I love dance music - and Leeds Festival’s stage closure shows UK festivals need to wake up
‘Festivals are risking being left behind’
For dance music fans, Leeds Festival’s new tent is one of the most exciting additions to this year’s festival.
We’ve had reporters on the ground throughout the event, and while I haven’t gone down to Bramham Park this year, you would have found me grooving in The Warehouse the entire weekend.
So I really feel for the thousands of fans, many in their teens, who had scraped and saved to buy tickets to see their favourite DJs perform - only for the stage to be closed on Saturday.
While organisers are yet to officially confirm the reason for the shutdown, Dutch DJ Julian Fijma has said the tent was closed during his set due to capacity concerns.
Locky and Alisha’s performances were also cancelled, and they both said they were “gutted” for fans, as they took the time to walk around the site and meet revellers who had turned up for their sets.
This isn’t an isolated incident.
Last year, Parklife had to shut its Matinee stage over safety concerns as Manchester DJ Josh Baker got onto the stage.
And Leeds duo Prospa, who were due to perform at Reading Festival yesterday, also confirmed The Warehouse had been closed at Leeds’ sister event.
The pair, who are one of the most talked-about artists in the scene right now, said: “We have seen this happen before at larger festivals in the UK.
“It’s time to double the capacity of these tents or put dance music on the main stage.”
I’ve had debates with guitar-loving colleagues about whether dance music should be given such prominence at what was traditionally a rock music festival.
But my argument isn’t whether dance music belongs at Leeds Festival.
It’s about whether UK festivals are properly prepared for how big dance music has become.
House fever is sweeping Leeds right now. You only have to look at the huge names brands like Arrival have brought into the city - Chris Stassy’s show at Testbed earlier this year was one of the best moments of Leeds’ dance music history.
Leeds club brand Mint is opening a huge 2,500-capacity venue that’s already announced massive names for its opening season.
Dance music isn’t some niche corner of festivals anymore. The crowds are there, the artists are there and the appetite is there.
And if festivals don’t start taking it seriously, they risk being left behind by a culture that’s only going to get bigger.