Leeds Festival 2024 says it has ‘lost’ two stages amidst Storm Lilian weather

Two stages at Leeds Festival 2024 will be shut down after the site was battered by strong winds during Storm Lilian.

The huge festival, which officially kicks off today, said that although there is ‘an end in sight’ to the high winds that have been flattening tents and causing travel disruption, the damage has already been done to the festival site.

Leeds Festival has said that it won’t be opening the arena at 11am as planned, but aims to have fans dancing in the fields as soon as possible, The Hoot Leeds reports.

They also confirmed that two major stages – the BBC Radio 1 stage and the Aux stage – have been ‘lost’.

There’ll be no performances on either stage on Friday, the first full day of the massive music festival.

In their statement, Leeds Festival said: “We can see an end in sight to the high winds. 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.

“However, we have definitely lost the BBC Radio 1 stage today, and there will be no performances on it.

“We have also lost the Aux stage today, and there will be no performances on it.

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

This year’s line-up includes headline performances from Fred Again, Liam Gallagher, Blink-182, Lana Del Rey and Catfish and the Bottlemen.

The Met Office has now issued a statement to those at Leeds Festival, including a word of advice about tents.

Warning campers at Leeds Festival 2024, Mr Dewhurst added: “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. There could also be disruption first thing to the transport networks for those travelling first thing.”

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Featured image: The Hoot Leeds