Widely established as the must-attend Yorkshire Festival every Summer (closely contended by Pikehall's YNOT?), Tramlines Festival returns to Sheffield's Hillsborough Park, as the event celebrates its 17th year. The Friday and Saturday had already seen immense performances from Fatboy Slim, Kaiser Chiefs, Courteeners and Blossoms, but coming to its third and closing day sees a refreshing headline takeover of female-led indie rock in Wolf Alice and Wet Leg.
After releasing their self-titled debut EP in May, Bleech 9:3 have amassed a cult following enamoured by their raw, volatile cuts that edge on full-blown blistering punk. Hailing from Dublin, Baz Quinlan (vocals/guitar) and Sam Duffy (guitar) uprooted to London together after being introduced at an AA meeting, and following the former becoming Duffy's sponsor ("I think the vulnerability of those meetings helped us be a lot more comfortable with each other from the get-go").
Completed by band members James Quinlan (bass) and Luke O'Neill (drums), the quartet cleansed The Leadmill stage of any post-punk doubters, and converted the crowd into a devout mass of Bleech 9:3-converts. Their setlist consisted of a rarely-seen offering of a band's EP played chronologically, succeeded by a trio of unreleased, but Bleech 9:3 live staples.
mitb.-backed since her 2021 release 'Impress You', Brooke Combe brought her modern twist on pop-veined jazz to the Tramlines' T'Other Stage.
Despite a plethora of technical issues that'd plagued the stage that day, one of which resulted in Combe's set being delayed 20 minutes and reduced to a four-song snapshot, she didn't allow frustration to reflect in her energetic performance. Her short but sweet half-hour performance catered to the diverse festival-goer showing: with the 60s-infused 'How Can I Tell You? (To Love Me More)', and the more upbeat, Joy-Crookes-esque 'Tears Won't Lie', being set standouts.
No band has quite experienced such a sudden rebranding as Isle of Wight's Wet Leg. From the innocent but innuendo-brandishing prairie girls of 'Chaise Longue' and 'Wet Dream', the duo emerged to promote their sophomore record - 'moisturizer' - now a quintet, with Hester Chambers stepping back to allow Rhian Teesdale to take the limelight.
Gone were the floor-length cottage-core dresses and unsullied pigtails. In their place? Bright pink hair, tight lycra shorts, brandished muscles and tooth gems, with Teesdale ready to throw fists at anyone who gets in her way. There's no more room for excuses or apologies, or tongue-in-cheek lyrics, here; we're brash, bold and taking no prisoners.
Commenting on the number of younger festival-goers on their parents' shoulders, guitarist Josh Moboraki quipped, "Sheffield has some of the tallest kids ever, some of you are eight foot!". This humour was present throughout the set, with Rhian frequently giggling and just genuinely having fun.
Far from the sweaty rooms that only defined a short span of their early career, Wet Leg's live performance perfectly translates into a larger space, with Teesdale commanding the full 60 minutes, ensuring no part of the stage was left untouched.
New on the scene but traversing indie pop with the reverence of well-versed pop-veterans are all-female, Irish outfit Florence Road. A singular release in 2022 ('another seventeen') saw a three-year hiatus before 2025's 'heavy' kickstarted a steady flow of tracks that eventually constituted their debut extended play: 'Fall Back'. More recently, March saw the unveiling of their sophomore project, 'Spring Forward', which was christened with its first live performance at Texas' ACL Live.
Taking to The Leadmill Stage, following Sheffield's own Femur, Florence Road journeyed through the oftentimes gritty, folk-adjacent pop that dominates their discography.
Following an impressive summer of European festival performances and the success of their fourth record 'The Clearing' still heavily lingering, Wolf Alice emerged from either side of a tinselled curtain emblazoned with a central star.
Opening their set with 'Bloom Baby Bloom', aptly timed cannons showered the crowd in silver-toned confetti, before the band quickly rewound the clocks almost a decade for 'Visions Of A Life'.
A tender, devout love letter to friendship, a leather-clad Ellie Rowsell dedicated 'Just Two Girls' to everyone who was in attendance with their best friend, and the crowd became spotted with fans taking their loved ones in their arms.
Their 90-minute set wove through every corner of their discography, with tracks plucked from each of their four records: 'Bros' and 'Yuk Foo' for been-there-from-the-start fans, and 'The Sofa' and 'White Horses' for those joining from 'The Clearing'. Their performance was every bit as exhilarating as Rowsell's prowess as a frontwoman, and Theo Ellis' aptitude at commanding a crowd.
Wolf Alice's encore, unsurprisingly, came comprised of fan-favourites 'Moaning Lisa Smile', 'Giant Peach' and 'You're A Germ', but snuck in the middle was an impressive, gritty cover of Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'.
Sticking with honoring pre-00s classics, Wolf Alice bid farewell to Sheffield by soundtracking fans' exits to 'Bohemian Rhapsody' - an ode to the magnificence of Tramlines 2026.
Lana Marshall
@lanatakesphotos / @_lanaajade
Images: Lana Marshall