My Friday at Leeds Festival 2026
A run through of the acts I saw.
The first act which I was aiming to see was the Blossoms at about 4pm, but a surprising lack of traffic and rapid admission meant that I arrived with over an hour to spare. This was certainly no bad thing however, as it enabled me to catch the final few songs of Arthur Hill’s set on the main stage. I did not know anything about this artist beforehand, but warmed to him with little more than a silky cover of George Michael’s Careless Whisper and his funky original hit, Dead At The Disco. Despite the early period in the day, Hill and his band members provided a wholesome set. The band and crowd were grooving by the conclusion and this helped set things up nicely for the remainder of the day.
Collective enjoyment from band members was also a defining feature of the Blossoms’ set. The bodily feeling the two drummers gave to each, and every beat was particularly contagious toward the middle of the set. Meanwhile, I found the defined dress sense and curious performance style of the lead singer (Tom Ogdon) incredibly hard not to be fascinated by. First, the long hair, flared trousers and over-sized grey jacket done up over a naked torso with only one button, presented an image of confident androgyne, incredibly cool in nonconformity to the classic jeans and a shirt for a man. While the items of clothing may vary, Ogden’s confidence in appearance is perhaps similar to Morrissey. This comparison can be extended to performance style too, for in addition to the engaging Jarvis Cocker-like strutting and pausing to slightly awkwardly stare down at the audience, Ogden’s resting arm behind the back was supremely Morrissey.
Staying at the main stage, the next act I saw was ROLE MODEL. I thought his most recent album, Chuck Timely & The Hourglass was well-constructed, with pleasantly rolling country rhythms and a number of enjoyable piano riffs throughout. On Friday, his whooping and irrepressible smile which went with the country hits made a real impression. I know that I found myself swaying along for a good portion of the set, with specific highlights being the energetic choruses of Sally, When The Wine Runs Out and Writing’s On The Wall. My only real criticism of the set was that it lacked a bit of variety by the end. Some more engagement with the band would have helped, because it is always hard to continuously create interest when all the attention is on one individual for over an hour.
Still at the main stage, I was then privileged to see the former Glastonbury headliners, Florence + The Machine. The dramatic, often spiritually pagan spectacle put on by the diva that is Florence Welch was undeniably impressive. The choreography alongside 4 other singing dancers, dressing and acting like untameable witches, successfully produced an image of female power far too long suppressed, and vilified, by men. Moreover, she did an incredible job at getting the attention of the crowd, a crowd which was attentive to all her discussion, and understanding of her final request for phones to be put away before the closing chorus of Dog Days Are Over. Again however, and to have made the set even better, I would have liked stronger engagement with the ‘the machine’ of the band behind her. Similarly to ROLE MODEL, just introducing the band at some point would have been a start.
To end my Friday at Leeds Festival 2026, I chose to go and see the notoriously confrontational Irish hip-hop trio that is Kneecap. The energy from all three members was astonishing, the recent stand-in for DJ Próvaí jumping almost non-stop, while Mo Chara and Móglaí Bap were stomping lyrically and physically around the stage. Alongside the lightshow and on top of the deeply reverberating drum and bass, this all came together to produce an incredible show. Their musically and visually loud set both echoed and emphasised their potent political beliefs and strong ideological alignments. They also demonstrated their continued awareness of current affairs, affecting causes they care about, by bringing up comments made a couple of days earlier by Andy Burnham about a united Ireland being “off the table.” As you would imagine, Kneecap didn’t use the most endearing language to describe the Prime Minister of the UK.
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