Leeds Fest 2022 Rundown

I'm back!

Long-time, no-write my dear friends

As a grand return, and since I will be attending Download Festival 2023 in a few weeks, I have decided to honour you all with Alex's Leeds Fest Rundown from last year's events. For context, these are silly little messages that I sent to my family every day during Leeds Festival 2022. Unfortunately, I did not do the same thing for Download last year, but shall be doing so this year, so hang tight for that!

Enjoy xx

Disclaimer: these are just silly messages that I send to my family for fun. They are incredibly cringey and I make no apologies for it. My opinions are completely subjective and I am in no way a music connoisseur, just someone who likes to dance and sing. Everyone on these lists are infinitely more talented than I am. If I don't like your favourite artists, please don't take offence xo

Day 1

Thank you for your subscription to Alex’s Leeds Fest Rundown. This subscription cannot be cancelled. Today’s rundown is:

Willow - 9/10

She actually sings really well live and was very sweet, a win for the nepo babies. She did her popular songs and a few new ones, definitely a fan of hers now and will have to listen to her more. -1 point because she didn’t do Whip My Hair, which I understand but was still a great disappointment.

Ashnikko - 9/10

My queen, so happy I got to see her live, had excellent vibes and sounded amazing. -1 point because annoying drunk men kept bumping into me and making comments about how hot she was (they’re right, but the way they talked about her was gross). I sometimes forget that, while women may be performing for other women, men can also perceive them.

Russell Howard - 8/10

Absolutely love him, hilarious as always, so glad I finally got to see him live. -2 because the tent we were in was so packed I could barely breathe and his set got cut short because someone fainted (no, it wasn’t me surprisingly).

Bastille - 9/10

I sobbed when they did Pompeii. Literally everything 14-year-old me ever wanted, they sounded even better live and Dan's (lead singer) dancing was cute. -1 point because they mostly did their new songs (as they naturally would) and the older songs they did, most of the crowd didn’t know, so the vibes were ruined as I was one of the very few people in our section that was singing along to them. Would love to see them at their own concert.

Charli XCX - 8/10

Honestly, very pleasantly surprised. Another one that sounded really good live, she danced and had two fabulous men dancing with her, I knew a lot more of her songs than I thought I did which was a nice surprise. She's definitely earned the "queen of pop" title. -1 point because she didn’t do Fancy or Vroom Vroom and another -1 point because at this point in the day I was tired and cold. Sorry Charli, not your fault queen but it can't be helped.

The 1975 - 8/10

Once again, they sounded amazing live. They did 2 of my most favourite of their songs which was great as I got to scream them and dance around and have a blast. -1 point as they again did mostly new songs which I don’t like as much and another -1 because Matty (lead singer) tried to be funny and the joke didn’t land at all and it was very awkward to experience.

Misc.:

I got punched in the jaw by a lad about half my size and couldn’t even sock him back becauseI was so taken aback, it didn’t hurt much, just pissed me off a lot.

My legs and knees are absolutely killing me and if I haven’t lost half my body weight just from the amount of walking I’ll be doing this weekend, I’ll be very surprised.

The dust in the air is making my skin and hair feel vile and I am desperate for an actual shower. At this point I had no idea just how badly the dust would affect me, so stick around to see how this goes!

I haven’t slept properly in two days, but it’s okay as it’s for the sake of the vibes, and the anticipation of the Arctic Monkeys on Sunday is keeping me going.

Day 2

Welcome back to Alex’s Leeds Fest Rundown. Today’s rundown is:

Wallows - 9/10

Did my favourite songs, sounded very good. Great vibes and I also realised for the first time today that the lead singer plays the main guy in '13 Reasons Why' which is wild to me. I love their music but for some reason never thought to actually look them up. -1 point because it was early in the day and I wanted to stay in bed.

Griff - 7/10

Very sweet and bouncy, did the popular songs, she had great vibes and a very nice skirt that I want to buy. -3 points because her vocals were a bit shaky (I’m assuming from nerves maybe, bless her) and the sound of the set was a bit off. Not really her fault but did lower my overall level of enjoyment.

All Time Low - 8/10

Absolutely screamed my lungs out, we also need to watch the footage and try and find me in the crowd because I was actually in the middle this time and swear I saw myself of the screen. The inner 13-year-old emo within me had an absolute blast. -2 points because I only knew like 4 of the songs that they did as once again, they did mostly new songs.

Glass Animals - 7/10

Did 2 of my favourite songs, vocals were shaky in places but still had great vibes. The -3 points is because one song of theirs got very popular on TikTok so all the vibes of the crowd were very weird as it’s usually chill people and skaters, so that ruined it a bit since nobody sang except to that one song and they made it very hard to actually see/hear the performance because they kept walking around and talking. Would love to go and see just them.

