Music is something that really drives me, I love looking for new bands / music and love looking at the artwork, and to go somewhere that has hundreds of bands for one weekend for a small price, is something I live for. This is why I feel it is 'good' and was something I could practically research. What also makes it good is some of the controversy surrounding the festival - mainly to do with the bands - being bottled off, not showing up etc...
Some images I've taken this year and the past few times I've been:
Lots of booze is a must!
Broken tents - standard!
Don't forget the wellies!!
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Site map- Main stage – major rock, indie, Metal and alternative acts.
- NME/Radio 1 stage – less well-known acts, building up to an alternative headline act
- Festival Republic stage (formerly known as the Carling stage) – acts with less popular appeal and breakthrough acts
- Lock Up Stage – underground punk and hardcore acts.[7] Due to demand, from 2006 this stage took up two days rather than previous years where it was only one day.
- Dance tent – dance music acts, on the day that the above stage does not run
- Alternative tent – comedy and cabaret acts plus DJs.[8]
- BBC Introducing Stage – Typically unsigned/not well known acts. (Formerly known as the Topman Unsigned Stage at the Leeds site).
Summary of the bands in an online pdf.Useful information about the site from http://www.leedsfestival.com/home/
Opening Times
CAMPSITE AND CAR PARK OPENING TIMESOpens: Early bird permit holders have access from 2pm Wednesday 25th August.
Otherwise 3am Thursday 26th August morning for standard weekend ticket holders. [If you have received tickets that state 8am, this was an error at the printers. 3am is correct]
Closes: Midday Monday 30th August.
Day ticket holders can only enter on the day their ticket states - the arena will open from 11am on Friday / Saturday / Sunday.
ARENA OPENING TIMES
Thursday 26th August - 5pm [only for weekend ticket holders]
Friday 27th August - 11am
Saturday 28th August - 11am
Sunday 29th August - 11am
12 noon Bank Holiday Monday August.
Things you can and can't bring
A forums guide to your first Leeds Festival (from Leeds festival forum)
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in the United Kingdom. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend, sharing the same bill.
Leeds event is held in Bramham Park, near Wetherby, the grounds of an historic house. Campsites are available at both sites and weekend tickets include camping. Day tickets are also sold.
n 1999, the festival gained a second leg at Temple Newsam in Leeds, where the V Festival had been held in 1997 and 1998, when it was clear that the Reading site had become too small to deal with the increasing demand. The first year saw all bands play the Leeds site the following day to the day they played Reading, with the Reading leg running from Friday to Sunday and the Leeds leg running from Saturday to Monday. However in 2001 the current system where the line-up of Reading play Leeds the following day, with the bands from Leeds' opening day playing the final day in Reading, was introduced.
After a successful first year in Leeds, a continued resurgence in the popularity of outdoor music festivals led to the Reading festival selling out more and more quickly every year. The Leeds leg, however, was plagued by riots and violence which led to problems in retaining its licence. The worst of these was in 2002, after which Mean Fiddler moved the festival to Bramham Park, near Bramham north-east of Leeds in 2003. Since then, security at both sites has increased and problems have been reduced. (Although the Bramham Park site presents more challenges to the stage builders, it is far better suited to the needs of festival goers).
The early 2000s saw a varied but predominantly rock line-up, though as the decade has progressed the Main Stage and Radio 1 Stage line-up has featured mostly Indie artists. However, one day (Sunday in the case of Reading) is still traditionally set aside for hard rock and metal.
In 2005, the main stages at both Reading and Leeds were made larger, featuring unique cantilevered video screens.
The Reading and Leeds Festivals took place on the weekend of the 22 to 24 August. Tickets had been released on March 31 at 6:45pm and sold out in less than 2 hours. Tickets sold through HMV also sold out in just one hour.
This was the first year "BBC Introducing..." had a stage at the festival. This replaced the Top Man Unsigned stage at the Leeds leg and was a new addition to the Reading site.
The Leeds Festival site saw incredibly heavy rainfall and was completely waterlogged from the Thursday onwards, causing massive problems travelling between campsite and arena. The bad weather plus many thousands of people resulted in campsites up to a foot deep in mud. (I was there!!!!!!!)
