Words by: Kaya Bianculli
Photos by: Gracie Hall (@gracroc)
Leeds Festival 2026 was my third year in Bramham Park and my muddiest one yet.
Leeds has never kicked off a festival weekend quite like the Thursday we had this year. The opening sets – Arkayla and The Lathums – were absolutely incredible and a fantastic lead up to the subsequent headliner, Kasabian. The band brought so much energy and power to The Grid stage and, to be honest, should have been placed in one of the weekend headlining slots. Reading and Leeds used to be a rock n’ roll festival; Kasabian brought back what has so desperately been missing from recent lineups on night one.
Although Leeds has been missing major rock stars, it is not fair to say the genre has completely died out at the festival: you just have to leave the main stage. This year, the festival brought in completely new stages including The Ballroom, which was jam-packed with rising indie and alternative rock. Irish musicians in particular completely took over The Ballroom over the weekend, with bands such as Bleech 9:3, Cardinals, Florence Road, Basht and Guerriers attracting massive crowds to the new stage. Bleech 9:3 were given one of the more unfavourable slots, going on at noon. However, this did not stop fans from overflowing the tent and kicking off an incredible Saturday. The following act was Cardinals. It was another example of unfortunate scheduling as Keo were on the mainstage at the same time, however the County Cork band were absolutely worth the sacrifice.
Florence Road were another highlight of the weekend and, although competing with Geese on The Gallery stage, the band brought in a massive crowd and for good reason. Florence Road was just one of the many female acts who clearly outdid themselves at the festival this year.
At a festival with about 120 acts, roughly 32 of them were female and the ones I got to see were absolutely standout performances. I was lucky enough to see Adela, who more than filled The Gallery. She is the true definition of a popstar; There is nobody doing it quite like Adela right now and I believe that is the last time we will witness her on a smaller stage. Slayyyter was another incredible performance – I don’t think Leeds gave her the attention and energy she deserved and I feel sorry for anyone that didn’t witness “CRANK” live in the very rare moment of sunshine that weekend.
I, of course, can’t talk about women at Leeds without mentioning two of the headliners. Florence + The Machine’s entire performance brought a completely different vibe from the rest of the festival with her music, wardrobe and fantastic dancers bringing a witchy, spiritual energy to the night. Florence Welch also reminded the crowd, in this age of filming everything we see, to put the phones down and dance with your friends whilst she performed an encore of ‘Dog Days Are Over’.
Charli XCX turned The Grid into the biggest party of the weekend. Although I love Fontaines D.C. and they put on an unreal performance (despite technical difficulties and a late start), I believe Charli XCX should have been the closing act of Saturday night. Her performance was high energy and the perfect mix of pop and dance music that would have been an amazing segway into a night out partying with your friends. Stand outs of her set were, of course, Brat classics: ‘Von Dutch’, ‘360’, and the Billie Eilish remix of ‘Guess’ that sent the front of the crowd home with free underwear. Although everyone would have loved to see her perform ‘I Love It’, we still got a much needed throwback with ‘Party4U’, one of my personal favourites.
Leeds Festival 2026 was an unforgettable weekend with (many) rainy sets, muddy boots, and breakout pop and indie/alternative rock performances. Although I still believe the festival is lacking in its rock n’ roll roots, Thursday performances and smaller stages provided a glimmer of hope into the future of what the festival could return to.
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