Tramlines Festival 2016

Last weekend saw Tramlines, the biggest urban music festival in the UK, take over the Steel City of Sheffield for its eighth year. The three-day festival saw over 100,000 people attend to see a variety of acts – from up-and-coming artists to veterans with decades of experience – dotted around Sheffield in 18 different venues.

The Ponderosa was the home of the main stage, where The Dandy Warhols performed on the Friday of Tramlines. They played a variety of songs from both their old and new albums, including their most well-known ‘Bohemian Like You’. Although the music was played well the band made little effort to interact with the crowd, therefore making their performance a bit bland.

The first headliner of the weekend, Dizzee Rascal, brought the Ponderosa to life on the Friday evening. He got the crowd moving and moshing with his classic songs including  ‘Bonkers’, ‘Bassline Junkie’, and ‘You’ve Got The Dirtee Love’. The contrast between Dizzee’s performance and the Dandy Warhols was notable with Dizzee bouncing around the stage and chatting directly to people in the crowd, making a much better atmosphere than had first been established at the main stage.

On Saturday Sheffield’s own indie rock band, The Crookes, returned to Tramlines for their eighth year in a row, this time playing on the O2 academy stage. This set was without a doubt the highlight of my weekend – the band’s lively set incorporated tracks from their new album, including ‘I Wanna Waste My Time On You’ and ‘The World Is Waiting’, plus classics from their previous albums including ‘Backstreet Lovers’. For me the crowd made this set what it was, as they vigorously danced around with a few of the audience throwing items of clothing on to the stage – including a sock which thoroughly amused George Waite, the frontman of the Crookes.

Kelis headlined the main stage on the Saturday. Her nostalgic set brought Tramlines back to the noughties when R’n’B was in its prime. She played ‘Milkshake’, her undeniably most well-known song thanks to 2004’s Mean Girls, as well as other tunes including her collaboration with Calvin Harris, ‘Bounce’.

Tramlines’ last day saw the London-based quintet, Eliza and the Bear, “light up” the O2 academy in the afternoon. Their upbeat indie folk songs from their self-titled debut album (released earlier this year) filled the O2 as they performed their set. They made their set even more entertaining by bantering with the audience and each other, showing the charisma of the members of this band.

The final headliners on the main stage were the infamous Catfish and the Bottlemen. The band opened with two of their most popular hits; ‘Homesick’ and ‘Kathleen’. They then moved onto some from their second album, The Ride, which was only released a few weeks before. Nevertheless the fans were singing along to every song and the flares were burning bright, despite the downpour during their set. From their performance it was easy to see why Catfish are rising so astronomically and they still show no signs of slowing down.