Leeds Festival: Arctic Monkeys close weekend with huge singalong on UK return

Arctic Monkeys slipped a new tune in among some old favourites during a career-spanning headline set to close Leeds Festival on Sunday evening.

"Hello Leeds, you're looking well," smiled singer Alex Turner, to legions of adoring fans in their home county.

The gigs at Leeds and Reading marked their first in the UK for four years.

Fellow Sheffield co-headliners Bring Me the Horizon brought out Doncastrian Yungblud as Bramham Park was turned into a cathedral of Yorkshire music.

After rap had reigned supreme on Saturday, Sunday was all about rock 'n' roll (baby) and the return of the prodigal sons, fresh back from festival dates in Europe, drew the biggest and most vocal crowd of the whole weekend by some distance.

From the opening strains of Do I Wanna Know? (which found their frontman riffing on a teardrop guitar) to Matt Helders hitting the hell out of his drumkit during the haunting Pretty Visitors and their collective falsetto for Knee Socks; the nowadays expanded High Green outfit demonstrated their Transatlantic appeal.

In the middle of a set that plucked from slick rock-pop beats and old indie sleaze bangers from their six number one albums, Turner and co also performed the unreleased I Ain't Quite Where I Think I Am - a funk/soul-era Bowie-esque track which gave a glimpse of their upcoming LP, The Car.

Most bands could not get away with road testing fresh material on the biggest of stages, but then the Arctic Monkeys are not most bands, especially around these here parts.

Their newer stuff, including the title track from their divisive left field space pop/jazz last album Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino, was greeted with warm applause.

But it was the arrival of the rapid-fire nightclub queueing anthem From the Ritz to the Rubble that saw it all kick off, as flares were lit by fans in the frenzied crowd. The group then unleashed a series of big singalong hits like I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor, 505 and finale RU Mine?

"Thanks for having us Leeds," said Turner, from behind his night shades. "It means a lot to us."

The evolution of the Monkeys from local indie lads to international showmen, with Turner directing the audience with the occasional line or action, has been a fascinating thing for regulars at this festival to follow.

The 36-year-old songwriter recently told The Big Issue "you don't feel the need to prove yourself as much" after 15 years in the spotlight, and he and his bandmates seemed confident and relaxed in familiar surroundings on their return.

Remarkably, on one of the biggest nights in Yorkshire's recent rock history, Bring Me the Horizon frontman Oli Sykes actually went to the same school as the Arctic Monkeys - Stocksbridge High.

"It might not be that mad for them but it's mad for me that we're here doing this with one of our favourite bands in the world," he said on stage. "This is next level simulation stuff."

The metal rockers roared their way through tracks like Drown and Throne during a high-octane, mosh pit inducing co-headliner set.

Screaming his lungs out for the most part, singer Sykes declared: "This is as close to a homecoming gig as it gets". He thanked fans for helping him through when he "nearly died a good few times", referring to his past drug and mental health issues.

In a rare softer moment, Sykes, who like Turner has a Yorkshire white rose tattoo, paused to say a quick hello to the locals in customary fashion. "I feel like I haven't had chance to say eh up yet," he said. "Eh up!"

The crowd returned the favour, and cries of "Yorrrkshire!" came from all angles, including from the stage.

The baton was then passed to the next generation, as Yungblud - succeeding Ed Sheeran as the band's special guest from the night before at Reading - joined Sykes et al for a head-banging rendition of their collaboration Obey, and a second round of "Yorrrkshire!"s was ordered by the young star.

One man near me yelled "Barnsley!" while another raised him a "Hebden Bridge!"

Wolf Alice may not be from the country's biggest county but they once again showed on Sunday why they seem destined for the top slot one day, while Fontaines DC did their burgeoning reputation no harm either.

Another band who are from south Yorkshire, The Sherlocks were given "the graveyard shift", as singer Kiaran Crook put it on stage, opening one of the main stages at midday.

Crook and his brother and drummer Brandon told us they were blown away that so many (likely hungover) people had dragged themselves out of their tents to see them.

The siblings were 11 and 14, respectively when the Arctic Monkeys first blew up in the mid-noughties and said they "had a massive influence on us when we were just finding our feet".

They recalled being shocked when Helders and his family turned up to watch them perform at a gig in Los Angeles, and said they intended to go find him just as soon as our interview was over.

While several of Sunday's acts won't have too far to go to get home to their families, many festival-goers will wake up on Monday morning with a mission on their hands.

This year, Music Declares Emergency hosted it's first eco camps at Reading and Leeds, where campers are rewarded for agreeing to leave the campsite as they found it on departure.

Claire O'Neill from A Greener Festival, an organisation that helps events improve sustainability told the BBC taglines and hashtags like "#NoLeedsOnADeadPlanet" can "really help to tie in the messages that can be quite complicated into something quite simple and direct".

She urged punters to take their re-usable tents home - many left theirs last year - and to reduce traffic pollution by taking public transport or travelling in vehicles that are as full as possible, while calling on festivals to collaborate with local authorities and the government to improve infrastructure going forwards.

A spokesman for the Department of Transport told the BBC the government was "going further and faster than ever before to achieve a net zero future".

Enter Shikari, whose recent track Elegy For Extinction addressed the threat of climate change, backed this year's scheme and appealed to the crowd's better nature during their energetic set on Sunday afternoon.

The St Albans rock band told the BBC backstage they once completed a whole tour driving in a van powered by chip oil, instead of petrol. And frontman Rou Reynolds believes it is pivotal to take conversations about pressing environmental concerns into areas of everyday life.

"Festivals are a place where people come together, they connect, they experience things together," he said.

"So I think the the more fury really that can build and be harnessed and used to demand real change, the better."