With a multitude of festivals hanging in the balance this year, Sheffield’s biggest party managed to go ahead as a government test event, and hosted one of the largest crowds the country has seen since the start of the pandemic. For those 40,000 who descended upon Hillsborough park, side by side, no distance or mask, Tramlines was a special moment: one of joyful catharsis, incredible music, and a proper good boogy.
The allure of festivals is one we’ve been without for the past couple years, but it’s an allure that has not faltered. It’s been a week since and I still feel the buzz of the crowds, full of the feeling of actual freedom. Whilst getting to witness live music in large crowds again was revelatory and everyone killed it, I think this feeling is what will strike through for those there, and make it a weekend to be remembered for a lifetime.
Seeing those friends you went to gigs with again, getting pissed in a field, dancing like an idiot with the people you’re closest too, snatching a glimpse of someone you haven’t seen in years and reacquainting, catching the eye of an absolute stranger and chewing each other’s ear off about how much you’ve “missed this,” only to see them in a mosh pit a few hours later and meet with an embrace.
These little moments are ones every festival goer will tell you make a festival what it is, and these little moments are ones that haven’t happened in the socially distanced era. Tramlines made me appreciate these things so much more, these things that, when you are frantically scheduling who you want to see throughout a day, you always forget to expect.
I also cannot go without mentioning the procedures of the event. Yet, initial anxieties passed upon entry. The smooth and thorough work done by the festival in requiring NHS barcodes signifying negative tests upon entry worked wonders. It gave the weekend a reassuring foundation, upon which everyone from the food vendors, backstage staff, volunteers, musicians, comedians, and who could forget the fans, all benefited from.
However, despite all the soppy reunions and well organised fun, the real attraction was the music, and boy did it not disappoint…
Friday
The festival kicked off with a commotion on the Sarah Nulty Main Stage, a stage aptly renamed in memory of the late great Tramlines director who died in 2018, with a typically riotous set from The Blinders. The Doncaster boys turned it up for the main stage, and oh what a wonderful sight it was to see. The weekend couldn’t have started with a better live band, and the crowd were up for it from the get go, crashing into each other with grins ear to ear.
The main stage was the place to be for the entire day as it hosted three back to back indie fan favourites: landfill indie legends The Pigeon Detectives, the ever impressive Circa Waves (from which we took a break from the never ending mosh), and a slightly underwhelming but nevertheless hit-filled set from The Kooks.
But, it was Mike Skinner and The Streets headline set that was the highlight of the day. Whether he was soaking the front rows in Dom Pérignon, initiating a girls only crowd surfing competition, or giving ratings to the crowd energy after each tune, Skinner was a hilarious entertainer, rivalling some of those actually booked for their comedy. The tunes were impeccable as well, with the set ending in a half hour filled with all the bangers from old and new, from the groovy jungle of ‘Weak Become Heroes’ to the bassy skank of ‘Who’s Got The Bag?’ and ‘Take Me As I Am’. The set was a laughter and dance filled party from the get go, and one of the highlights of the whole weekend.
Saturday
Saturday’s start was much more chilled than Friday. This was down to the amazing efforts from the Tramlines organisers in turning the newly established Open Arms stage into a dedicated space for inclusive spoken word music and poetry for the early afternoon. This culminated in a set from former Sheffield Poet Laureate Otis Mensah, whose unique brand of social justice rap provided a thoughtful and soulful start to a (hungover) morning that would progress into more chaos as the sun set.
Another incredible standout performance on the day was Little Simz. Wow, can she hold a stage! Her presence was electrifying and everyone in the tent was treated to a woman on top of her game. As well as this, the cluster of new tracks she dropped all banged. It seems like since Grey Area, Simbi just keeps on getting better, and if tracks like ‘Woman’ and ‘I Love You, I Hate You’ are anything to go off this next album could outdo the Mercury prize nominated record. Simbi is on her way to a headline slot and I can’t wait to be there when it happens.
Now… I don’t even know how to start on what happened when the sun went down. Leaving battered and bruised in the best possible way, Royal Blood was organised chaos at its very best. The entirety of the crowd was a battleground, with the end of one moshpit resulting in the formation of two more. It was nice to see the two of them joined by a few more band members on stage to flesh out old tracks and do the new ones justice, the drop of ‘Typhoons’ being an especially riotous moment.
Sunday
It was an early afternoon of indie old and new with The Fratellis and late replacements Spinn, back to back on the main stage, both of whom had really stellar sets. But only one had the better moves, and that man was scouse legend that is Spinns lead singer Johnny Quinn. His carefree energy on stage was a breath of fresh air and the jangly lounge indie pop of his band provided a great start to the last day.
What followed however was less swaying to the beat and more light a flare on your mate’s shoulders and scream. Sheffield up and coming boisterous boy band The Reytons brought with them one of the biggest crowds of the weekend, despite being on at quarter to four. In spite of not being able to see the lads on stage thanks to the ungodly amount of smoke (a lot of it red), they provided a set full of northern attitude and bouncing tunes. The sky’s the limit for these fellas.
Next up was Dizzee Rascal, and he didn’t half bring it. After starting off quite tame, with lots of tracks from his new record E3 AF, the set came to an abrupt stop with Dizzee walking off, and telling the crowd that he can’t do this. What followed is a moment shared far and wide on social media and was a hilarious skit from the London rapper. He got into a faux argument with one of the tramlines staff onstage telling him he needed more bass, before turning around and hitting straight into ‘Bassline Junkie’ and the party ensued. It was classic after classic for the rest of the set, and Dizzee is just one of those artists where you forget just how many songs they actually have.
The weekend was rounded off terrifically by one of my favourite bands, Everything Everything. Always on form and musically exceptional, the band, now on their 5th album, are clear veterans and the set reflected that, blending all the hits off each album into a set that built and built until the effervescent ‘No Reptiles’ finished off the festival, and there are few songs I’d prefer to have done so.
Tramlines, you were incredible.
(All photos credit: Tramlines Festival 2021/Fanatic)
