Live at Leeds in the City is breaking bands and making headliners

Having shifted across the calendar, from May to November, it launched its summer sister festival - In the Park - but retains the grassroots atmosphere that always made it special. Showcasing the region’s newest acts and bringing in local partners, if it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a city to break a band.

Centering around The Wardrobe venue, which also plays home to this year’s Best Fit stage, the multi-venue festival makes use of beloved spaces all within a ten to fifteen minute walk of the wristband exchange and afterparty dancefloor. Venues like Oporto and Belgrave Music Hall have long acted as destinations for the city’s bands and fans, and function with a casual ease. There are a couple of stages which require a quick Uber, but not including the likes of the Brudenell Social Club into the programme would feel something akin to blasphemous.

Opposite The Wardrobe is Leeds Conservatoire, formerly Leeds College of Music. Kicking off your day in the school’s shadow is a neat reminder of the creative tapestry that makes up Leeds’ rich scene. Not only does it bring in a constant flow of new talent to the city, musicians who form bands and session with existing acts, but it also helps form the type of bonds and opportunities that mean those people stick around. Walking around the festival, you’re constantly greeted with familiar smiles from folks who’ve earned their stripes on stage and now support those starting out.

That sense of local pride and support is no more evident than in the enormous queue that forms outside Leeds Beckett, the largest stage on the festival map, where Mercury Music Prize winners and hometown heroes English Teacher are the penultimate support to Everything Everything. Former students of the Conservatoire, their success is reflected back in the hoards of fans waiting to celebrate with them.

Aside from the unsurprising, if not unavoidable, draw of the festival’s demi-headliners, venue capacities around the city are well-managed and programmed. Being able to run between sets without leaving time to stand in line means any painful decision-making is practically eliminated. Everything runs on time, too. Being able to bounce between venues and see the acts that were actually scheduled to play shouldn’t be such a surprise, but it is a welcome one.

Another clever trick from the programmers is to distribute big names throughout the day. Marika Hackman opens the Beckett stage early doors to a large crowd. Playing her last show of the year with an accomplished confidence, sparring easily with her bandmates and filling the hall with her darkly rich dynamics, she makes two in the afternoon feel like a much later time slot.

Similarly, down the hall on the venue’s smaller stage, London newcomer Essence Martins also mistakes the afternoon for evening, correcting herself mid-welcome. Playing a stripped back set with two backing vocalists, her poetic pop-folk is arresting and warm, evoking the seventies sun-kissed harmonies of Joni Mitchell and Carole King with a modern desolation. The cutting lyrics of recent single “Quiet & Perfect” are only lightly interrupted by the noise of punters chatting at the venue’s shared bar.

Stages across the festival are partnered with local labels, platforms and press. At the Sela Bar, Launchpad hosts several early acts including the haunting cello-led electronica of Sheffield’s Vera Sacra. The initiative supports young artists and professionals from Leeds and West Yorkshire at an early, grassroots level, and is co-run (alongside others) by Kaiser Chiefs’ Simon Rix and former ¡Forward, Russia! guitarist Whiskas, another reminder of the deeply connected community that cements the scene’s success.

Likewise, at Belgrave, Nice Swan Records and Dance to the Radio share a stage where Bristolian punk trio Mould ravage their way-too-short set. With tracks that begin like The Rapture before descending into nihilistic thrashes of abrasive noise, they are less confronting and far more charming than they should have been.

At Oporto, BBC Introducing Leeds and Sheffield welcome Suffolk siblings Esme Emerson for a half hour of intimate, heart-swelling, folk-pop. Packing the small room with giddy fans who heckle delightfully throughout, their sugary melodies and accessible approach make for the perfect break from the noise.

Ending the night at The Wardrobe, Lime Garden headline Best Fit's stage packing the venue to capacity with their instant and angular pop-hooks and seamless show-womanship. Eliciting rowdy whoops and filling the air with a heavy heat, they take the crowd through an electrifying set of ready-made hits from their scintillating debut and look more than comfortable in their closing spot.

Their set is also a good reminder that festivals like Live at Leeds – just as they can break new talent – can also help make headliners. It’s a level of artist too few and far between on today’s festival posters. By bringing together audiences hungry to support emerging artists, platforming new talent and continuing to support growing acts, the festival is an essential destination. But by doing so in a way that’s easy and accessible, it also ticks the most important box - they make it fun to be a part of.