Old meets new for Live At Leeds In The Park 2025, where future headliners rub shoulders with indie royalty

Despite being in the throes of a marathon show run supporting new album ‘Boys These Days’, London six-piece Sports Team don’t look quite as tired as they probably feel taking to the Main Stage North. They storm through the likes of ‘Bang Bang Bang’ and ‘I’m in Love (Subaru)’, with frontman Alex Rice periodically having a (tactical?) sit-down on the edge of the stage to watch the gentle moshing before him. The frustrated angst of ‘Fishing’ even sees the pit construct an elaborate, churning human pyramid of sorts - an impressive feat of energy for 2pm.

And, speaking of energy, we’d wager that no act on this lineup - headliners included - generate more raw kinetic power than cult South London five-piece Fat Dog, who successfully transform the Big Top’s eager hoards into a churning mass of flailing limbs at the drop of a (cowboy) hat. Raucous teenage lads; 6Music dads; ear defenders-clad daughters on parents’ shoulders: nobody, it seems, is immune to the preacher-like presence of frontman Joe Love, who orchestrates the mosh pit before him like a corrupt preacher leading his congregation to damnation.

Over on Main Stage North, Natasha Bedingfield’s afternoon slot is full of surprises. Smoke flares going off in the crowd? Sure. Sudden eight bar riffs on Billie Eilish’s ‘Birds Of A Feather’ and The Cranberries’ ‘Zombie’? Why not? A 20 second electric guitar solo during ‘Unwritten’? Yes please. The vocal runs might all be a bit 2010s X Factor, but Natasha’s is a set able to draw a generation-spanning crowd, as one ecstatic teenage boy - who’s presumably wandered straight out of the Fat Dog tent - can wholeheartedly attest. Sigrid, meanwhile, is in her element as evening approaches. A staple on this year’s festival slate, she delivers a solid performance with the easy confidence of a pro clocking in for just another shift, sharing favourites ‘Don’t Feel Like Crying’ and ‘Don’t Kill My Vibe’ before finishing on big hitter ‘Strangers’ - much to the delight of both the belting fans swarming the barricade, and the crowd sitting up on the hill having their tea.

Now, DIY regulars will no doubt be familiar with the unique charm of Bristol pair Getdown Services, but for any Leeds locals who are as-yet uninitiated, today’s turn in the DIY tent is nothing short of a crowd-winning triumph. Between shouts of “Yorkshireee!” and Jamie Oliver disses, Ben Sadler and Josh Law deliver a set that epitomises exactly what festivals are all about: communality, big choruses, and unfettered, un-self-conscious joy. Although they might not be able to believe how many people they’re performing to, from where we’re standing it makes perfect sense.

Chloe Slater kicked off her year with the release of her ‘Love Me Please’ EP, adding fresh material to her arsenal of eye-rolling attacks on the landed gentry, cowboy landlords, and social ills at large. They’re met with approval this afternoon, both from those who deliberately came to see her and those who appear to have wandered into the tent in ignorance, but end up staying for a dance anyway. The Manchester singer is clearly keen to put on a show, dancing and spinning around, mic in hand - even turning a cartwheel at one point - but she’s at her best when behind her guitar, trusting in the tangible strength of tracks like ‘Sucker’ and clear crowd-pleaser ‘Price On Fun’.

For local lads Yard Act, today’s appearance on Temple Newsam’s biggest stage - and their first gig in six months - must surely feel like something of a special one; it certainly does for the crowd, at any rate. From the infectious bounce of opener ‘Dream Job’ through to the frantic, almost possessed delivery of ‘Payday’, the band offer up a whistle-stop tour of their every strength, bridging the gap between their spiky sprechgesang origins and next move - which, judging by the LCD-esque percussion of new number ‘You’re Gonna Need A Little Music’, will be an eminently danceable one - with wonderful ease. Most heartening, though, is the huge swell of voices that join frontman James Smith’s for the quasi-nihilistic affirmations of ‘100% Endurance’, as a flag bearing the lyric “watch me explode” waves gently on the breeze. Still as poignant and resonant as it was when ‘The Overload’ landed three years ago, the song’s hometown rendering is an early contender for one of festival season’s most special moments. 

Tonight, though, all roads lead to Bloc Party - a group who, two decades on from the birth of their seminal debut, still sound as vital as ever. Illuminated in splashes of pink and purple, their stage presence is one of a band completely in command of the enraptured crowd before them: frontman Kele Okereke is at turns the ringmaster (“ey up Leeds!”, he revels); the joker (“don’t take too much”, he warns, miming doing a line ahead of ‘Blue Light’); and the confessor, earnestly grateful to still be basking in the warmth of stage lights such as these. The setlist, too, is discerningly judged - ‘Silent Alarm’ unsurprisingly comprises a decent chunk (and ‘Compliments’ gets its first airing in years, much to the delight of the hardcore heads among us), but the remainder more than stands up in its own right; here, Bloc Party somehow capture the intimacy of an indoor headliner whilst delivering all the bells and whistles befitting the scale of a festival. If last Summer’s appearance at Crystal Palace Park was a starting gun on ‘Silent Alarm’’s 20th anniversary celebrations, then this 2025 live run is a victory lap for a band who, as their recent Ivor Novello Award (for Outstanding Song Collection) goes to show, have unequivocally reached the status of indie elder statesmen. 

Tags: Chloe Slater, Cliffords, Do Nothing, Fat Dog, Getdown Services, Sports Team, Yard Act, Live at Leeds in the Park, Festivals, Reviews, Live Reviews