The Leeds Festival has been forced to delay its opening and streamline its opening day programming after Storm Lilian hit the festival’s site resulting in 60mph winds. Those already camping at the festival were urged to stay in their tents this morning, while people still travelling to the event were asked to delay their arrival.
Extreme weather conditions also meant New Order had to cancel a show in Cardiff Bay yesterday. Meanwhile festival-goers camping at Creamfields in Cheshire have also been battling with some very strong winds.
In a statement first thing this morning, the organisers of Leeds Festival said that they were optimistic that the extreme weather would subside as the day progressed, but were clear that there would be delays and a reduction in performances.
That statement confirmed that the BBC Radio 1 stage and Aux stage would not be able to open at all today, with a later message adding the Chevron stage to that list.
An update at midday said that the arena that houses the festival stages, due to open at 11am, would not be open before 1.30pm at the earliest, and also asked festival goers in Leeds City Centre waiting for buses to the festival site to consider delaying their journey for a time.
The most recent update at 2.40pm said that the first live act on the festival’s main stage, Bru-C, was due to perform on schedule at 3.10pm. The BBC Introducing stage was also expected to get going at around the same time.
Although wind and showers are forecast for the whole weekend, Storm Lilian was expected to ease by early afternoon, and organisers presumably hope that the worst of the weather conditions have now passed.
Once that is confirmed, it will become more clear how many performances have been axed from the programme, and what other impacts the storm has had on the festival and its site.
New Order announced early afternoon yesterday that last night’s show at Alexandra Head, near Cardiff Bay Barrage, would not go ahead because of strong winds. They subsequently clarified that, while the strong winds had gone by the time they had been due on stage, the bad weather earlier in the day had prevented their team from safely setting things up.
They explained that “independent health and safety officials determined that the site was unsafe for staff to work” earlier in the day, “which meant staff were unable to do the essential works to make the site safe or to install New Order’s production”.
Organisers of Creamfields also warned festival-goers first thing this morning that strong winds would result in some delays. However, by 11.30am they were able to confirm that the worst of the weather had now passed, and the festival site was opening up.