Leeds Festival 2025 goes out with a bang
The renowned festival enlisted the help of headliners Travis Scott, Hozier and Bring Me The Horizon.
Photo: Sam McMahon
I’ve seen the line-ups over the years, but I’ve never felt ready — does that make sense? You have to be a certain type of person to attend a multi-day festival. I’ve always been a one-day festival type of person, but then it finally clicked; I can just travel back and forth each day with no fuss. No camping – I’ve heard enough horror stories to put me off for life.
It’s safe to say: lessons were learned. Never again will I get on that shuttle bus. Sure, at £32 for six trips, it’s a bargain, but it also drains all of your energy and leaves you feeling zombie-like as you try and work out how to get into the festival. Next time, I’m camping and bringing all the protein bars.
We arrive later than expected on the Friday (and this continues to be a common theme), but we manage to get there just in time for big irridescent balls to be rolled out on stage and the phenomenal musician Suki Waterhouse, who started her career as a model before turning her hand to acting, and now has several successful albums under her belt. Last time I saw her was at the Mitski headline of All Points East last year, in a tent that could hardly contain her; it was spilling out from every side, and I was five rows from the front, a decision I couldn’t help but regret when I was profusely sweating, leading me to depart from her set towards the end at risk of losing my life to the unbearable heat (dramatic, but you had to be there). Her set this time is on the main stage — rightfully so — and is the background to my vegan mac and cheese, while the crowd at the front are largely teenage boys, all going crazy when she does her cover of Oasis’ Don’t Look Back In Anger.
Next up is one of the artists I was most excited for and one I have somehow managed to not see live over the past few years, despite how much I tried. Arguably one of the best sets of the entire festival, Amyl & The Sniffers stomped on stage with a point to prove, with frontwoman Amy asking the noticeably young audience, “Have you guys just finished your exams?”. Considering how young so many people looked, the answer was probably yes. If you get the chance to witness Jerkin’ live, take it.
For the next act, I’ll preface it by saying I’m by no means a fan of dance music, but I do believe if you attend a festival with someone, you should compromise when it comes to choosing who to see, so I had to let our deputy editor, Chloe, take me to see Sammy Virji. And, you know what? Once you realise that life is too short to be miserable and you whip out some of the best dance moves of all time (the lawnmower, robot, etc…), you can pretty much enjoy anything. And enjoy it I did!
Before the first big headliner, we stopped off in the tent to catch the tail end of The Dare’s set, someone who I’d only heard a song or two from before, so I had no idea what to expect. I had no idea his music leaned so electronically, despite all the obvious signs being there (I mean, he’s a frequent Charli xcx collaborator), so I was taken aback by how much fun the snippet of his set we caught was. When he’s on tour, I’ll be there.
Of course, the majority of the attendees on Friday (and seemingly the other two days) were there for the big one: Travis Scott. To be fair to them, they clearly got involved throughout the festival with other sets, but you can always tell when people are there for one thing. It’s almost like they all wear the same uniform. While his set abruptly came to an end when there were still 40 minutes left, he managed to cram in some of his biggest hits and set fire to his hand. At times, maybe, the autotune went a touch too far.
The next day comes around, and this time we sense it’s about to be an awful lot busier — the festival always manages to pull together brilliant line-ups, but this time they’ve knocked it out of the park: they’ve got Chappell Roan and Hozier on the same day. Naturally, the queue for the shuttle bus we simply walked onto yesterday now twists and turns to the very last barricade, giving us a glimpse of what was to come.
Somehow, the people on this bus are louder than the Travis Scott fans the day before; I overhear way too much detail about someone’s love life who is sat right behind me, and I can’t wait to escape. And yet, the journey feels much longer than the 40 minutes it’s meant to be, and the other attendees only seem to get louder. If the festival has one downside, it’s that this shuttle bus is hell on Earth. I hadn’t even reached the festival gates, and I was already overheated and overstimulated.
We miss the first few songs from Wallows, but we still catch some of their best — another band that stands out amongst the rest from this weekend, maybe thanks to their audience interaction and crisp vocals. I get why Dylan Minnette hasn’t acted in a hot minute (or Minnette, ha) now. Perhaps we can all forget 13 Reasons Why and let Dylan be remembered as a rock star instead; he commands the stage like this isn’t his first rodeo, and certainly won’t be his last.
