New festival will reinvigorate the strong musical tradition of Roundhay Park

Dr Peter Mills, from the School of Humanities and Social Science, is an expert in all things to do with music in Roundhay Park and previously did a talk about the history of the park as a music venue. During that talk he spoke about the many stars who have played at the park and questioned whether one day it would return to its former musical glory. Now it looks like it will be returning to its heyday with Lewis Capaldi having been announced as the first act for the brand-new festival.

Dr Mills said: "Roundhay Park in Leeds has been at the heart of the city's music-making and leisure time for well over a century now. It's over forty years since the heyday of regular huge concerts in the park's arena which brought the likes of the Rolling Stones, Madonna and Bruce Springsteen to Leeds. More recently Ed Sheeran brought his stadium-sized one-man show to the park for two nights and a number of bespoke festivals have landed too. These have all been of great service to the reputation of the city, both in musical circles and in wider contexts.

"These events have all been very successful and memorable, as my published research into the concerts at Roundhay Park has clearly demonstrated, but the news of a brand-new Yorkshire Festival, arranged by global entertainments company AEG in collaboration with Leeds City Council, is tremendously welcome. Where previous events, however successful, have been 'one-offs' this new festival promises to be an annual event which will draw people and attention to the city, while also putting something back - there are various educational and community schemes planned to spin off the event.

"With the announcement of Lewis Capaldi as the first headliner - he has actually played at the park before, as support to Ed Sheeran in 2019 - the ambition and potentially positive impact of the event is already clear. So, the new festival looks like it will both build on and reinvigorate the strong musical tradition of Roundhay Park and make it - and Leeds - once again a presence on the first-choice lists of the biggest and most exciting touring acts in the field of popular music."