2024 will go down in Leeds festival history as the year of Storm Lilian. High winds mean the Friday opening is marred by three stage closures, cancelled buses, huge queues to get in and the surreal spectacle of punters’ airborne tents landing in other people’s back gardens. With a decimated musical line-up, a vast crowd forms for headliner Liam Gallagher, who turns up dressed for a deep sea fishing expedition and drily quips “this one’s for the tents” to introduce Oasis’s Up in the Sky. In the 30th anniversary year of Definitely Maybe, a setlist consisting entirely of his former band’s early classics unites the field with epic singalongs, the perfect tonic after a taxing day.
The TikTok stars’ Aux stage and the Radio 1 tent (with a gaping hole in the roof) remain closed all weekend but Saturday brings sunshine and something approaching normal service. This year’s eclectic bill stretches from nightingale-voiced Rachel Chinouriri’s charm and vulnerability in the Festival Republic tent to Spiritbox’s gothic metalcore or Raye’s jazzy soul, string section and ballgowns on the main stage.
