Campers at Leeds Festival have been urged to secure their tents as Storm Lilian continues to bring strong winds to the site.
The Met Office have advised festival-goers at Bramham Park to take extra precaution around campsites this morning (August 23), with gusts of up to 60mph expected and a yellow warning in place until 11am.
Warnings are also in place for disruption to travel, dangerous conditions on roads and possible power cuts, although Storm Lilian is expected to ease as we head into the afternoon.
Met Office forecaster Greg Dewhurst spoke directly to campers at Leeds Festival (via BBC): “The wind will pick up in that area through the night, particularly strongest towards dawn and then first thing in the morning, before then easing through the morning.
“So there could be potentially some impacts from those strong winds, of 50 to 60mph in the area so it’s worth making sure your tents are secured.”
Network Rail have said they are “closely monitoring” the potential impact of the storm on the rail network.
Reading & Leeds Festivals 2024 kick off today (August 23) at their usual sites of Richfield Avenue (Reading) and Bramham Park (Leeds) – find the complete list of stage times here and see here for how you can follow along at home on BBC iPlayer and elsewhere if you were not able to secure a ticket.
The festival boasts Fred Again.., Lana Del Rey, Liam Gallagher, Catfish And The Bottlemen, Blink-182 and Gerry Cinnamon as its six headliners this year.
Raye, Spiritbox, Fontaines D.C., Reneé Rapp, Pendulum, Denzel Curry, Kenny Beats, Beabadoobee, Nia Archives, Two Door Cinema Club, Neck Deep, The Wombats, Ashnikko, Rachel Chinouriri, Hak Baker, The Last Dinner Party and more are also expected to play from Wednesday, August 21 to Sunday, August 25.
The 2024 edition of Reading & Leeds boasts two new stages: Chevron and The Aux. The latter has been designed to showcase “pioneering digital creators” and will allow festival-goers to attend live podcasts, interactive talks, and livestreams and tune into the current media landscape.
Chevron, meanwhile, will replace the festivals’ dual main stage format and will boast the world’s first outdoor floating LED video sky canopy. It has been created especially to host dance music, pop and hip-hop acts and will be headlined by The Prodigy, Sonny Fodera and Skrillex.
Check back at NME here for the latest news, reviews, interviews, photos and more from Reading and Leeds 2024.
