in their 40 minutes were ‘Portrait of Dead Girl’ and ‘My Lady of Mercy’ which got played back to back. These were new songs at the time but have slid themselves onto Spotify’s “On Repeat” playlist within a week of their set. This set also just has some human interaction, the inclusion of ‘Happy Birthday’ to Aurora on keys in the midst of a huge opportunity for a band just helps the feeling this is something they all shared together, before they play show closing track ‘Nothing Matters’, which went down equally as triumphantly

THE LAST DINNER PARTY

Photos by Soph Ditchfield.

Some major international flair for this year was Aussie act Yours Truly. The troupe flew in for R&L and some select dates after the festival. They mention the time difference, jetlag and a bit of suffering on the energy front, but this set wouldn’t have had anyone guessing that was an issue as they battered through ‘California Sober’ and ‘High Hopes’. Given their home is Half the World Away (yes I’m reusing that joke), Yours Truly have had some greta presence in the UK for dates since the Pandemic, stopping by thrice in the last few years for dates alongside Lizzy Farrall, Beauty School and Against The Current, to share some ground switch fellow FR act Dead Pony from earlier. The midday slot of a festival means that it is more of a “Hits” set as they bounce through ‘Let Go’ and ‘Sour’, but this is a band destined for even bigger things in this country. Maybe its asking too much for a slot on Charli XCX’s tour, but given Mikaila’s brat inspired outfit I’m sure they wouldn’t say no. They end things on a strong note with their most recent album Toxic, performing the best performing track on the record 'Call My Name’ to finish. Job well done, get some kip.

YOURS TRULY

Photos by Soph Ditchfield.

The Main Stage was definitely under a bit of stress for all setups after the events of Friday, so a lot of the labour was done ahead of time. What this meant is there was a foreboding, ominous Fontaines sign hanging above the stage throughout all the other sets of the day up to this point. The 45 minutes of Fontaines that Leeds got wasn’t enough. This was a very good set and gave off some major rock star aura. Beginning with ‘Televised Mind’, Grian is cool bordering on arrogant as he gives the crowd an “alright”, it does feel like this is business as usual for the Irish lot before moving into ‘Jackie Down the Line’ & ‘Death Kink’. The set is subdued in terms of mood, but the group certainly has aura. Despite personally not being very well versed in Fontaines, some of these tracks were absolute ear worms, and a lot of it is attributed to their brand new album, Romance. THis set featured many a hot track from the new release such as ‘Here’s The Thing’, ‘In The Modern World’ & ‘Favourite’. It’s hard to catagorise a bands material into old and new when their first album is barely 5 years old. But inclusion of “Not-Romance” tracks like ‘Boys in a  Better Land’ and ‘I Love You’, added some depth to an impactful set before they closed on an absolute anthem ‘Starburster’, which for us was the first time hearing it. You’re looking at future R&L headliners at this rate.

Militarie Gun took the Festival Republic stage at Leeds Festival 2024 with a set that didn’t quite do them justice given their reception at other festivals like two years on the bounce at Outbreak. Starting with ‘Seizure of Assets’ their punk roots are a bit edgier than the other acts we’ve caught on the FR stage. Tracks like ‘Ain't No Flowers’ and ‘Thought You Were Waving’ kept the crowd swaying and those who made their way over to the FR stage were very appreciative of the appearance. There’s a sweet and then bittersweet moment when Ian Shelton is one of many to say that Leeds is better than Reading Festival, but follows that with saying he was in a bad mood yesterday, and the outfit of choice with a hood up is because he didn't feel like being him today. This struck a chord. Considering that statement, the many high jumps and the band's interaction with the crowd feels quite wholesome, where at first it felt subdued. ‘Never Fucked Up Once’ kept the audience engaged before they closed with ‘Do It Faster’, capping off a solid performance. MG are a bit of a different name to see at R&L, but were a real pleasure to catch.

MILITARIE GUN

Photos by Soph Ditchfield.

Raye’s set at R&L very much felt like a “if you don’t know, now you know” type of experience, as they were one of the blowaway artists from the weekend. So many people needed to be oing away from this weekend with Raye’s name in mind, and that's with name similarities aside from who was to follow them on the bill. First off, being on stage with a 30 person choir and a band as a singer songwriter feels like “you’ve made it” energy, and a statement. So much of this set was centred around the energy from people, love and community, and less on theatrics. Even the backdrop of the set was just Raye’s name, no bells and whistles (though quite fittingly it was in lights). The setlist was a blend of some obvious carefully thought out original tracks like ‘Worth It’ and a medley version of ‘Flip a Switch’ & ‘Decline’,, as well as some great renditions of other music. It’s can't be stressed enough how likeable Raye was on stage, and thats with not really being a listener of their genre, they were just likeable as a person. Two major points in their favour here was actually speaking to the crowd as people, not just the entity “Leeds”, picking people out in the crowd and responding as people do. The second is a bit deeper, as they ask permission of the crowd to play a deeper track and one that like Shelton’s comments during Militarie Gun, struck a chord. Their song ‘Ice Cream Man’ was “the one sad song in the set”, and deals with some heavy subject matter. First off is the sharing of that moment and those emotions, and then the connection this crowd had with the song, both were very special things. 

