Leeds Festival 2012 Review

Friday 24th to Sunday 26th August 2012 – Leeds Festival @ Bramham Park, Wetherby Words: Alexander Bradley

Being a Leeds Festival goer is sometimes hard; constantly living in the shadow of Reading is a tough pill to swallow and this year was no different but one thing is for certain, Festival Republic put one of the best festivals in the world this weekend; something everyone who visited Leeds this weekend should be proud to have been a part of.

Criticised in recent years for ‘watering down’ their line-ups, Leeds Festival gave a cut throat set of rock headliners with Foo Fighters, The Cure and Kasabian gracing Braham Park for this Bank Holiday Weekend.

! FRIDAY Friday night saw a very special headline show from FOO FIGHTERS. Playing a 21 strong set, Dave Grohl powered through a mammoth set which included all their hits from ‘This Is A Call,’ ‘My Hero,’ ‘Monkey Wrench’ right up to ‘Rope’ and ‘Walk’ from their 2011 album ‘Wasting Light.’

The whole Foo’s set had a momentous, earth-shattering sense of ‘history in the making’ as 20 years on from the infamous Nirvana at Reading performance, Dave Grohl defined rock music and pure rock performing with an intense, heart pounding performance.

Later into the performance, Grohl called on every member of the crowd to emulate his success as musician, praising every person in the crowd who had the ‘balls’ to pick up an instrument and start a band and that with that passion, anyone could be as good as the Foo Fighters.

Foo Fighters rounded off their set with an appearance on the drums from Rufus Taylor, the son of Queen Legend Roger, whilst Taylor Hawkins performed ‘Tie Your Mother Down,’ before performing ‘Everlong’ to round off a truly amazing night in Leeds.

Earlier that day history was made as the festival was kicked off by hometown band PULLED APART BY HORSES who well and truly lived up to their reputation of energetic live performances with guitarist James Brown jumping from the amp stack onto his knees during ‘I Punched A Lion In The Throat.’

After the gig front man Tom Hudson told us it was a “huge honour” to open Leeds Festival after playing at Reading in the past where it feels like he is “cheating” on Leeds- a belief he put into practice where after playing Reading on Sunday afternoon, he and the band swiftly returned to Leeds Festival to party backstage before Kasabian.

Foos aside, Friday’s stand out performance had to go to the EAGLES OF DEATH METAL. Jesse Hughes strutted across the Main Stage with such a hard rock swagger it was hard not to just marvel at the breath taking ease by which he wowed the crowd. As they played their ‘garage-bluesy’ rock hits ‘I Want You So Hard’ and ‘Cherry Cola,’ it was such an immense, pumped up sound that during their set I had to ask myself- why are these guys not bigger?

Also, on the main stage THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM gave a career spanning yet slightly reserved and laboured show with hits from ‘American Slang,’ and ‘The ’59 Sound,’ right up to tracks from their new album ‘Handwritten.’

In the run-up to Dave Grohl and co., home-grown KAISER CHIEFS made a triumphant return to the festival with a selection of hits in a high energy performance that saw lead singer Ricky Wilson climb the stage scaffolding during ‘I Predict A Riot’ whilst The Black Keys rode the success of their ‘El Camino’ album.

! SATURDAY Saturday at Leeds Festival kicked off which a selection of good rock music. 12pm on the Main Stage (an hour after Green Day had made their appearance over in Reading… detect the note of bitterness) saw DEAF HAVANA make a long overdue appearance at the festival playing a very short set of songs from their ‘Fools and Worthless Liars’ album.

Heart warmingly, the Main Stage gave way again to rock and metal performances with Cancer Bats and Coheed and Cambria before ANGELS & AIRWAVES took to the stage.

Tom DeLonge’s world changing, utopia stimulating super group has now transformed into a self proclaimed ‘art project’ with the release of ‘LOVE Part 1&2’ and up and coming films but as DeLonge sauntered onto stage he held the same cheeky grin that fans recognise from the Blink-182 front man. DeLonge gave an exuberant performance for someone so often labelled as bit of a diva as Angels and Airwaves ploughed through their classics ‘Secret Crowds,’ ‘The Adventure’ and ‘It Hurts.’

Saturday evening saw an odd combination take to the Main Stage with PARAMORE as support to The Cure. From five now down to three, Paramore seem to have new life from what used to be perceived by some as ‘Hayley Williams and a band’ to now three equally important characters and that attention away from Williams seems to have given her a little more confidence on the larger stages. The re-invented Paramore gave a blockbuster performance of punk then thanked the crowd for sticking with them following the turbulent times they have recently undergone. Before finishing, Paramore previewed some of their upcoming material from their ‘Singles Club’ before finishing up with ‘Misery Business.’

THE CURE then rolled around in the now infamous ‘miscellaneous older artist hit or miss’ slot and Robert Smith absolutely, without doubt, nailed it.

