Leeds Festival 2024: extreme weather shuts down BBC Radio 1 and Aux stage
Leeds Festival have announced that there will be “no performances” on either the BBC Radio 1 Stage or the Aux Stage on Friday, due to effects of Storm Lilian.
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 warning being put in place until 11am.
Now, the festival have confirmed that the main arena will not open at its scheduled 11am time slot, and that two of the stages, BBC Radio 1 and The Aux, will no longer be hosting performances today.
“We can see an end in sight to the high winds,” the festival wrote. “We definitely won’t be opening the arena at 11am, but we are targeting as soon as possible after that and we will update you further.”
LEEDS WEATHER UPDATE
We can see an end in sight to the high winds. We definitely won't be opening the arena at 11am, but we are targeting as soon as possible after that and we will update you further. However, we have definitely lost the BBC Radio 1 stage today, and there…
— Reading & Leeds Fest (@OfficialRandL) August 23, 2024
“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 festival has yet to confirm whether the acts that were due to play those stages will be accommodated elsewhere on the lineup.
Check out one Leeds Festival attendee’s TikTok video showing the effects of the strong winds on the campsite on Friday morning:
@kurtisleebaker Wind fest 2024!!!! #leeds #leedsfestival
The full list of stage times for both Reading and Leeds Festivals can be found here, but today’s lineup on 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.
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, Beabadoobee, Nia Archives, Two Door Cinema Club, Neck Deep, The Wombats, Ashnikko, 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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Max Pilley
NME
