Live at Leeds hosted its first festival in 2007 whilst Leeds was celebrating its 800th birthday as a city. 10 years on it is celebrating a birthday of its own; a decade of bringing talent to you. The festival grew alongside the indie community, bands such as Bombay Bicycle Club and The Enemy grew to fame alongside Live at Leeds.
Despite its indie roots, organisers are eager to please and welcome all talent to Leeds. As well as encompassing all things indie such as; Mumford and Sons and The Pigeon Detectives; Live at Leeds has hosted Example, Stormzy and Pulled Apart By Horses to throw something different into the mix.
Leeds is a city booming with culture; The Royal Armouries, Leeds Art Gallery and Leeds City Museum are all good places to see the culture of the past but Live at Leeds festival is the place to see history being made.
Since its beginnings the festival has expanded massively around the city, in 2007 it hosted over 50 bands but 10 years on it promises to host over 100 bands. This expansion is mainly due to the many venues in Leeds that want to get on board and create something amazing for locals or people visiting Leeds. Venues such as Brudenell Social Club and The Wardrobe make it so more fans can see their favourite bands and more bands can showcase their talent.
Live at Leeds have waved goodbye and wished well to many well-known artists such as Ed Sheeran, who played in 2010, and George Ezra, who played in 2014 alongside Catfish and the Bottlemen and Royal Blood. A tremendous amount of the acts who’ve taken part in the one day festival have gone on to sell out European tours and secure number one singles in the charts.
The main part of making history is experiencing it and the letting it go and as we look on wishing we could replay the 2012 line up just to see Alt-J without paying Leeds Festival prices we must move on and welcome in the new sounds of 2016.
This year Live at Leeds is inviting you to create new memories with them that will be celebrated in years to come with the likes of Ratboy, who has stirred the press throughout the year and was awarded Best New Artist at the NME Awards. We also welcome on stage Circa Waves who caused chaos at festivals across the UK last summer and the Mystery Jets who really prove that good music never gets old.
As well as witnessing the rise of success throughout the years, history also comes with loss. In 2014, popular venue, The Cockpit closed down leaving a hole in many locals and regular visitors’ hearts. Although, just like music will never die, rock venue The Key Club sprung up in its place and will host various artists within its grungy walls at this year’s festival, making sure the music scene in Leeds lives on.
The achievements over the past 10 years have been astounding. The festival itself has won the award for Best Metropolitan Festival, some of the artists who have played have gone on to win Grammy awards. The biggest achievement however is the continued support from local artists, music venues, organisers and fans around Leeds who make sure the festival is a success every year.
Performers this year include Jess Glynne, Circa Waves, Corinne Bailey Rae, Mystery Jets Official, Band of Skulls, We Are Scientists, Ghostpoet, RAT BOY, Blossoms and 100s more. For the schedule, full line up and to buy tickets visit www.liveatleeds.com
Festival PR by: @ilikepress
