Leeds Festival 2021 is just months away - and we now have more of an idea of what to expect.
Boss Melvin Benn, from Festival Republic, who oversees Leeds Festival and Reading Festival, was involved in the music pilot event headlined by Blossoms, in Liverpool, and he’s shared what he learnt from it.
Speaking to the NME, Mr Benn, thinks we’ll see a relatively normal looking festival season as we continue to move away from the coronavirus pandemic.
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Mr Benn said: “There’s no reason why the spread of the virus will get out of control and that’s what this event is about – effectively demonstrating that people can be responsible, they can have the test, come to the gig, have a test afterwards, make sure there’s no virus happening and I think we’re open. I think it means that the festival season really can happen.”
Mr Benn has been one of the driving forces behind the return of live music and has regularly forwarded suggestions to the government.
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“I never lost hope to be honest,” he said. “Will everybody still have to be tested by then? I suspect we will still have to test people, but of course a lot of people will have the vaccination already and that will probably mean they won’t need to be tested.
“We’ll wait and see what the government say but what we will know is that if it’s done properly it won’t increase the spread of the virus.”
Leeds Festival 2021 will be taking place between August 27 and 29. Headline performances will be coming from Stormzy, Liam Gallagher, Post Malone, Queens of the Stone Age, Catfish and the Bottlemen and Disclosure at the sold out Bramham Park event.
In the coming weeks and months, we’ll keep you posted about the plans for Leeds Festival 2021. You can also join our Leeds Festival Facebook group.
