First review: Leeds Festival 2010

Find out how the northern leg of the festival was

United Kingdom | by Gavin McInally | 29 August 2010

Gavin McInally headed to Leeds Festival for one of the most anticipated weekends of the year. Here's how it went down...

Overall – 8/10

Leeds can write another successful installment into its impressive history book with a 2010 bash that included chapters on rockin' performances, praying for sunshine and a common loathing of all things Reading.

Rammed from corner to corner of the shockingly small site, fans piled into the various tents all weekend for a healthy dose of dance, punk and even comedy and with a few prayers to Mother Nature, the northern leg of festival double header stayed relatively dry, bar a few worrying showers each day.

By Sunday night, 80,000 plus worse-for-wear revellers were already making arrangements for the 2011 edition.

The site – 4/10
The Leeds planners must be the kinda guys who build three floor home extensions over some spare driveway space because why anyone would try to squeeze 80,000 fans and six stages into a small corner of Bramham Park is anyone's guess.

Despite some of the tents being mere metres away from each other, the prospect of battling the masses to reach your destination, becomes an off-putting slog.

The flow of human traffic in the tight corridors of land between stages are also dangerous places to sit and have a sandwich, or an overpriced burger, as a few poor souls find out to their cost.

Not surprisingly, the site still sits up there with the dirtiest of major UK festivals with the grass littered with any rubbish, which can't be used to redeem 20p.

And unforgivably, in an age when the likes of Glasto, Download, T In The Park and Sonisphere have all got the toilet situation under control, Leeds remains a shit covered cess-pit with queues of women and guys preferring to relieve themselves against the Main Stage fencing than enter a toilet.

Getting there and back – 8/10

Not much more than a stone's throw from the A1 and with helpful, torch wielding security staff, the traveling to and from Leeds is refreshingly smooth each day.

Buses are available to take fans on return trips to Tesco for fresh supplies and for those who don't mind being robbed, taxis are also on hand to ferry around fans on a bevvy or clean toilet hunt.

Atmosphere – 8/10

As billed, Leeds lives up to its unruly reputation with cries of 'Butt Scratcher!' still in circulation, fires being started each night like it's 1980s Donington and swarm of teenagers with all sorts of writing penned onto their limbs.

But the madness does provide Leeds with a genuine buzz and when bands tap into that source; Gallows, Limp Bizkit, Pendulum, Weezer etc... it makes for a potent and absorbing mix which reminds punters why they paid that tout £200 to be here.

Music

Uppers

Weezer – 10/10
American pop-punk kings wowed brand new and old fans alike with a manic headline-worthy set lead by crazed frontman Rivers Cuomo, who was either loaded with drugs or just genuinely mental.

With a set rammed with more classics than the average rock fan even knew they had – ‘Island In The Sun’, ‘Hash Pipe’, ‘The Sweater Song’, ‘Say It Ain't So’, ‘Buddy Holly’ – the joy of their singalong back catalogue was heightened by a frontman who didn't pause for breath.

Whether bouncing on a trampoline, pulling crowdsurfers over to do a spot of karaoke, climbing ad billboards, doing keepie-ups, destroying guitars, donning wigs to cover Lady Gaga or running head-first into the crowd, Cuomo and his on-form bandmates ensured fans could not afford to look away even to grab another pint.

Gallows ('The Rats') – 8/10
“It was the worst kept secret of the festival,” admitted Frank Carter, before Gallows – playing under the moniker of The Rats – tore into a mosh pit inducing set in the intimate Lock Up tent.

The fact the English punks were playing an unusually early slot may no longer have been a surprise but their consistency to put on a jaw-dropping performance never fails to amaze the audience.

A stampede is caused as Carter demands a circle pit around the outside of the tent and older hits like 'Abandon Ship' and 'In the Belly of the Shark' have the canvas bulging at the seams.

For closer 'Orchestra Of Wolves', members of Cancer Bats, Rolo Tomassi and Cerebral Ballzy invade the stage to scream into any available mics and carnage ensues before them.

Limp Bizkit – 7/10
The late 90's nu-metal flag bearers should be a laughing stock these days with aging frontman Fred Durst still dressing like an teenage American jock – even the organisers billed them only one slot above You Me At Six and far from the dizzy heights of Blink 182 – but once again they prove their worth by attracting one of the biggest crowds of the Saturday and inciting mosh action all over the place.

Opening with UK No 1 hit 'Rollin' and closing with George Michael's 'Faith' the American rap-metallers left little space for small talk with a barrage of nostalgic tune causing fans to 'break stuff'!

Blink 182 – 8/10
With jokes about their dads' sexual habits, insanely catchy pop-punk numbers and a 360-degree revolving drum kit, the trio of Blink 182 are back... older but no less fun.

Large chunks of the crowd are dragged back to their teenage years as 'All The Small Things’, 'What's My Age Again?' and 'The Rock Show' give a nostalgia trip which could've been accompanied with a skate board.

The Libertines – 10/10 or 1/10
Almost impossible to fairly sum up the reformed and apparently straight Libertines' festival comeback because as many curious fans left wondering what all the fuss was about proclaiming “they're totally pish” as there are hypnotised devotees clinging to every single word muttered by friends re-united Pete Doherty and Caral Barat.

What wasn't up for debate, even for the deaf, is 'Can't Stand Me Now' is a modern classic and seeing the troubled duo share a mic to sing it was a genuine highlight of the weekend.

Downers

Modest Mouse – 5/10
An odd choice for the Main Stage and they quickly went about proving the point as they plundered a relatively obscure set list which did them no favours.

With the first rain shower overheard the multi-instrumental yanks chose to neglect their impressive last album, ‘We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank’, playing just 'Dashboard', for a journey down their more mundane past offerings.

'Third Planet' and 'Satin In A Coffin' are still gems although it's difficult not to feel let down about the absence of 'Missed The Boat', 'Float On' and the stunning 'Parting of the Sensory'.

Serj Tankian – 4/10
Fair play to the former System of a Down frontman for going it alone but the problem is his solo efforts just sound like his previous band's B-Sides.

A half empty NME/Radio One Stage gave him the respect he deserves as he plied his new trade with an impressive mini-orchestra, but the hope of hearing a SOAD tune pretty much says it all about Serj Tankian's latest project.

Guns n' Roses – 5/10
It's a sorry day when only being 30 minutes late on stage is a bonus... Axl Rose and friends (Slash lookalike included) couldn't attract the crowd of Paramore, Limp Bizkit or Lostprophets and no matter what the disillusioned barrier hoggers say, their time has now passed. RIP Guns n' Roses. Please?

Random Events
A crowd surfer for Mumford & Sons being wedgied to within an inch of his manhood working in future.

'Hit the twat game': throw a bottle at anyone you see launching a drink at the crowd.

Charge the staff gate: wristband/excuse or not, push hard enough and the poor security buggers had to let the surge of bodies through a shortcut to the campsite each night…