Leeds festival hit by Storm Lilian chaos ahead of Liam Gallagher’s headline performance

Rock star is due to headline the first night of the three-day festival, as organisers urge revellers to take safety precautions

Leeds Festival has been thrown into chaos as England is battered by gusts of up to 80mph, with Storm Lilian sparking yellow warnings across the country.

On Friday (23 August), organisers behind the annual festival announced a delayed start and the closure of several stages due to severe weather conditions.

According to a statement shared from the festival’s social media accounts, the BBC Radio 1 and Aux stages will not host any performances today.

Despite the disruptions, organisers said they remain optimistic that the rest of the festival will continue as scheduled and have promised guests an “amazing weekend”.

In the meantime, revellers have been advised to secure their tents and stay inside their cars, as videos showed camping gear sent flying around the festival site.

“We can see an end in sight to the high winds,” an update shared at 9.30am on Friday said.

“We definitely won’t be opening the arena at 11am, but we are targeting as soon as possible after that and we will update you further.”

They added: “We remain hopeful that everything else will continue as planned and that we will still have an amazing weekend. Please await further information.”

leeds fest off to a great start. #leeds #storm pic.twitter.com/lpj7gp642x

— declan (@decomcfc) August 23, 2024

One clip showed a festival-goer, Ellie, sitting inside her tent while a friend attempts to fix it to the ground as they are bombarded by heavy gusts of wind.

“Go to Leeds fest they said, it’ll be fun they said,” she joked in the caption on X/Twitter.

A separate clip from Leeds shows a tent go sailing overhead, while another taken at Creamfields festival gives a wider view of the camping site while a rogue fan in a dinosaur costume trundles through the chaos.

Thousands of homes have been left without power as Storm Lilian wreaks havoc across parts of Britain.

Workers begin to remove fallen tree branches after strong winds brought by Storm Lilian brought down trees blocking roads and tram routes in Manchester (REUTERS)

Those hoping to enjoy the bank holiday weekend have been hit by travel delays including cancelled international and domestic flights at Heathrow airport.

A yellow wind warning has also come into force covering northern England and north Wales until 11am on Friday, with the storm widely expected to bring gusts of 50-60mph in the region.

The official X account of the Met Office posted at 5am on Friday: “Winds are now strengthening in many areas with the strongest winds occurring during the next few hours across northern England and north Wales

“Damaging gusts are possible in places so ensure you stay #WeatherAware.”

On Thursday, New Order were forced to cancel their scheduled show in Cardiff, with organisers citing the “severe winds” and a bad weather forecast.

This year’s Reading and Leeds festivals are being headlined by Liam Gallagher, Blink 182, producer Fred Again…, Lana Del Rey, Gerry Cinnamon, and Catfish and the Bottlemen.

Liam Gallagher seemed unbothered by the weather forecast (Getty Images for MTV)

Gallagher is due to headline Leeds festival tonight and so far seems unperturbed by the chaos unfolding onsite.

“LEEDS VIBES IN THE AREA LG,” the rock’n’roll star shared to X/Twitter earlier this morning.