Bramham Park, LeedsWith thoughts of Covid banished in a blitz of teenage hugging, there are some terrific moments amid this disappointingly male-heavy lineup
“Who fancies a party? We’re all out of the house!” yells Wolf Alice bassist Theo Ellis as this festival – traditionally a post-GCSE blowout, with a simultaneous leg in Reading – returns after its 2020 cancellation. Lateral flow tests and daily health checks are as much part of this year’s festival experience as bucket hats and glitter, but it’s otherwise rather eerily as if the pandemic never happened, with 75,000 attendees – many of them teenagers joyously hugging – and no masks or social distancing. The addition of a second main stage makes for a more continuous flow of music, although Wolf Alice’s triumphant, ethereally powerful teatime slot deserves a later billing.
With
music in semi-limbo for 18 months and some high-profile US withdrawals, the scattergun bill combines zeitgeisty YouTubers and drill rappers in the tents with tried and trusted festival staples such as Catfish and the Bottlemen or Two Door Cinema Club on the outdoor stages. Friday headliners Biffy Clyro (late replacements for Queens of the Stone Age) first played in 2001, but the audience haven’t lost their enthusiasm for the topless, bearded, tattooed Scottish rockers and Many of Horror, about togetherness after a struggle, becomes a mass singalong.