Leeds Festival 2024: Artists respond to extreme weather stage closures

23 August, 2024

Leeds Festival 2023. Credit: Katja Ogrin/Redferns

Artists due to perform on Leeds Festival‘s BBC Radio 1 and Aux Stages today have responded to their set cancellations due to the effects of Storm Lilian.

Leeds Festival announced that the main arena will not open at its scheduled 11am time slot, and that there will be “no performances” on either the BBC Radio 1 Stage or the Aux Stage today (August 23).

Campers at Bramham Park had been advised this morning (August 23) to secure their tents and take extra precautions, with gusts of up to 60mph expected and a yellow weather warning put in place earlier today.

The BBC Radio 1 Stage at Leeds was set to include a headline set by Beabadoobee, as well as performances by Ashnikko, Alfie Templeman, Jesse®. Artemas, James Marriott, Destroy Boys, Good Neighbours and Felix Ames.

Now, some of the acts that were set to perform on the closed stages have responded to their set cancellations.

Beabadoobee, who was set to headline the BBC Radio 1 Stage tonight told fans on Twitter/X that the cancellations were “so sad”.

“I had a whole outfit planned,” the singer, who recently released her third LP ‘This Is How Tomorrow Moves’, wrote, “Well I’ll see u guys at reading!!! I’ll b back in leeds soon I hope sorry about this guys I love you !!!!.”

Alfie Templeman also said he was “really gutted” to have his performance cancelled. “I’m so so sorry to anyone that wanted to catch our set today,” he said. “Leeds we’ll make it up to you as soon as possible, so so much love to you all.”

Meanwhile, James Marriot announced a surprise show in the city tonight in lew of his performance at the festival. You can find tickets to the gig at The Wardrobe here.

 

London band Good Neighbours shared on their Instagram story that they were “heartbroken” not to be playing today, before tagging the festival in another story saying they can “play any slots.”

The festival has yet to confirm whether the acts that were due to play those stages will be accommodated elsewhere on the lineup.

Artemas also shared on Instagram that he was “so gutted” to have his set cancelled.

Earlier today, the festival announced the closures, saying there was an end in sight to the high winds, but that they wouldn’t be opening the area until 11am.

They continued the statement on Twitter/X saying: “However, we have definitely lost the BBC Radio 1 stage today, and there will be no performances on it,” they continued. “We have also lost the Aux stage today, and there will be no performances on it.”

“We remain hopeful that everything else will continue as planned and that we will still have an amazing weekend. Please await further information.”

The full list of stage times for both Reading and Leeds Festivals can be found here.

The Aux is a new stage and has been designed to showcase “pioneering digital creators” and will allow festival-goers to attend live podcasts, interactive talks, and livestreams and tune into the current media landscape.

Reading & Leeds Festivals 2024 kick off today (August 23) at their usual sites of Richfield Avenue (Reading) and Bramham Park (Leeds) – see here for how you can follow along at home on BBC iPlayer and elsewhere if you were not able to secure a ticket.

The festival boasts Fred Again.., Lana Del Rey, Liam Gallagher, Catfish And The Bottlemen, Blink-182 and Gerry Cinnamon as its six headliners this year.

Raye, Spiritbox, Fontaines D.C., Reneé Rapp, Pendulum, Denzel Curry, Kenny Beats, Nia Archives, Two Door Cinema Club, Neck Deep, The Wombats, Rachel Chinouriri, Hak Baker, The Last Dinner Party and more are also expected to play.

Check back at NME here for the latest news, reviews, interviews, photos and more from Reading and Leeds 2024.

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