Still compromising, naturally, I let Chloe take me to see Soft Play and, to be fair to them, it’s nostalgic; I used to moan and groan whenever she’d play them back in the day (sorry, Soft Play) but, actually, I get it. Their live set is fun, frenetic and Isaac Holman climbing into the crowd cements this. I’m not sure they’ll ever get back that ferocious energy they had as Slaves, or if I’ll ever listen to their music for anything other than nostalgia, but they put on a commendable and enjoyable show. Although, even if they hate it now, I’d put Cheer Up, London in the set.
We caught the best parts of The Kooks set, which was full of nostalgia. Only moments after I said, “They won’t play Do You Wanna,” they broke into the first chord, and I left their set satisfied. They made way for the best act of the festival: Chappell Roan, who we decided we’d brave the front of the crowd for, securing our position close to the stage with an hour still to go. I hadn’t cared enough to get to someone’s set so early for a long time, but I had seen the clips from Reading the day before, and I knew this was one to be front and centre for.
Photo: Emily Marcovecchio
I was right, of course, as Chappell didn’t just perform; she put on a performance that will go down in history, managing to get a crowd of varying ages to come together for the HOT TO GO! dance. She even brought back my favourite track Love You Anyway, and finished her set with a monumental performance of Pink Pony Club.
We managed to catch a few songs from Mannequin Pussy — with Loud Bark proving to be just as good live as it is recorded — before dashing over to AJ Tracey. He brought out Master Peace to perform their recent collaboration Red Wine from AJ’s new album, as well as having Big Zuu keeping the vibes in check.
Topping off the Saturday night, we prepared to feel everything as we headed down to catch Hozier, someone I never thought I’d actually get the chance to witness live. He managed to bring the hectic crowd to a standstill as he performed one of the most heartbreaking songs of all time: Cherry Wine. It’s a shame people were chatting through it — imagine talking through one of the most devastating songs of all time, or being lucky enough to be witnessing a once-in-a-generation talent in person and not appreciating it? Bizarre. He still managed to close the night with his big one, Take Me To Church, and drew the curtains on the busiest day of the festival.
We started the Sunday off with a super quick stop at Example — for nostalgia reasons — but slowly walked away to see Royel Otis when we realised we’d missed them if we waited for Example’s hits. With pink balls floating through the crowd, the Australian exports got everyone dancing and singing along with their cover of Murder on the Dancefloor, a rendition that made them go viral in the first place. I would’ve liked to hear more from their new album, but just after the set, a three-date UK tour flashed on the screen, so I suppose I’ll hear those then.
Naturally, next I had to experience Conan Gray performing Vodka Cranberry, and it lived up to expectations. He has the perfect voice for musical theatre, which I’d be capitalising on if I were him. His stage set-up matched his new album perfectly, with a shipwreck awash on stage, and him in the perfect Peter Pan-esque outfit.
We caught a very crowd-focused set from Bakar, who came on stage twelve minutes late and then, much to everyone’s dismay, had his set cut short so he couldn’t play his smash hit Hell N Back. He took matters into his own hands and joined the fans to sing it with no backing, just him and the crowd.
Another band I was excited for, Wunderhorse, didn’t disappoint; with their passion and ability to get through the whole set without a breakdown (they cut their set short at Truck Festival), they were another highlight of the festival. In particular, that moment in Teal — as good live as everyone says it is.
The penultimate band were one I never imagined I’d see, but seeing Fred Durst put on a flawless performance with the rest of Limp Bizkit truly cemented them as the legends they are. Impressively, there were countless people in the crowd dressed as Fred — truly spectacular.
Closing Leeds Festival is no easy feat, but Sheffield’s Bring Me The Horizon made it look easy, with expensive production and the promise of a ‘one of a kind’ show. If setting up your entire set like a video game is anything to go by, Oli Sykes and co. blew our socks off with their perfectly honed set — after all, they had a practice run in Reading. Working their way through hits like Shadow Moses, Can You Feel My Heart and even throwing in an Oasis cover, it seemed fitting that they’d end it on Throne, as the festival came to an impressive close and confetti fell upon everyone.
