‘You’re at the start of what might be the best weekend of your life,” Manchester’s dance-grooved “pop poet” Antony Szmierek tells a cheering audience, capturing the buzz which brings tens of thousands of teenagers (and older) to Leeds festival (and its Reading counterpart). The former rock festival is a post-GCSE rite of passage, a place for many to don a daft hat, wear as little as possible, toast results or drown sorrows. Two years ago, Szmeriek – imagine the Streets’ Mike Skinner with a ’tache and trackies – was a special needs teacher before becoming a dazzling wordsmith, so draws on his backstory (and gets another cheer) when he tells the kid in the front row who failed all his exams: “It doesn’t matter. You will be someone.”
Other hits include Skye Newman’s raw soul, dance producer Sammy Virji and besuited, sunglasses-wearing New York one-man electronic band Harrison Smith AKA the Dare, whose brilliantly jerky set is like watching Jarvis Cocker fronting LCD Soundsystem. Kids waiting for rap at the main stage look bewildered by Amy Taylor’s raucous, shouty Aussie punks Amyl and the Sniffers. Trippie Redd’s affecting blend of the plaintive and unsettling is beautifully illustrated when a father plays football with his toddlers as the American raps about putting someone in their casket. Otherwise, with fewer stages and big names than previous years, the first day feels somewhat undersold and underpowered. US rap superstar Travis Scott’s headlining set builds in intensity as pyro and fireworks erupt around him, but ends abruptly 35 minutes early, without explanation, to a smattering of boos.
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