Chappell Roan live at Leeds Festival: Pop’s biggest new star reigns supreme

It’s an hour before Chappell Roan takes to the main stage at Leeds and expectations from a crowd decked out in a sea of pink are at fever pitch. This weekend, it’s pink everything across the Bramham Park site. Cowboy hats, with glitter and short dresses, all is noticeable from afar. There is a Chappell Roan style, a drag-inspired fashion that plays on enticing designs and hair styling resembling that of the singer.

The sheer devotion is a reflection of the dizzying ascent of the star and self-proclaimed Midwest Princess born Kayleigh Rose Amsturz. One of pop’s most electrifying performers, she draws one of the festival’s biggest crowds of the weekend for a show that more than justifies the hype.

The combination of a fairytale themed stage design and an all-female band goes down a treat, as things are off to a flying start. ‘Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl’ sends her fans electric, before bringing the tempo down a level with the intimate ‘After Midnight’. She is backed by an incredible live band throughout too, allowing the show at some points to transform into something that resembles more a fully-charged rock show than an ethereal pop affair.

“Are you ready to get naked in Manhattan” she examines before ‘Naked In Manhattan’. This song featured on Roan’s 2023 debut The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess and it’s the core of this album – packed to the brim with bangers – which makes up the majority of the set. More recent cuts such as ‘The Subway’ deliver a response which Roan herself describes as having “the loudest crowd so far”, while the bubblegum pop fun of ‘Hot To Go’ sees thousands of fans showing off one of the most copied dance routines since the Macarena.

And as things come to a close, it’s ‘Pink Pony Club’ which makes the Leeds crowd deliver an ear-splitting response, matched in kind by the incredible solo of Roan’s guitarist.

This is a star at the peak of her powers and with only one album under her belt, it’s frightening to think what might happen when Roan’s anticipated second recod finally arrives.

Bold and exceptional, this is Chappell Roan, one of the world’s greatest new pop stars, as important a queer voice as they come, and an era-defining musician.