Many successful and well-known artists have come out of Sheffield, such as Arctic Monkeys, Def Leppard, Joe Cocker, Pulp, and The Human League. This is reflected within the city centre of Sheffield with the up and coming music scene being very prominent through the iconic gig venues and nightclubs that the city has to offer, as well as the multiple music festivals that take place each year, such as Tramlines, MosFest, OakFest, and more.
Sheffield’s most famous and prestigious gig venue, The Leadmill, has seen bands such as Oasis, The Stone Roses, Kasabian, and The Strokes on their stage. The club opened in 1980, and has won many awards for both the venue itself as well as their club nights, from establishments such as NME and Live UK. As well as this, it is very respected by artists, as Franz Ferdinand once told the band Arcade Fire that playing the Leadmill is a “rite of passage”, and saying bands would rather play in The Leadmill than do the bigger Sheffield venues that they could have been selling out with ease.
The Leadmill also further gets involved with the music scene in Sheffield through the city’s famous Tramlines festival. Last year (2018), The Leadmill stage at Tramlines, located in the city’s Hillsborough Park, had headliners such as Tom Grennan, The Mystery Jets and Peace. Over the weekend, 30,000 people attended the main Tramlines event, as well as many more people who visit the free “Fringe” part of the festival. Tramlines ‘Fringe’ event is held in bars, pubs and clubs around the city, such venues voluntarily get involved and host many other artists so everyone can get involved.
Tramlines has grown over the years, it started out as a free festival that took over the city once a year, featuring predominantly unknown and up and coming artists playing in the city centre parks and pubs with a few music legends thrown in for good measure. However, over the last few years it has emerged into a respected and highly anticipated festival, becoming a lot bigger in terms of attendance and has relocated twice to larger open spaces only a short tram journey away from the centre. It has also drawn more established and well-known artists headlining, such as Two Door Cinema Club, The Courteeners and Nile Rodgers and Chic being this year’s headliners. Many up and coming bands from Sheffield also strive to be included in the line-up often starting out at the Fringe events, but ultimately aiming to be included in the main event at Hillsborough Park.
A lot of other festivals also take place in Sheffield, such as MosFest, an event that has recently moved from the quiet suburb of Mosborough to the larger capacity of Don Valley Bowl. This festival has had headliners such as The Farm, Lightning Seeds, The Pigeon Detectives, and a much-loved Sheffield band, Reverend and the Makers. The growth of this festival once again shows Sheffield’s music scene is still just as alive as it was when Pulp were headlining the Leadmill, and Arctic Monkeys were supporting Milburn, another local Sheffield band, around the country.
