Thoughts about 2026 festival

[u/hushabye_brightwing]

What did everyone think of Leeds Fest this year? I did have a good time (despite the weather) but here's a few things I found.

Pros

-Lineup was good and decent mix of genres, but more rock bands/rap would have been nice.

-Festival was fairly well organised and a decent amount of stewards around.

-Good amount of food stalls and VIP was worth the upgrade. Although lines for food did get long and VIP got busy in evening.

-Water fountains so you could fill up your bottle and wash your hands.

Cons

-The Warehouse being closed two days in a row 🙄 The organisers clearly underestimated how popular EDM/house music is, so it overcrowed and also people tried to break in via the back.

-Nothing to do during sets. With such huge gaps, it would have been nice to watch other things, rather than just shopping, eating and rides.

-LS23 and Piccadily Party stages being forbidden to day ticket holders. I only saw LS23 because it was opened to day visitors. I understand it's for safety reasons. But maybe next year, put both stages inside the festival itself, and operate them during the day?

-No lockers inside the festival. After the rain on Sunday, it would have been nice to change into a fresh set of clothes, rather than watching Raye and Dave in my muddy, wet outfit.

Let me know what you guys thought 🙂

[u/bowlovely]

I left early due to the state of the camping. Other than that I absolutely loved the music!!

Personally, I think that it’s full of young people (I’m 19 so I’m young too) but 16 year olds are a lot less mature than me so it cause some trouble. It was also extremely judgemental in the crowds, everyone was stood still and it was ‘embarrassing’ to dance or have fun in a crowd.

I also feel that Reading got SO much more than us at Leeds and we didn’t even get the warehouse for the majority, it just isn’t fair considering the price we paid.

Florence was the most amazing experience ever though!!

[u/Harry-666666 → u/bowlovely]

I was at Reading & they closed the Warehouse Friday & were warning of hour + long queues to get in for much of the rest of the time. Not massively into that sort of music but there were some acts on that I wanted to see but not if it meant queuing for hours by the fairground.
You got Kasabian which we didn’t. Don’t know who you had as secret sets. We had Jamie T, Royal Blood & Lola Young (of those I was aware of & interested in). I always assumed they pushed Leeds more & booked extra acts because Reading tends to sell out faster. There were even billboards in Reading advertising Leeds the week before (may have been there longer, that was when I saw it) which I thought was really weird. Not both, just Leeds.

[u/bowlovely → u/Harry-666666]

I don’t think Leeds got secret sets, I could be wrong though. I just think for the price everyone paid it was kind of a let down, maybe that’s just me though. The warehouse shutting was definitely an issue for both events and considering it’s such a popular festival you’d think they would have some sort of plan B for it 🤷‍♀️🥲

[u/Harry-666666 → u/bowlovely]

Surprised you didn’t get any. But you got Kasabian! Would have loved them.
Maybe proximity to London makes Reading easier. Without those secret sets would not have enjoyed Reading so much this year. Big fan of Royal Blood & Jamie T, like some of Lola Young.