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Leeds Live

National

Craig Jones

What it is actually like doing Leeds Festival in your 30s

Leeds Festival Leeds Leeds Fest

Leeds Festival is traditionally seen as a rite of passage for those celebrating GCSE and A-Level success... or possibly commiserating.

So, in some ways, when you are going in your 30s you might be forgiven for not quite seeing yourself as the event’s target audience. I grew up in Manchester and my first Leeds Fest wasn’t actually until 2017 not because I didn’t bag my A-levels until I was 28 (I actually got them when I was 27 although that’s a different story) but just because I was perhaps into other things at the time and a bit shy.

Yes, of course, it is a little startling to think I am likely double the age of some of the crowd but I’d also argue that’s such a one-dimensional stereotypical view. In the thousands of people there, if you are open and embracing, you’ll obviously find a quite wide-ranging demographic. It depends on what you want to see and where you want to go.

At 33, Leeds Fest 2022 was my fifth time at Bramham Park coupled with a few visits to sister event Reading Festival. Three or four days straight on site can be a pretty intense mix of work and play but I love festivals and out in the field covering them is often where I feel happiest.

Although I must admit, I'd love to work doing a glamping experience rather than in a pop-up tent cuddling my rucksack. When I was younger, my mum would always send me off to festivals with a care package of bottles of orange juice and Rice Krispie Squares, to start the day around the campsite, and I'm sure she would have been proud to know I remembered to pack them this year.

There are times where you are left feeling like something of an ‘experienced campaigner’ from perhaps seeing the younglings going too hard on the Friday or encountering the very familiar, and often a little grim, sights and sounds of campsite living. In particular, my campsite neighbour ensured I didn’t get any sleep on Saturday evening which left me awake 45 hours straight…but everyone I encountered, other than him, was lovely.

In general I wouldn't begrudge someone those experiences around the campsite because, to be incredibly cliched, we were all young once. Even if I wasn't overly receptive to that at the time.

While a bit of indie music is still catered for (and, despite what some say, it is genuinely fine for music festivals to change with the times) on the bill I’ll merrily keep returning. If you are that way inclined, you couldn’t really ask for more than Arctic Monkeys’ stunning set which drew the curtain on Leeds Fest 2022. So, we can accept guitars are still on the bill? Despite what some people say.

I will admit, I’m far too old for late-night forest raves so I left the ‘youngsters’ to their Piccadilly Party and instead danced rather cheesily in the hospitality area bar and club, one of the things I look forward to most each year at Leeds Fest, to Voulez-Vous by ABBA (me changing the chorus to Manchester City’s chant for Bernardo Silva), Fleetwood Mac and New Order - few things will ever make me smile more than Blue Monday’s thumping intro coming down the line.

From a work point of view, it is always nice to see a few familiar faces in the backstage press area. Remarkably, it tends to be the same people each year and those little catch ups often prove to be some of the nicest moments and highlights of the weekend for me.

I’m already looking forward to Leeds Festival next year and seeing what the team has planned.

I think overall my feeling would be, forget age, even just for a little bit, and do whatever you enjoy doing. You don’t need to put yourself in a bracket unnecessarily.

Ps - I appreciate the photo of me with this article looks like I've been confirmed as a festival headliner. If that was the happen, I'm pretty sure Twitter would, rightfully so, declare me the worst in the history of Leeds and Reading.

You can catch up with all the highlights from Leeds Festival 2022 by visiting our live blog and if you’d like to share stories, photos and videos from your experience at Bramham, over the bank holiday weekend, you can visit our dedicated Leeds Festival Facebook group.

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