We’re look back at everything Tramlines 2022 brought to Yorkshire, and everything to look forward to for the 2023 weekender.
One of Yorkshire’s biggest festivals took over Hillsborough Park last weekend.
Sam Fender’s first headline festival performance, Kasabian’s fiery pyrotechnics; vast food and drink options and a packed out 35,000 large crowd: there were so manyfestival-goers are unlikely to forget this three-day festival anytime soon.
Here’s everything that we got up to at Tramlines 2022 with The Sheff, as well as everything you have to look forward to for the 2023 three-day festival.
Friday
@the.sheff Bring on day 2! #tramlines #samfender #fyp #foryoupage #samefenderlive #samfendermusic #tramlinesfestival #tramlines2022 #placestovisit #sheffield #sheff #sheffuni ♬ Getting Started – Sam Fender
Kicking off the three-day-long festival, Sheffield’s own Frankie Beetlestone took to The Leadmill stage. From the first chord, Tramlines managed to offer an insight into exactly what the festival would entail: a musical extravaganza that paid equal attention to the roots that the festival was built upon and an opportunity for the city to showcase the biggest talent across the UK and beyond.
The first afternoon made way for up-and-coming artists like Baby Queen’s to warm up the crowd with recent hit Want Me, whilst Declan McKenna announced his stage presence with pastel box sunglasses and drew in the crowds for the evening performancces. Bringing football-inspired anthem Brazil to the home of the UEFA Women’s Euro semi-final destination, bringing the crowds together with repeated screams of “don’t you want to play the beautiful game“.
James meanwhile had the difficult job of captivating the crowd at dinnertime, and despite the vast food and drink options available just moments from the Sarah Nulty Main Stage, Tim Booth expertly kept the crowd swaying and singing with a performance for all ages.
The 1990 bestselling hit Sit Down was the ultimate crowd-pleaser of the night, but the soft tones from the northern rock band elevated the crowd as the set continued before making way for the headline act, Sam Fender.
Sam Fender was by far the standout crowd favourite of the night, judging by the number of Newcastle United t-shirts donning the crows.
A 16-song strong set, with the ninety minute non-stop performance of Fender’s best hits, as the skies turned from pastel blues to indigo, fireworks, confetti canons and flamethrowers filled the Sarah Nulty Main Stage as the crowd bounced along to every beat of Fender’s first festival headline performance.
Covering all of the artist’s best hits since his rise to fame in 2019, the five-piece band performed their headline debut with soul and purpose, burst with character throughout performances of Seventeen Going Under, The Borders, and Getting Started before slowing it down to offer heartfelt performances of Dead Boys and The Dying Light that left plenty of emotion stirring in the packed out park.
Taking time to thank the paramedics in attendance as the crowds’ over-excitement led to a short pause in the performance, Fender also took the time to explain that Sheffield is the very city that formed the full five-piece band.
Lead guitarist Dean Thompson was forced to take some time out after breaking his leg at Sheffield’s trampoline park, leading to what the band thought would be the temporary addition of Joe Atkinson. After making a full recovery, the band continued to play together, leading to the Sam Fender musicians we all know and love today.
Whilst the lyrics “If Saturday don’t come soon, I’m gonna lose my mind” didn’t quite make the cut onto the final setlist for Sam Fender’s closing performance, each and every member of the crowd was left with high expectations for the second day of music-fuelled festivities at Tramlines.
Saturday
@the.sheff What a weekend! #tramlines2022 #tramlines #sheff #sheffield #sheffielduni #uniofsheffield #fyp #foryoupage #kasabian #thevaccines #alfietempleman #music #musicfestivals ♬ If You Wanna – The Vaccines
Showcasing Yorkshire’s proudest Hendo’s owners, Everly Pregnant Brothers took to the stage, using the opportunity to share a political message of all kinds. Taking on both the political system and the sauces of the UK, the words ‘F*ck Worcester Sauce, F*ck the Tories’ were used as a backdrop for their hometown performance as they sang to the crowd and handed out t-shirts.
Little Man Tate also had a hometown gig planned and despite lead singer Jon Windle suffering from laryngitis, the Sheffield band made their Tramlines debut in style before making way for Bono’s son Elijah Hewson, and the rest of his band, Inhaler, for a memorable melodic performance.
