By Gracie Hall and Daisy Webb

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After a weekend full of surprises, Sunday of Leeds Festival 2024 tops off the weekend of fun at Bramham Park on a high note. With an army of young fans racing to the barrier at the Main Stage to watch Lana Del Ray, the final day offers an eclectic mix of high energy performances to attendees from the likes of Bleachers, Viagra Boys and RAYE, with DJ phenomenon Fred Again drawing the festival to a euphoric close.

Dead Pony – 12:45 – Festival Republic

Entering to ‘VooDoo People’ by The Prodigy, Glasgow band Dead Pony ascend to the Festival Republic stage as the Sunday openers. Lead singer Anna Shields descends to the front barrier, screaming along to her songs with the dedicated fans at the front.

Pulling her signature martial arts moves during ‘MK Nothing’, Shields’ impactful stage presence riles the crowd up and pits start to form in the centre.

The brand introduce an inflatable pony to the crowd, which jumps up and down with the audience as it gets battered around. Dead Pony is a fantastic band to start the day, and certainly help set the Festival Republic stage up for moshing crowds all day.

Last Dinner Party – 2:20pm – Main Stage

As the hauntingly beautiful introduction to ‘Burn Alive’ plays and The Last Dinner Party members take to the stage, the crowd erupts as lead vocalist Abigail Morris steps up to the microphone.

Aurora Nishevci (keys), Emily Roberts (lead guitar), Lizzie Mayland (rhythm guitar), and Georgia Davies (bass) remain relatively stationary, playing their instruments with quiet confidence, while Abigail offers a high energy performance.

She covers the stage with kicks that show off her red cowboy boots, and the movement of her pleated striped denim skirt highlights her pumped up performance. 

The set concludes with lead single ‘Nothing Matters’ from their debut album, Prelude to Ecstasy. “If you get on someone’s shoulders, that would be really good right about now,” requests Morris as the track begins. The crowd instantly obeys, chanting the lyrics back to her and bringing their performance to an anthemic climax. 

Wunderhorse – 5:30pm – BBC introducing

After hearing the initial cancellations of acts on the BBC Radio One stage, fans are delighted – if somewhat confused – as Wunderhorse are rescheduled to the BBC Introducing Stage.

They line the barricade early to experience the intimate set, and with over 7,000 people jammed into the BBC Introducing stage, the band cement themselves as dark horses of indie rock.

The band’s meteoric rise stems from the end of 2023, once their 2022 album Cub started catching the attention of fans of bands like Fontaines DC and Inhaler.

A set featuring songs from Cub, such as fan favourite ‘Purple’, and tracks off of their newly released second album Midas, including the title track, sends the crowd screaming. With a loyal army of fans backing the band, ‘Midas’ is poised to be the band’s breakout project.

RAYE – 5:50pm – Main Stage

There is no doubt that RAYE’s talent is unparalleled, and she is a true visionary as she performs a varied mix of tracks during her Main Stage set, including afrobeats and jazz-inspired reworkings of some of her older dance tracks such as ‘Bed’ and ‘You Don’t Know Me,’ which were released prior to her infamous split from Polydor Records in 2021.

It is apparent that RAYE is fully aware of the significance of performing on the Main Stage, just before headliners Lana Del Rey and Fred Again, as an independent artist. She shows her endless joy and disbelief at the size of the crowd in front of her throughout the performance, with energetic jumps, gestures, and by singling out individual crowd members who are “bringing vibes.” 

The entire performance is elevated to atmospheric heights with accompaniment from London’s FLAMES Collective for backing vocals and harmonies, and an orchestra-like setup made up of strings and horns, as well as the more traditional bass, guitar, keys, and drums.

When watching this performance, it is no surprise as to why RAYE was a record-breaking six time BRIT Award winner at this year’s ceremony. The sheer cultural impact her debut album’s lead single ‘Escapism’ has had on the UK music scene is apparent, with the crowd exploding into a concoction of screams and cheers as the violin instrumental introduction pours through the speakers.

Lana Del Rey – 7:30pm – main stage

After not touring in the UK since 2018, except a one-off show at Hyde Park last year, Lana Del Rey’s performances here are highly sought after, especially as her popularity has soared to new heights since the release of her ninth studio album Did you Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, and her string of viral hits off of the album.

Enthusiastic fans sprint across the Leeds arena as soon as the doors opened at 11am earlier that day, camping out for nine and a half hours to get a chance to glimpse their idol up close. Deafening screams engulf the air as Del Rey graces the stage with her alluring aura.

A grand set accompanies her, along with a group of talented dancers. Lana’s set includes songs from across her extensive discography, and choirs of fans and the public alike sing along to her greatest hits including ‘Video Games’ and ‘Normal Fucking Rockwell.’

An extended interlude of a hologram of Lana singing ‘Hope is a Dangerous Thing For A Women Like Me To Have – But I Have It,” greatly contrasts the 1950s Americana aesthetic she embodies and confuses the crowd as they crane their necks to figure out what’s going on.

A more 3D-looking Lana appears again in a glistening dress with a long sparkling train singing Grammy award nominated ‘A&W’ before launching into arguably her most well-known and beloved song ‘Young and Beautiful’ which soundtracked The Great Gatsby movie and reflected the grandiosity of the film in song form. Concluding with a stunning array of fireworks, and many tears from fans as this performance to remember ends.