I, like many others, had this pretence of this bumbling figure giving a last hurrah and holding out until the end to play that one or two songs that everyone will know but no, not at all. Robert Smith walked, proudly out on to the main stage and sang every note with absolute clarity as The Cure rocked their way through a full catalogue of hits.

Yes, Robert Smith appeared like someone who had been thrown in a bin but his professionalism, intensity and driven happiness in just performing relentlessly gave him an incredible aura. Speaking on sparingly to the crowd he said, “I thought yesterday maybe I should say things between songs but it breaks a spell in my head,” before breaking into ‘The Walk,’ and ‘Friday I’m In Love.’ You could not take your eyes of this performance- a truly spectacular end to Saturday at the festival.

! SUNDAY Sunday started some sunshine and with it I decided to drag myself away from the main stage for the whole day and do some exploring; not just of the music but of the people of this year’s festival. The vibe from this year’s festival seemed very relaxed and almost harmonious - something that was largely contributed to by a less varied line-up and so common interests amongst everyone.

The general consensus seemed to be that the Foo Fighters were absolutely brilliant and that the show will go down in history whereas in debating The Cure’s performance, many people admitted to being part of the post ‘Friday I’m In Love’ exodus. Abbey McClymont from Manchester told me that her performance of the festival went to The Hives who played Saturday on the Main Stage whilst her boyfriend, Tom Hewitt, voiced his concern of The Subways going in free fall from the festival over the last few years and now only making the bill on the Festival Republic Stage.

So I trundled off the second stage to see what was going on and I was very nicely rewarded. PURE LOVE rampaged their new sound to raucous applause whilst Frank Carter’s new band excelled themselves- whetting the appetite for the eagerly anticipated debut album ‘Anthems’ with their more sophisticated style of alternative punk.

On from that, TWIN ATLANTIC gave a solid performance that is expected of them- pleasing the crowd with hits from their latest album ‘Free’- including a rare performance of the heart stopping ballad ‘Crash Land.’

I then stuck around for DRY THE RIVER and I wasn’t always too sure of what was happening as these bearded and tattooed men played with a sense of melodic fragility that would suddenly explode into life and it was exhilarating yet frustrating as some songs whimpered to a finish whilst others had this cacophony of rocking sound that filled the stage twice over.

My afternoon was then spent with the BBC Introducing Stage where I saw both HILDAMAY and MAX RAPTOR bring that tiny stage to its knees with high octane performances, worthy of true credit and a place on a bigger stage in future. Max Raptor, in particular, opened the swelling crowd into frenzy when lead singer Wil Ray jumped into the crowd for their hit ‘The King Is Dead.’ A masterful performance; commanding and full bodied- worthy of real recognition.

The day then drew to close with a greatest hits performance from BILLY TALENT, an epic set by FLORENCE + THE MACHINE (which was ruined by Florence Welch’s need to speak to the crowd like some sort of stoned flower child), then a robust performance from YOUNG GUNS who, despite there many good songs, their performance was capped off by a cover of Adele’s ‘Set Fire To The Rain.’

The Festival Republic was then brought to a close as Feeder continued their excellent year with a resurgent blend of old and new, playing the classic hits ‘Buck Rogers’ and ‘Just A Day.’

Then I brought my festival to a close, I swerved Kasabian to head over to the NME Stage for AT THE DRIVE-IN for their only UK Festival appearance. The post-hardcore Texans announced their reunion in January, giving younger fans the chance to finally see live performances of their landmark album ‘Relationship of Command.’

Front man Cedar Bixler-Zavala was in high spirits throwing himself around the stage and off the drum kit at regular intervals whilst Omar (bassist who is also a part of The Mars Volta with Bixler-Zavala) remained rather subdued- a far cry of what is usually expected from his performances.

That said, At The Drive-In stormed it and summed up a true Leeds Festival performance- some big drops, hot and sweaty tents and furious mosh-pits. A perfect way to end the festival.

So, Leeds Festival 2012 stated it’s self as one of the best rock festivals in the world. It stopped the slide of recent years of declining into an indie, half-assed alternative festival and instead brought metal back to the main stage and provided three headliners of top rock quality.

Furthermore, a strong contingent of British bands- across all the stages- really showcased and upcoming wave of British rock talent which hopefully will dominate the line-up more and more in the coming years.

For me, Leeds Festival 2012 out did itself after having some ‘growing pains’ in recent years and it really brought a sense of community- not just between festival goers but there was also this great rapport between musicians and fans this year.

Overall, the festival was summed up brilliantly by a man known only as ‘Woody’ whom I bumped into after ‘At The Drive-In’ who said (a little drunkenly), “I was suppose to come here with everything but ended up with nothing but I held my head high and I got there,” and that festival spirit; being so absorbed by the music, surrounded by like minded people away from the pressures of life is something that made Leeds Festival something so spectacular this year.

READING & LEEDS FESTIVAL 2012 IN PHOTOS

Photos: Kristina Mordokhovitch, Ian Taylor, Giles Smith.