Over at T’Other Stage, recent Eurovision contestant Sam Ryder was the family-friendly performance of the day, taking on soulful covers of British classics like Abba and Queen to draw crowds from all around before performing his best hit and Eurovision entry, Space Man, as onlookers queued from outside the tent to catch a glimpse of the newly-famous face.
The Vaccines proved that their 2011 best hits are still just as memorable than ever. A combination of classic anthems like If You Wanna and Wetsuit effortlessly intertwined the setlist together between hits from the band’s latest 2021 album, Back In Love City.
If there’s anyone who knows how to captivate a crowd from a single beat, it was Saturday’s headliner, Kasabian. Since forming in 1997, the band has effortlessly polished their performance down to the beat, and that’s despite the decision to sack lead vocalist Tom Meighan just two years ago.
Frontman Serge Pizzorno opened with the longtime favourite anthem Club Foot before entertaining 35,000 fans with the best of the past twenty years in a ninety minute set.
Flirting between old and new, the crowd was treated to Shoot The Runner and Bless This Acid House whilst Pizzorno ran around the stage, keeping the crowd jumping along, and hanging on to every lyric. Closing the show with Kasabian’s best-known hit, Fire, which came as no surprise to the crowd, who had been treated to pyrotechnics aplenty and fiery effects throughout the set.
Food and Drink
Veggie, vegan and gluten free options aplenty, this festival food on offer here was really the mouth-watering combos dreams are made of. Now festival food can be mediocre at best, especially if you have particular dietary requirements but Tramlines has been seriously committed to ensuring everyone was well-fed.
A personal highlight were the giant Yorkshire puds served from Events Mobile Catering. We’re talking giant tin-like trays of fluffy Yorkie filled with creamy mash potato, three sausages, mushy peas and more gravy than you could possibly imagine.
Standing at an average festival price of £12.50, this was the carb-heavy, meat-loaded mid-afternoon meal for any festival goer looking for food to fuel a busy evening of dancing along at the Sarah Nulty Main Stage.
Whether you were looking for a sweet treat or gluten free lunchtime snack, all the portions here were more than enough to get you through the 20,000 steps per day around Hillsborough Park.
Local Influences
Showcasing talent right here in Yorkshire forms a huge part of the Tramlines identity, and it shines through in just about every single aspect.
From showcasing local legends, Reverend and the Makers, Everly Pregnant Brothers and Little Man Tate to offering work experience to local universities, this is a festival for those proud to have a rich Yorkshire origin.
It’s the little things that stay with you, and the input from Hillsborough Primary School has certainly left a lasting impression on many. Sold as a unique (and completely adorable) way to remember the three-day festival, Tramlines sold a primary school-inspired tea towel where all the headline acts have been drawn by pupils at Hillsborough Primary. Since 2019, this merchandise line alone has raised over £1000 for the school, which has so far been spent on their library space.
The festival also goes to extra length to ensure that the noise from Hillsborough Park doesn’t affect local residents and even offers them the chance to apply for free or discounted tickets.
This year Tramlines introduced a third tier to expand the geographical area that this applies to and it was clear from the number of summer barbecues in the gardens adjacent to the stadium that the musical interludes were an exciting addition to their weekend.
Tramlines 2023
So now that we’re all home and reminiscing on an unforgettable weekend: showing our family and friends photos of every artist under the sun; drooling over the flavours from the food trucks and wearing our 2022 Ey Up Sheffield t-shirts everywhere we go- we’re left only dreaming of what next year’s headliners could be.
Super Early Bird tickets went on sale earlier this week at £79.50 plus booking fee, leading to a staggering 70% sellout of weekend tickets. Now, weekend tickets have moved into to tier four sales, priced at £140 and VIP, £170.
For just £12.73 per month, you can set up a payment plan across the next twelve months to ensure that you don’t miss out, even if you can’t pay upfront for your tickets.
There’s no indication of who we will see next year on the Main Stage, but given the breadth of talent near and far from Tramlines 2022, we’re confident that the 2023 three-day festival will return with just as (if not more) anticipation, excitement, exceptional music and Yorkshire puddings than ever before.
For the latest details on Tramlines Festival 2023, including the latest prices and what’s on details, visit the Tramlines website.
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Feature Image- The Sheff
