Loyle Carner has been announced as the headliner for ‘Above All Else’ a new curated event that will form part of the Live at Kirkstall Abbey concert series.
Boy oh boy are we excited about this one.
An all-day celebration of music and culture is coming to Kirkstall Abbey, ‘Above All Else’ is a new event from independent Leeds promoters Futuresound with forward-thinking curation at its heart.
And who better to headline its debut than Loyle Carner.
Released last summer, Loyle Carner’s fourth full-length album Hopefully! reasserted his position at the forefront of the UK’s emotionally-charged hip hop movement.
Images: Supplied
First finding his voice in 2013 with the A Little Late EP, it was Loyle Carner’s debut album 2017’s Yesterday’s Gone that brought the artist to national attention and earned himself a Mercury Music Prize nomination and BRIT award nominations for British Breakthrough Act and British Male Solo Artist at just 23 years old.
Joining Loyle Carner at ‘Above All Else’ will be a full supporting line-up including acclaimed Grammy and Ivor-Novello award nominated songwriter Jordan Rakei and Kokoroko, the London based sextet.
Completing the line-up is much-hyped Birmingham rapper Kofi Stone and rising Dublin collective Bricknasty.
Also announced for Live At Kirkstall Abbey 2026 are revered British multi-hyphenates The Streets, reunited Leeds indie heroes The Sunshine Underground, art rock royalty The Maccabees will be performing their only northern gig and the hugely successful Kirkstall Abbey Comedy Festival is gearing up for a return featuring Dara Ó’Brien, Jason Manford, Lucy Beamount and more.
Kirkstall postcode pre-sale for local residents (LS4, LS5, LS13 & LS18) will open at 10am on Wednesday 28 January here with general sale opening at 10am on Friday 30 January here.
After closing for the entire second day, The Warehouse stage at Leeds Festival has once again been forced to evacuate.
One of the most anticipated dance acts of the day has been cancelled due to health and safety concerns just moments before the set.
Sheffield DJ Silva Bumpa was due to take to The Warehouse stage today at 1:30pm, but the set was cancelled due to overcrowding.
It's not the first time this has happened at Leeds Festival 2026, as yesterday Omar+'s set was cancelled due to the same issue and the stage was subsequently closed for the rest of the day.
The Warehouse stage is completely new for this year, and supposedly is designed specifically for dance music...which is quite ironic.
Announcing the news to Instagram, Silva Bumpa said: "So so sorry Leeds Fest but due to over crowding my set was cancelled last min I was just behind the stage and got told right before such a massive shame."
Prospa, another prominent DJ who's set was cancelled at Reading on Friday afternoon, spoke up on the situation: "We are disappointed in The Warehouse stage closure at Reading Festival. We were told it wasn't possible to play whilst on the way. This was due to too many people outside the stage.
"We have seen this happen before at larger festivals in the UK. It's time to double the capacity of tents or put dance music on the main stage."
It comes after another dance stage, LS23, was closed mid-set last night due to a health and safety hazard when all the lights suddenly switched off and ravers were forced to evacuate.
If yesterday is anything to go by, we wouldn't be surprised if The Warehouse was closed for the rest of the day which means anticipated sets from Rossi and Mall Grab will also be cancelled.
‘Actually lost for words’ – huge artist speaks out as Leeds Festival set is cancelled due to overcrowding
Clementine Hall
For the second day in a row, a huge set has been cancelled due to overcrowding at Reading and Leeds Festival.
Day two of the festival and there's some pretty disappointed ravers hanging their head as one of the biggest dance music sets of the day is cancelled.
Omar+, a rising British electronic DJ and producer, was due to play on the brand-new Warehouse stage at Reading yesterday and Leeds today.
Yesterday's set was cancelled last minute due to overcrowding, and low and behold the same has happened here in Leeds.
Announcing the sad news to his story, Omar+ said "Actually lost for words. My Leeds set has been cancelled due to overcrowding."
He then went on to show a screenshot of a text message, reading: "I've never seen something like this in my entire life where two shows back to back are cancelled due to overcrowding."
The Warehouse stage is completely new for this year, and supposedly is designed specifically for dance music...which is quite ironic.
Prospa, another prominent DJ who's set was cancelled at Reading yesterday, spoke up on the situation: "We are disappointed in The Warehouse stage closure at Reading Festival. We were told it wasn't possible to play whilst on the way. This was due to too many people outside the stage.
"We have seen this happen before at larger festivals in the UK. It's time to double the capacity of tents or put dance music on the main stage."
It comes after another dance stage, LS23, was closed mid-set last night due to a health and safety hazard when all the lights suddenly switched off and ravers were forced to evacuate.
Clementine Hall -
26th January 2026 
