Liam Gallagher dedicates song to tents during Leeds Festival 2024 headline set

Strong winds might have hit the Friday at Leeds Festival 2024, but thankfully it didn’t stop thousands of people from enjoying the music at one of the UK’s biggest festivals. Huge crowds were spotted at the main stage as headline acts Catfish and the Bottlemen and Liam Gallagher performed on the first full day of music.

The festival will continue until Sunday, August 25 with headline performances from Lana Del Rey and Fred Again. Blink-182 and Gerry Cinnamon are expected to headline on Saturday, August 24.

Unfortunately, three stages - the Chevron, Aux and BBC Radio 1 stage and tent - were closed due to the strong winds - which sparked a yellow weather warning from the Met Office across parts of the UK. It was confirmed last night by organisers on X, formerly Twitter, that the Aux and BBC Radio 1 stage and tent will remain closed for the rest of the weekend due to “health and safety concerns.”

Despite this, festival attendees were in good spirits and didn’t let the unusual weather threaten their fun. They were spotted in the crowd wearing retro football shirts, cowgirl hats and even platypus onesies.

Catfish and the Bottlemen were the first headliners to take to the main stage last night. The Welsh band performed in Liverpool’s Sefton Park last month after a three year hiatus.

Before beginning their incredible performance, The Beatles’ Helter Skelter was played out across the crowd. The band kicked off their show with ‘Longshot’ followed by ‘Kathleen.’

Delighted fans could be spotted with Catfish and the Bottlemen banners and red flares as they performed hits from their three studio albums. Frontman Van McCann made a nod to this being the band’s second headliner performance at the festival as the band went on to perform ‘Twice.’

As someone who has never seen Catfish and the Bottlemen perform, I didn’t really know what to expect. But I really enjoyed the simplicity of their set. No mad pyrotechnics, confetti canons or fireworks, just a black and white screen of the band’s performance and a back catalogue of incredible hits to get the crowd going.

Catfish and the Bottlemen closed their set with ‘7’ followed by ‘Cocoon’, with both receiving a big reaction from the audience. They were an incredible start to headline performances.

Next was former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher. The Manchester musician was set to mark the 30th anniversary of Oasis’ ‘Definitely Maybe’ by performing the album in full at Reading and Leeds 2024.

He certainly didn’t let fans down and performed every hit off the album. In typical fashion, he kicked off the night with ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’ to the delighted crowd. Liam Gallagher was joined onstage by former Oasis guitarist Paul Arthurs - known as Bonehead.

Liam dedicated the second song of the night, ‘Shakermaker’, to the owner of Manchester City football club, Sheikh Mansour. This wasn’t the last time the musician dedicated his hits to people and even objects.

In a humorous nod to the day’s events, Liam Gallagher dedicated ‘Up in the Sky’ to the Leeds Festival tents. He told the crowd: “I’d like to dedicated this one to all the tents this afternoon.”

Our sister site, Leeds Live, previously reported how tents were spotting blowing around the campsite earlier that day. Thankfully, the frontman and crowd were able to see the funny side.

Liam gave a stellar performance of Oasis hits, including ‘Whatever’ and ‘Half the World Away’ which are usually sung by his brother and former Oasis member, Noel Gallagher. As his set was coming to a close, Liam performed The Beatles’ ‘I am the Walrus’ - another nod to the Liverpool band from the two Leeds Festival headliners.

As he closed his set, he told fans “don’t get blown away.” Fortunately, it looks like the strong winds have settled for the weekend.