Megan Thee Stallion - 10/10

Oh my god. What. A. Woman. She got on that stage and let us all have it, shook everything she physically could and we all shook along with her and she made us all feel like hot girls. Also got loads of people from the crowd on stage to dance with her which was fun to watch and was just all-around great vibes, I am in love with her. I will probably re-watch that performance every day for at least the next month. She did start late which meant her set got cut short which is a shame but she made up for it with just being an absolute icon.

Fever 333 - 8/10

Very good but very loud, I am currently sitting on the floor of the tent whilst they perform ([Boyfriend]'s having the time of his life in the crowd). -2 points as they sound great but I’m exhausted and slightly worried my ears may start to permantently ring.

Misc.:

The. Dust. My black vans are now light grey, I also cleaned out my nose with a wet wipe and after doing both sides at least 5 times, I gave up because there was still crap up there. It is in and on everything and I haven’t felt clean in days. It is torture. Oh, you sweet summer child. Just you wait.

I haven’t slept properly in days. I am exhausted. The only things keeping me going are the excitement of Arctic Monkeys and Bring Me The Horizon tomorrow, and now the adrenaline from seeing Megan.

[Boyfriend's mum] very kindly bought me a Bring Me The Horizon jumper, I love it. I was slightly upset though because the merch this year is crap, especially for the Arctic Monkeys. I really wanted a t-shirt for them but hated all the designs. Obviously wasn't meant to be.

I had a wood-fired pizza today which tasted like it does in Italy and also had some Cauliflower bites in a Cajun seasoning. 50/10 will attempt to make it at home as they are gluten-free (the pizza was not, oops).

Day 3

Welcome to the last instalment of Alex’s Leeds Fest Rundown. Today’s rundown is:

Poppy - 8/10

We missed most of the set because we’re lazy but what we did see was very good. She got the crowd moving and she has a very strong voice for such a little person. I used to watch her YouTube videos when she first started out so it was kind of trippy watching her scream her lil heart out but honestly, good for her. -2 points because I was too hyped for BMTH and AM to really pay attention. Not her fault, but it is what it is.

Bring Me The Horizon - 15/10

My god. The adrenaline. Started off a few rows back in the middle section, ended up front row and nearly touched Olly (see photo for proof). Got to absolutely SCREAM my favourite songs and knew every single song in the set. They got Yungblud on stage which was cool (I don’t really like him though). The vibes of the crowd were amazing, everyone looked after each other, especially when there were mosh pits happening (no, I did not partake in them; too many big scary men for my liking). I screamed, I cried, I thankfully did not throw up. I continued to scream and cry until the Arctic Monkeys started (literally 15 minutes after). Amazing.

Arctic Monkeys - Infinity/10

What do I even say? I would say I have no words but that’s not true, I have many. I have never seen so many people in one space, and rightly so, it was absolutely insane. I said it to [my sister] but I will say it again; God is a woman and she made Alex Turner so we could all appreciate him; no man could create something so perfect. Sweet lord. They came on with 'Do I Wanna Know' and the second I heard that riff, my soul ascended and it only got better from there. Even the newer songs that I didn’t know, the vibes were just immaculate and they sounded so bloody good I simply did not care. There I was, screaming and sobbing into [boyfriend's] face because they’d just done 505 (probably one of my all-time favourite songs by anyone ever) and then they come back on for the encore. I didn’t know the first song so though I’m excited, am still crying about 505. The next thing I know “I’d like to tell you about a girl called… Arabella” I nearly gave myself an aneurysm from how loudly I screamed. THEN straight in R U Mine afterwards. I believe they did this just to attack me personally. I have NEVER experienced anything like it. Approx. 10 years of loving them, dancing and crying to their songs in my room and at people’s house parties all released in a 1.5-hour set. Ethereal, spiritual and frankly the pinnacle of my life. I cannot overstate how much I loved it. I will never be the same again.

Misc.:

My legs are killing me, I’ve been standing up and dancing for approximately 6 straight hours. I am dying.

I get to have a shower and a proper sleep tomorrow, can’t wait.

Honestly, I’m very hungry.

Speaking of which, I had a savoury crepe today with cheese and ham. Thought it would be gross, was actually really good, can recommend trying a savoury crepe if you ever get the chance.

I woke up today feeling slightly ill, I imagine I've caught a cold or something from one of the thousands of people here. The adrenaline has gotten me through but I assume I'm going to crash out tomorrow.

Turns out, it was not a cold. It wasn't even covid. I actually had inhaled so much dust that I got a severe chest infection, had to sit in A&E for 13 hours and the infection was so bad that I almost had to be admitted because whenever I tried to sleep, I would stop breathing. Therefore, I was so ill and sleep deprived (2 days of no sleep) that I was literally delirious and was hearing voices and swaying in my seat in the hospital. -1000/10 experience, avoid it if you can.

This has been Alex’s Leeds Fest 2022 Rundown.

Thank you, and goodnight.