Review: Leeds Festival 2022, day two

If the Friday at Leeds Festival bucked traditional weather trends with pleasant skies, then the weekend proper in West Yorkshire doubles down on unusually promising seasonal swing –- it’s a Saturday with scorching sunshine as the north of England’s biggest post-GCSE bash rolls into its second day.

So too comes the musical divergence - for the first time in its brief existence as a dual-bill-topper extravaganza, both it and sister festival Reading bring together a pair of modern-day hip-hop superstars with intriguingly split appeal, the furthest indicator yet that it could be ready to move on from its white-rock roots.

That said, Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes’ opening set is a hell of a rallying cry for the vitality of guitar-based music. The ex-Gallows frontman is a fixture here, playing third on the main stage bill during his last appearance in 2019; feted with the tag of special guest, he delivers the sort of sonic assault that blows the hangover cobwebs, leaving Canadian export bbno$’s good-time bars in need of an Ibiza clubland classic pick-me-up to garner a response from a shell-shocked crowd.

Black Honey’s brand of caterwauling surf-garage menace feels rather swallowed by the baking fields around them afterwards too, but they still fare as well as American alt-rockers Wallows, who seem better recognised for heartthrob pin-up status throughout their set, as several fans wield signs declaring frontman, actor-guitarist Dylan Minnette, as their “free pass” for would-be late-night debauchery.

Last year’s BRIT Award Rising Star victor Sarah Griffiths – better known by her stage name Griff – proves a bubbly treat with her sharply-tooled tunes, complete with a cover of Whitney Houston’s evergreen bop I Wanna Dance with Somebody, easily winning over the gaggle of less convinced punters lurking in the queue for noodles and gyoza nearby. Joy Crookes is less of a subsequent hit, but with temperatures soaring, her neo-soul style certainly bleeds into the heat-haze as fans scramble to find shade.

Merseyside indie rockers Circa Waves continue to go from strength to strength almost a decade into their career, parlaying their palate of peppy tunes into shinier directions. They pull a solid crowd, but look unexpectedly dwarfed by pop-punk mainstays All Time Low, whose own transmutation to more mid-tempo fare has not dulled their pull as a nostalgic powerhouse, with confetti cannons and endorphin rush bangers.

Little Simz continues her impressive ascent through festival bills following last year’s acclaimed Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, her jazz-infused musings well-suited to the atmospheric hues of an early sunset slot. Her draws is a testament to her personable skill, particularly in comparison to Glass Animals, whose supersize hit Heat Waves proves an effective closer but otherwise feel a touch swallowed by the crowd, with the fringes drifting off to hard rock duo Cleopatrick, or Radio 1 DJ Jaguar’s rock-solid dance mix nearby.

US chart-topper Polo G seems a no-show 20 minutes past his slot, but the Illinois trap man eventually emerges to a hero’s welcome. His set is short and sweet, if by necessity to give way for Megan Thee Stallion, making her festival bow jointly atop the bill, and a major beneficiary of R+L’s twin-headline strategy. The Texan proves one of the more puzzling additions – she lacks the big records and the bevy of smash singles on British shores to justify this slot on paper despite huge transatlantic appeal. She too rocks up half-an-hour late, sparking something of an early exodus, but her confident set, with characteristic “hot girl summer” tongue, provides a vibe-heavy performance as transfixing as it is bemusing.

Dave has come a long way since he fist played Leeds, beneath Bugzy Malone on the Radio 1Xtra Stage in 2017. The Brixton rapper is possibly the finest purveyor of socially conscious hip-hop to emerge from Britain, save maybe Stormzy – and it is from the latter’s own headline performances that he has drawn the craft of an exemplary hip-hop arena show, replete with guitar solos and fireworks. Yet from opener We’re All Alone, he remains the true magnetic attraction – a fan cameo to duet Thiago Silva only reinforces his man-of-the-people power – and a home-run coronation stretch replete with heavy-duty hits sends Leeds stratospheric to cement his place in the modern British pantheon.