Leeds Festival 2024: Reneé Rapp withdraws over “dangerous” weather
American pop star Reneé Rapp has withdrawn from the line-up at Leeds Festival due to the “dangerous” weather conditions.
Due to Storm Lillian, the festival announced that Rapp would be opening up the Main Stage at 3:40pm on August 23rd. Corella, The Crawlers, Bru-C and The Luka State were no longer scheduled to perform at Leeds Festival due to the conditions, however, Rapp has now pulled out of the event.
Instead, Bru-C performed at 3:10pm to open up the Main Stage. Taking to Instagram Stories, Rapp explained her decision, “Leeds, the weather has been too dangerous for our crew of myself to set up/access the stage all morning.”
However, she does still plan on performing at Reading Festival on August 25th, adding, “I’m so sad to miss you but your safety and my team’s safety is of the utmost importance and I can’t risk that. Love you down and see you at Reading <3”.
The withdrawal of Rapp comes after Leeds Festival revealed the Chevron Stage, due to be headlined by Skrillex, wouldn’t be open on August 23rd. “Thank you all for your patience today. Unfortunately in light of updated site reports and despite our best efforts, the Chevron stage will not be able to open as planned today in Leeds. It will open as scheduled for the rest of the weekend,” the festival shared.
Nia Archives, Dom Dolla and Kenny Beats were among the other acts who were scheduled to perform on the Chevron Stage on August 23rd.
Furthermore, the BBC Radio 1 Stage, which was set to be headlined by Beabadoobee, will now longer be opened on August 23rd. Other acts who have had their sets axed include Alfie Templeman, AshNikko, and Destroy Boys.
Artists respond to Leeds Festival set cancellations
Artists affected by the cancellation have begun taking to social media to share their dismay at not being able to perform at the prestigious festival. Beabadoobee wrote on X, “This is so sad, I had a whole outfit planned. Well I’ll see u guys at Reading!!! I’ll b back in Leeds soon I hope sorry about this guys I love you.”
Alifie Templeman also said on social media, “I’m really gutted about this, I’m so so sorry to anyone that wanted to catch our set today in Leeds but multiple stages are no longer standing and we’ve been told our slot is cancelled. Leeds we’ll make it up to you as soon as possible, so so much love to you all”.
In light of the cancellation of stages, Corella, due to play on the Main Stage, have announced a last-minute free show at The Key Club in Leeds this evening to make it up to fans. James Marriott, who was set for the BBC Radio 1 Stage, is also set to perform at The Wardrobe.
Additionally, Crawlers have described the news as “heartbreaking” and labelled Leeds as their “dream festival” in a social media post.
Fortunately for those in attendance, Leeds Festival is now underway and is still set to be headlined by Liam Gallagher and Catfish and the Bottlemen on August 23rd.
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