Tramlines 2025: Indie festivals seem to have left an important part of themselves somewhere in 2010
You can find a lot at Tramlines, but cutting-edge music isn’t it.
Over what is arguably the biggest weekend in the festival’s history, the array of music at Hillsborough Park subsides into its usual reliance on nostalgia, poor planning and overpriced cans of BrewDog. Was it fun? Sure. Is there an expiration date for these kinds of festivals? Also sure.
As a festival that started locally, celebrating bands from Sheffield, having Pulp headline the Friday night seemed like a full circle moment. One of the biggest bands to come from Sheffield were going to take to the stage at a festival which was built on the foundation of the Steel City’s creative outlet. You have never had a day at a festival guaranteed to win over a crowd, yet the whole thing felt flat.
Things started off well, as local band Femur took to the stage for their set early on. Femur are a great example of what the Sheffield music scene has to offer right now: energy, creativity and an enticing live performance. As Hillsborough Park slowly filled up, the punk band played with a vigour that blew dust from the speakers and well and truly got things underway. As lead singer Felix Renshaw went into the crowd to dance with punters during their closing song ‘I Don’t Like’, it felt as though this would be a day to remember. The embodiment of the modern Sheffield music scene, setting a stage that legends of that same music scene would take to later.
Femur’s set turned out to be the highlight of the day. The other acts that took to the stage failed to capture the attention of a crowd who appeared bored for the majority of the Friday. I don’t think this is the fault of the artists, though; I think it’s more an indication of where festivals like Tramlines fit into the grand chasm of the music scene. It’s not the place for new music; it might be there, but people don’t seem bothered. In fact, there were times when it didn’t feel like the right place for listening to music at all, as the crowd, made up of a haphazard mix of Sheffielders, for the most part, stood around barely engaged with anything that was happening on stage until a classic was wheeled out.
This happened for the majority of Pulp’s set. Songs like ‘Spike Island’, ‘Grown Ups’ and ‘Slow Jam’, all taken from the new album, were talked over and disengaged with. It was only when hits like ‘Disco 2000’ and ‘Common People’ were played that the crowd bothered to give the band their full attention. It was a frustrating set to be a part of.
The band have been ending shows recently in an incredibly beautiful way. You have ‘Common People’, one of the biggest tunes ever written and a real crowd pleaser. This is a song that can be sung with passion by the masses, and that was evident in the excitement of the audience at the time. Afterwards, four members of Pulp come to the front of the stage and deliver a stripped-back version of their track ‘A Sunset’. It’s a huge contrast to go from a massive song to something more serene and beautiful, but it works incredibly well. Equally, the meaning that seems to pierce through the song, “It’s just a sunset’, someone said, something that happens every day”, is essentially the band saying, “We know there are a lot of gigs, thank you for coming to ours”.
The moment is perfect in every sense, but its sweetness is lost in those who have seen the song they wanted. As Pulp played their stripped-back number, the sound could barely be heard over the chatter of people asking others to move as the crowd completely filtered out.
Tramlines is a festival representative of a number of indie festivals out there. The aim isn’t to showcase new music or take risks on headliners; it’s to wheel out the hits, a compilation album for bangers where listeners are happy to skip over any filler in between. That becomes apparent throughout the weekend. I’m not saying it’s not fun—of course it’s a laugh watching bands like Scouting For Girls, Rizzle Kicks and Kasabian, yelling the words to chart toppers from years past—but this isn’t the field for the devoted music lover and rather a weekend-long throwback.
I don’t want this to come across as too much of a criticism. Wherever you look around Tramlines, you see groups of friends and families having a great time, laughing, drinking, dancing, and singing. What is music if not a catalyst for joy? The festival is proof of exactly that. However, seeing Pulp play exclusive songs for a home crowd, trying to hear Jarvis Cocker talk about the city and the Leadmill, only for people to talk over him and dismiss every word because they aren’t the lyrics to ‘Babies’, makes for a difficult watch.
Tramlines was a great weekend, as it always is. People who attend can borderline guarantee that they’re in for a good time, but it doesn’t come without its faults, and they were on full display for every new band that performed. Indie festivals follow a formula, and it involves losing important parts of themselves in 2010…as well as E’s & wizz aplenty.
