Today saw the timetable announcement for next month’s Live at Leeds festival. Taking its name from The Who album recorded live in the city, the event is a highlight of the local music calendar.
The weekend begins with Friday’s Unconference event, a series of seminars at Leeds College of Music giving industry insight and advice. Saturday will play host to the main event, with Sunday featuring a separate ticketed gig headlined by The Vaccines in Millennium Square. Finally, Goals on Kirstall Road will be home to the LAL football tournament on the Monday, for the bands, venues and promoters who aren’t completely exhausted by the weekend’s festivities.
The Saturday of LAL shares a similar ethos to urban events such as Brighton’s The Great Escape, and London’s Camden Crawl, as well as the multi-city Dot to Dot festival. In a similar way, Saturday’s cross-city celebration of music spans venues great and small.
From midday 13 different venues will open their doors to play host to over 125 fantastic live acts. As well as featuring up and coming local artists (Post War Glamour Girls and Battle Lines are amongst those representing the city this year), the festival has played host to a variety of established national acts over the years. The past six years has seen everyone from The Maccabees to Bombay Bicycle Club headlining. This year, festival-goers can catch the likes of Everything Everything, Darwin Deez, Peace, AlunaGeorge and Rudimental taking to stages across the city. Smaller acts that are worth catching include London Grammar, Swim Deep and Chloe Howl. Venues including both universities, The Cockpit, the 02 Academy, The Wardrobe and Nation of Shopkeepers will all be opening their doors to ticket holders throughout the day, with an after party taking place at The Cockpit later on in the evening.
Full details on all of the artists set to play can be found at www.liveatleeds.com/artists
You can access an online schedule to help you plan your day, which is advisable to make sure you avoid too much traipsing around the city: http://liveatleeds.com/media/150923/LAL-SCHEDULE.pdf
You can also download an app to make planning even easier. This provides easy access to the programme, and the ability to create a personal schedule for the festival. You can also use the app to view artist profiles, and easily share your experiences on Facebook and Twitter.
In the run up to the weekend itself there will be a variety of events intended to promote Live at Leeds, including street entertainment and food, as well as instore performances at stores like Pretty Green, Dr. Martens and Trinity Leeds. Follow the #LALTakeover to find out about associated events in the coming weeks. The first will take place this coming Saturday. As part of Record Store Day the first 125 purchasers at Crash and Jumbo can receive free LAL tote bags, two of which will contain Golden Tickets providing free entry to all events at The Cockpit during the next three months.
Tickets are priced at £22.50 (plus booking fee) and provide wristband access to all gigs throughout the day, subject to queues. For more information on where you can purchase tickets, visit www.liveatleeds.com/tickets.
Make sure to get yours now before the event sells out, to ensure that you’re there for one of the highlights of the Northern festival calendar.
HC Leeds will be there to review the weekend, so keep your eyes peeled for our coverage!
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