Not even four months ago, tens of thousands descended on a field near Leeds and half of them wept, screeched and cheered as Matt Healy took the stage to traipse out a record released a decade ago. Such is the high point of the confident UK music scene that the main festival draw to replace pop act Lewis Capaldi is The 1975’s nostalgia tour. Life imitates art and festivals imitate one another, it would seem, considering Liam Gallagher is destined to take his spot on the Leeds Festival stage and belt out Definitely Maybe in the second-anniversary album headliner in just as many years. Faith in the new draws of a growing and interesting UK culture is at an all-time low from promoters – yet we live through some of the most interesting times for the shifting tides of music.
The damage was done years before, when the likes of Gerry Cinnamon and Catfish and the Bottlemen downed tools, their one and only hits enough to carry them through to the masses. Raye did the same. Make no mistake this is not just a problem for the bucket hat-wearing, Strongbow dark fruits-drinking, get the Stoney badge in cretins, but an infection which has carried through those of a certain age no longer developing their taste in music. A shift is in the air. The Guardian earlier reported a disengagement from music, the comfortable bubble of what we already know and listen to enough to guide and guard our tastes until time expires. But Leedsfest and TRNSMT sharing the three same headliners is a dark sign of where the festival experience is headed.
Catfish and the Bottlemen, Cinnamon and Gallagher, like it or not, will always be a major draw. They are of the plain toast musical variety. Everyday tunes which sound similar, have influenced one another and now mark two of the three major indie-oriented festivals of the year. Talk about variety. Once again Leedsfest finds itself relying on the old hands and utilising the only interesting act to be announced so far, Lana Del Rey, as a tokenism. Two in one, as they did with Billie Eilish last year – a non-native and a woman. Roll it into one and Leedsfest has checked two of its boxes and dismissed a cavalcade of talented, experienced and exciting musicians. Regardless of their gender, background or place in musical history this year, the gaps are clear to see.
This is not a matter of speculation or a moment to lament those who are not on the line-up. Rumours of Paramore and Foo Fighters inclusions were always going to die a death but it is the hope which kills you. Hoping for a line-up where the most talked about acts are not three collections of vaguely memorable men whose show-closing songs are already cemented in cracked concrete would have been nice. Nicer still would be to highlight the bold new artists still on the rise, ready to take the mantle. Pass the torch, Leeds, to the capable hands who need this experience to form their next steps.
It is not too unlikely to see the likes of The Last Dinner Party, Yard Act and Declan McKenna clad the undercard of the festival. Two of the three should and will, in the next few years, headline. Let the dust of Prelude to Ecstasy and Where’s My Utopia settle and see what happens. Consider the variation of acts from this year – who are still finding their feet like Mereki or Black Country, New Road. The latter is probably about ready for the spot at the top of the card. Festivals are for risk-takers, to open your ears to new sounds and impressionable acts with a stake to claim. Leedsfest 2024 has no chance of this experience. Its old yet firm and popular hands in the headline spots are as uninspired as they are dull.
Take a look not at the lineups but the calendar of releases from this year and last. Plenty of variety but little to hold out hope on. There will be no surprises. No chance of hearing a reunited Pulp or a surprise set from Hozier. Glastonbury goers were treated to the latter last year, and who knows what could happen for the former next year. It is all to play for – a buzz surrounds the sold-out festival but nothing of the sort can be said for Leedsfest. Expectations and the drumming up of rumours are always going to be deflated, but the reality setting in and the headliners being set in stone is as low as it goes. Are people going to spend £300 for a weekend ticket which offers them a quality Lana Del Rey performance followed by three cagey crowds for an identical lineup TRNSMT announced just last week? Unlikely.
Whether it is worth it for the spots down the card is yet to be seen but even those legacy acts who could provide something interesting and are even on tour next year with confirmed new releases or already firm hands for headline spots, are glossed over. The disenchantment with hearing part of the original Catfish and the Bottlemen lineup or Cinnamon, who has coasted along on Cantor for eight years too long, is setting in now. No Kaiser Chiefs. No Sophie Ellis-Bextor. Not a word from a reunited Chic. Where do all these excellent artists, legacy ones at that, fall into place for a Leedsfest line-up which panders to a crowd of Stone Island puffer jackets and depressive cigarette smokers? Pick a side, the fights will be extraordinary.
Regardless of personal taste or what one may think of any of the acts listed – there is a clear lack of faith in a bubbling music scene moving far away from the guitar simplicity Gallagher, Cinnamon and Catfish offer their listeners. There will be no change from them as they are set in stone but there is no sense of excitement to these picks. Safe bets. No sense of a great catch or incredible get to really drum up how great a time the UK scene is holding right now. Sam Fender is likely to be headhunted for Glastonbury to spread around this new record of his, and the likes of Idles, Paloma Faith, Crawlers, The Libertines and even American imports like Green Day, all of whom have new material dropping next year, are cast aside. Leedsfest disappoints themselves before anyone else with this line-up, a safe and predictable one which will likely see the chasm of quality between the 2024 line-up and Glastonbury grow ever larger.
