Wet and weary music fans head home and give their verdict on Leeds Festival

By the time they reached Leeds railway station most festival-goers were too weary to offer an opinion on anything other than what takeaway food to buy.

Most of them had been camping at the Bramham Park venue since Wednesday or Thursday last week.

Yesterday hundreds of tired bodies lay sprawled on the concourse floor, surrounded on all sides by barriers to prevent other travellers from tripping over them.

Among those still awake was Laura Wiggins, 17, from Cullingworth, Bradford, who enjoyed indie folk band Noah & the Whale and American rockers Panic! at the Disco – but she didn’t care much for the weather, nor the toilet facilities.

“A lot of the bands were really good but everything was wet. My tent and clothes were soaking.”

Her friend Imran Qureshi, 17, from Saltaire, Bradford, rated indie rock band Two Door Cinema Club and the “friendly, enthusiastic” crowd.

First-time festival-goer Tom, 18, from Altrincham, Cheshire, admitted feeling a little weary after five nights under canvas.

He enjoyed veteran pop/ska band Madness and SBTRKT, aka producer/remixer Aaron Jerome.

The wet weather hardly bothered Tom who, like many others, was quite well prepared for it.

“It could have been worse – it could have rained all the time. It was on and off. It was raining about 40 per cent of the time,” he said wearily.

He was relieved that there was little in the way of trouble, with only a few people setting fires and torching their tents and other objects.

The debate over the best acts at the Leeds and Reading festivals continued on Twitter and on a music forum hosted by NME magazine.

Many praised Pulp, The Strokes and Muse.