Flags were banned from both festival sites for the first time in 2009
A new sound system was used in 2009 at both the Reading and Leeds sites, and the consensus was that the sound quality in the field was markedly improved.
2010
The initial line-up announcement was made on Monday 29 March 2010, shortly after tickets went on sale. On 16 August 2010, it was confirmed that Guns N' Roses, Arcade Fire and Blink-182 would headline the main stage, with Lostprophets, Queens of the Stone Age, The Libertines, Paramore, LCD Soundsystem, Billy Talent, Biffy Clyro, Pendulum, Weezer, Klaxons, Lights,A Day to Remember, Modest Mouse and Frank Turner also playing over the weekend.
Controversy arose after Guns N' Roses turned up 60 minutes late for their headlining slot, despite being warned by festival organisers beforehand that they would be pulled from the bill if they failed to comply with the time regulations. After running over by 30 minutes, the band's sound was cut and after a rendition of Paradise City the members staged a sit down protest. Many fans however had already left and were disappointed in the band's failure to apologise for the incident.
Bottling acts offstage (being forced off stage by a barrage of audience-thrown plastic bottles and cans) is a popular 'tradition' at the festival.While the mass-participation can and bottle fights of the 1970s and 1980s have long since ended, unpopular bands have been bottled offstage throughout the festival's history.List of headliners
- 2010: Guns N' Roses, Arcade Fire, Blink-182
- 2009: Kings of Leon, Arctic Monkeys, Radiohead
- 2008: Rage Against The Machine, The Killers, Metallica
- 2007: Razorlight, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins
- 2006: Franz Ferdinand, Muse, Pearl Jam
- 2005: Pixies, Foo Fighters, Iron Maiden
- 2004: The Darkness, The White Stripes, Green Day
- 2003: Linkin Park, Blur, Metallica
- 2002: The Strokes, Foo Fighters, Guns N' Roses (Leeds only), The Prodigy
- 2001: Travis, Manic Street Preachers, Eminem
- 2000: Oasis, Pulp, Stereophonics
- 1999: The Charlatans, Blur, Red Hot Chili Peppers
- From http://arkmag.co.uk/the-history-of-leeds-festival/
As around 70,000 music fans descend on Bramham Park for Leeds Festival 2010, it’s easy to take for granted a luxury that just over a decade ago didn’t exist here. We’re lucky to have one of the UK’s leading festivals on our doorstep – a real boost for the Leeds music scene – but we should not disregard what has been an incredible and rapid growth of Leeds Festival as the weekend of choice for the masses. With Glastonbury celebrating its 40th year, in comparison Leeds Festival is still just a child at 11 years old and is still to fully mature into adulthood. That’s not saying that Leeds Festival isn’t amazing, it is; but after witnessing just how far it’s come in such a brief history you have to consider just how much further Leeds can go.
Leeds Festival was born out of the National Jazz Festival, which for many years was based at Reading before evolving to become the Reading Festival we know. Then Leeds Festival was conceived. Demand had grown too high for just one venue and after hosting legends such as The Ramones, The Stone Roses, New Order as well as the iconic Nirvana set in 1992, Reading wanted to extend the family. Leeds Festival was born. In 1999, the same music that was being played at Reading could now be heard at Temple Newsam, only unlike its sibling it ran from Saturday to Monday on the August Bank Holiday weekend. The inaugural headliners were The Charlatans, Blur and Red Hot Chilli Peppers costing a mere £80 for a weekend ticket.
The early years were packed full of controversy as the first few festivals descended into violence and rioting, with some festival-goers bringing with them a disturbing mob mentality. In 2001, stones and other missiles were lobbed at police in just one rampage, whilst in 2002 the violence escalated to new heights; vandals set toilet blocks ablaze with flames soaring into the night sky.
A change was needed, and it was a change that was brought into effect. In 2003, after two years of violence and controversy, Leeds Festival said goodbye to Temple Newsam and arrived at its new home, Bramham Park. Melvin Benn, managing director of Festival Republic (then known as Mean Fiddler) reckoned the move “has given us an opportunity for a fresh start and has given us an opportunity to try new things. It was the right time to move.” Bramham Park brought a set of huge first headlining guests – Metallica, Linkin Park and Blur – and with them proof that despite its more controversial moments, Leeds Festival was continuing to attract the cream of the musical crop.