The set carries on through Guetta, Jax Jones, and a rock and roll version of ‘Prada’ that gets squeezed in with some soulful as hell vocals from Raye. The fact an independent artist is performing at this level and to this quality is astonishing, and is something they themselves touch on. Our final few moments with Raye are the tracks ‘Escapism’ and ‘Genesis’, and the crowd was in love with these. To touch briefly on something from earlier in the review, there’s so much room on the stage for one thing above all else, people. This felt like a set about people, individuals, the love between them, and Raye is the one artist on the weekend that truly showcased that connection in this weekend. Oh, and they had a cuppa on stage. We love it. 

RAYE

Photos by Soph Ditchfield

Kid Kapichi brought some serious grit to the Festival Republic stage at Leeds 2024. They kicked off with ‘Artillery’, firing up the crowd and setting the tone for a no-nonsense, hard-hitting performance. Despite the late, Lana-impeding hour, they didn’t hold back, powering through tracks like ‘Let's Get to Work’ and ‘999’ with an intensity that kept the crowd fully engaged. ‘Tamagotchi’ offered a brief moment of playful rebellion before diving back into the politically charged ‘Can EU Hear Me?’ and ‘Working Man's Town’.. By the time they hit ‘New England’, the crowd was fully in sync with the band’s message. They closed out with ‘Rob the Supermarket’ and ‘Smash the Gaff’ leaving the stage in a blaze of punk fury.

KID KAPICHI

Photos by Soph Ditchfield.

Lana Del Rey was the undeniable star of Leeds Festival 2024, for the right and wrong reasons. Obviously Reading’s set was hot controversy, and with all set times being pulled forwards by 20 minutes for the day, the only person that didn’t apply to was Lana… who still showed up late at 7:40 rather than half past. Timings aside, Lana had all the makings of the show closing act, having the most elaborate stage by far, as well as dancers and a band to go with her undeniable draw for fans that day. The main stage became a complete sea of people by the time the opening notes of ‘Without You’ started.

There was some cutting for time and live settings on quite a few songs in the set, notably during ‘Without You’, ‘West Coast’ and surprisingly ‘Ride’ in the early portion of the set. Obviously this did nothing to affect the crowd's enthusiasm for those tracks, though they absolutely paled in comparison to ‘Summertime  Sadness’ which featured in the early going. Anyone below a certain height, or not on someone's shoulders had next to no view here, as many were held up by their friends having the time of their lives. THe field in Bramham Park became a wave of noise throughout both this track and ‘Cherry’ that followed. This is a very stationary, slow moving and wistful performance, ut in the sense that only the best can do a lot with so little. Lana does have incredible presence by merely “being” during tracks like ‘Bartender’ and ‘Chemtrails Over The Country Club’, especially amongst such a dedicated crowd. The band has a particular spotlight during the playthroughs of ‘Batender’ and ‘Normal Fucking Rockwell’, while the crowd is again the star during the singalong of ‘Video Games’. Personally, that track and ‘Summertime Sadness’ were what we expected to close the show, and Lana’s set was not yet done.

One certainly unexpected facet of the performance was that Lana would be introducing her own encore as a hologram. ‘Hope Is a Dangerous Thing for a Woman Like Me to Have—But I Have It’ begins to play, musicians are still on stage, it wasn’t immediately clear if this was the outro or not, and then Lana appears a la Jedi Spirit to perform the track before the real thing comes back out for a shortened rendition of ‘A&W’. Now, this may be personal bias, but the reintroduction of ‘Young and Beautiful’ was perfect, and not one we knew would happen. This track has only been back in proceedings since last year, and before that hadn’t been touched since 2016. There’s a wave of realisation as fans notice the song and it lends itself so well to that sense of finality when ending a set. Also I really like Gatsby, what can you say?

Lana’s last song segues into lounge music, a showgirl lineup with the star linking arms with her dancers, and an almighty fireworks displays from behind the stage as she gives her thanks to the audience. It’s astounding this didn’t close the festival, though not giving Fred his chance would be a disservice as well.

LANA DEL REY

Photos by Soph Ditchfield