Leeds Festival has quickly become the staple of a Northern Summer. From 18 year-olds celebrating their recently received A-Level results raving to Rudim3ntal, to seasoned rockers basking in the thrills of SOFT PLAY, and pop girlies flooding the arena with pink cowboy hats for Chappell Roan – Saturday of Leeds Festival had something for everyone.
Good Health Good Wealth
With a sound akin to hard life, alternative duo Good Health Good Wealth opened up theChevron Stage to a modest crowd of the day’s early-risers.
Despite being at the Northern installment of the Festival, frontman Bruce bravely asked the crowd if there were any Londoners amongst them – to which there was a surprisingly strong response of cheers.
Energetic and boasting hard-hitting indie rock energy, Good Health Good Wealth were the perfect way to begin the day’s festivities.
Glixen
Hailing from Phoenix, Arizona, quartet Glixen took to the Festival Republic Stage to treat the crowd to a selection of the best of their short yet sweet discography.
Having released their first single, ‘Sugarcube’ in 2021, the band took a brief hiatus before returning with a handful of tracks teasing their debut EP, She Only Said two years later. Their most recent offering, their sophomore EP Quiet Pleasures, found itself scattered throughout their half-hour setlist – much to the delight of barrier-wielding fans.
Noting that it was their first time in the UK, the band confessed how cold the climate was compared to America – despite the crowd struggling with the twenty degree and rising, dusty heat.
The performance of the band’s drummer, frenetic (and lacking a shirt), offered a slither of foreshadowing of what was to come from later performers SOFT PLAY.
jasmine.4.t
Manchester quartet jasmine.4.t opened their set with the recently released ‘Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation’ – plucked from their debut album, You Are The Morning, released January this year (via Phoebe Bridger’s Saddest Factory Records).
With a discography that explores heartache, soul-mates (‘New Shoes’) and navigating coming out as a transgender woman (‘Woman’ and ‘Transition’), Jasmine Cruikshank lay bare her most vulnerable experiences to the Festival Republic Tent.
Been Sellar
The second American outfit to grace the Festival Republic stage were steady risers, and New York-hailing quintet Been Stellar.
Performing tracks such as ‘Manhattan Youth’, ‘Kids 1995’ and ‘Passing Judgement’, the band offered a selection of songs sampling genres from classic American indie rock to more stripped-back, melodic cuts.
Sofia Isella
Sofia Isella played to a crowd that was the most packed I’ve seen the Festival Republic Tent since Frank Carter & The Rattlesnake’s surprise set in 2018.
Having garnered comparisons to When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go– era Billie Eilish, fans were surprised to see Isella only playing the Festival Republic Tent.
Whisking on stage in her zombie-core style – torn garments unsettlingly covered in mud – she quickly broke into the pleading choruses of ‘Hot Gum’ before quickly transitioning into fan-favourite ‘Cacao and Cocaine’. Erratic and utterly captivating, her jagged movements were broken up throughout the set with intermittent violin or guitar performances, alongside regular costume changes.
Wallows
Arguably one of the original actors to turn to music, the Dylan Minnette (13 Reasons Why, Scream, Don’t Breathe) fronted Wallows dominated the Festival’s main stage with their unique take on indie rock meets bedroom pop.
After opening with ‘Your Apartment’, it didn’t take long before Minnette left the stage to come down to the pit to interact with fans. After previously admitting he struggled to find a pink cowboy hat to match the crowd’s attire, one was quickly donated by a fan, which he donned for the rest of ‘Anytime, Always’.
Their first return to the festival since their debut in 2022, Wallows demonstrated how much they had matured as a band in their sound – but fans were pleased to see that tracks like ‘Are You Bored Yet?’ and ‘Scrawny’ still made their way onto the setlist.
SOFT PLAY
Celebrating the ten-year anniversary of their debut record ARE YOU SATISFIED this month, SOFT PLAY took their Chevron Stage appearance as a chance to prove to the crowd that they’re just as energetic as they were when they started – if not more so.
The first overtly political act of the day, SOFT PLAY noted their solidarity with The Mary Wallopers — who had their set cut short at Victorious Festival due to brandishing a Palestine Flag — leading to many other bands, including The Last Dinner Party to boycott the event. They further reflected that their first performance at this festival was a decade ago, over on the BBC Introducing stage, and condemned the BBC for their lack of reporting on the genocide.
The duo used their 13-second track ‘Girl Fight’ to allow any female-identifying fans their chance to enjoy a mosh pit in a safe space: “boys stay the f*ck out, I don’t wanna hear anything about it, this one’s for the girls… this one’s called ‘Girl Fight’ in 13 seconds ladies I want to see you kick the sh*t out of each other… with love, always with love” Isaac Holman declared.
Filled with fan interactions — including Laurie entering the crowd — SOFT PLAY were a certified highlight of Leeds Festival.
Rudim3ntal
Rudim3ntal offered a change of pace from indie rock and punk to deliver a set filled with drum and bass classics that attracted the younger demographic of the festival.
Visually entrancing, the trio, known for their collaborations with Jess Glynne and John Newman, utilised the Festival’s screens to offer visual accompaniments to their set – complete with smoke machines and pyrotechnics.
Chappell Roan
While Reading had Vampire Chappell a night earlier, the 75,000-strong crowd of Bramham Park were treated to a gothic-fairytale drenched stage set-up, with the pop princess herself served in clown couture attire.
It was clear from the get-go of the festival the majority of fans were here to see one person, and one person only. Even through the earlier sets of Alessi Rose and Bloc Party, the park was littered with a sea of pink cowboy hats, extravagant drag make-up, floating chiffon skirts and tightly pulled corsets. Roan’s army set up camp from when the gates opened at a prompt 11am – with some treating the day as a day-long, cutesy picnic with friends before she arrived on stage at 6:40pm.
She opened her set with a trio of songs that had fans clinging onto every word — with the especially cheesy and call-to-arms ‘Femininomenon’ proving an instant crowd-favourite.
Between each song, the screen would suddenly cut to black, like a curtain call separating acts that only added to the theatricality of Roan’s immersive set.
Treating Leeds to a performance of her newest track ‘The Subway’ Roan noted that this had been the loudest crowd for it yet, as fans echoed back to her: “But I’m still counting down all of the days / ‘Til you’re just another girl on the subway”.
Roan surprised the crowd with a sultry and rock-fuelled cover of HEART’s ‘Barracuda’ that allowed her to demonstrate her incredible vocal range and undeniable versatility.
Before she broke into ‘Red Wine Supernova’, Chappell enlisted fans to lift anything pink they had into the air, to which they eagerly obliged. Stripping the set back, ‘Coffee’ offered an emotive and soulful performance in which Roan reluctantly admits that meeting for a hot drink is never just that (“‘Cause if we do coffee, it’s never just coffee”).
Chappell Roan closed her 90-minute set with the TikTok’s favourite ‘Pink Pony Club’ that had even the most novice of fans singing along. While she may be the current obsession of the internet, the crowd at Leeds, and her undeniable talent, prove that she’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
Credit: Lucas Marshall
The Saturday of Leeds Festival 2025 delivered an amalgamation of acts, from the pleading cuts of Sofia Isella, the punk-fuelled SOFT PLAY and pop-intonations of Chappell Roan — it truly is a festival for everyone.
Words and photos by Lana Williams
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