This confirmed that the festival was becoming a must for real music fans, and by championing upcoming talent Leeds was edging in front of its elder sibling Reading who had not yet welcomed such a feature. Memorable moments included local favourites Kaiser Chiefs playing a secret set under the name Hooks For Hands in the Carling Tent; this was another Leeds exclusive and a sign that the younger and older counterparts were fighting to be the star of the family.
2008 brought the end of an era. Up until this point, although Leeds and Reading were talked about separately they were branded together by their sponsor as the Carling Weekend. But with the closing of the Carling sponsorship deal, the family was broken as Leeds and Reading became festivals in their own right, sharing the same line up but emerging with their own identities. Tickets for both sold out in under 2 hours, highlighting overwhelming demand to attend both festivals. The Topman Unsigned Stage also changed into the BBC Introducing Stage, bringing more big name sponsorship to a leading festival. But disaster too! The weather had always been unpredictable at Leeds over the years but 2008 saw festival-goers a foot deep in mud, descending the site into Sludgefest 2008.
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/leeds/hi/people_and_places/music/newsid_8620000/8620614.stm
Unfortunately, the early years of the festival in Leeds were often as notable for controversy as for the musical fireworks.
For instance in 2001, with Eminem's appearance taking most of the musical headlines, police were pelted with stones and other missiles when violence erupted at the end of the festival.
A group went on a rampage of what the police called "mindless violence and damage" in the campsite.More trouble followed next year, Kate Skelton (then a student in Leeds) said "a nasty combination of alcohol-fuelled mob mentality and a few cigarette lighters led to the burning of toilet blocks and vandalism on a massive scale."
So it was under a bit of a cloud that Leeds Festival moved to its current home, in Bramham Park, for the 2003 event. Acts appearing that year included Metallica, Linkin Park, and White Stripes.
Melvin Benn, managing director of promoter Mean Fiddler, tried to reassure local residents over the switch.
The new site of the festival was originally opposed by the Parish Council of nearby Thorner. However, despite a few teething problems and heavy traffic volumes on the nearby A1 and A64, the festival has seemed to find a calmer home and the extra income generated by the event has been a boon for the Bramham estate.
- http://www.efestivals.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=111220
2000, from what I've gathered saw a bit of trouble on the last night with burning toilet blocks and this was even worse in 2001.
2002 was the year of the big riots, with police helicopters being asked to come in and people lobbing missiles at it, and more burning toilets. The reason Leeds fest moved from Temple Newsam to Bramham.
2003, nothing. The fear that Leeds may be shut down if anything happens probably instilled fear in the idiots.
Again, I've heard nothing intense about 2004 although apparently security were on a massive power trip which could have led to the events of the following year.
2005 was the worst for Bramham, with riot police being brought in and Carling trucks being looted.
2006 and 2007, I've not heard much about. Apparently in 2006 it was because it was raining on the last night so no-one could be arsed starting fires etc.
2008 was pretty bad for cannister explosions, thefts and general twattery but there was no rioting.
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2217815.stm
Around 500 people went on the rampage after the festival at Temple Newsam finished, burning 71 temporary toilets and a portable building to the ground and attacking police with missiles.
Skips were set alight and electric cables were pulled down, and 200 police officers - many in riot gear - were deployed to stop the trouble.
Over 50,000 people attended the three-day event, which otherwise passed off peacefully.
Some Opinions (50 people asked)
Ever been to Leeds / Reading Festival?
Yes 46.7%
No 53.3%
If no, are there any major reasons?
Price
line up 16.7%
being dirty for a weekend
hate camping
Other 83.3%
| All of the above + riots, crime rate... |
| - not allowed :( mum wont let me haha |
| - never aorund |
| - just not wanting to go |
| - all- i'd rather pay to see a band perform on their own, with better acoustics and venue and more tracks, also less people who don't enjoy it there. |
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