Live at Leeds in the Park 2025

Live at Leeds’ expansion from the city to the park has been a great success. I was always a fan of the venue-crawl element, but it’s nice to be back in the beautiful rolling hills of Temple Newsam Park. First off, I’d like to give a mention to the staff and organisation. I was there with a disabled friend, who found the access and facilities to be excellent.

On to the music and back to 2005. We Are Scientists kicked things off, celebrating 20 years of debut album With Love and Squalor. Classic indie disco hits like “Nobody Move”, “Nobody Get Hurt” and “The Great Escape” still hit the spot. Natasha Bedingfield was next up with a hit packed set. Choice covers of The Cranberries’ “Zombie” and Portishead’s “Glory Box” got our vocal chords warmed up for the big finale. You’d be hard pressed to find two better songs played today than These Words and Unwritten. The latter in particular prompting the biggest singalong of the day.

I’d spent the previous day at Wide Awake festival in London, where it was impossible to hear Getdown Services’ massively oversubscribed set on a small stage. Thankfully, they were given a bigger tent today, and duly delivered an even bigger crowd. Their infectious energy whips the crowd into a frenzy of dancing and anti-Jamie Oliver sentiment. Fun, shirtless and undeniably genuine, they’re a guaranteed good time.

My highlight of the day was the psych-cumbia funk of Los Bitchos. I’ve been a big fan since their Tequila-infused set wowed a huge crowd at Glastonbury’s Park stage back in 2023. They bring the same vibes to a smaller, considerably less sun-drenched crowd here. Dance music played exclusively on guitars often lacks that consistent groove, but they never let up and we’re treated to 40 minutes of irresistible riffs.

Maybe I’d been spoilt, but Leeds’ own Yard Act couldn’t quite sustain that for me. Though I do begin to chime with their breathless noise and righteous anger as the set goes on, I sadly had to leave for Manic Street Preachers. The hits are unarguable, an embarrassment of riches really. Despite having to again leave before the end, I still heard more ever-present radio anthems than a band playing the second stage deserves to have.

Finally to our headliners Bloc Party. Now, I have a bone to pick here, lads. Billed as: “performing Silent Alarm and the Greatest Hits”; I showed up expecting to hear the iconic tremolo picked intro to “Like Eating Glass”, the first song from that seminal album of my youth. So, I was surprised to hear myself being eased into the (admittedly beautiful) “So Here We Are”. By the 3rd song all bets were off, we were onto the second album and I’d got over my expectations of actually hearing Silent Alarm in full. In the end, we did hear 10 from that 14 track album (with the notable omission of “Positive Tension”), plus some great deep cuts in the form of “Two More Years” and “Skeleton”. The new lineup sounds as tight as the Bloc Party of old and, pedantry aside, it was a fun send off to a fantastic day in the Yorkshire countryside.