Tramlines Sheffield 2023: Rain, more rain, and the Sugababes as Hillsborough Park festival comes to a close

If you’re in, or anywhere near, Sheffield this weekend you know exactly what the final day of Tramlines 2023 has brought us: rain, rain, the Sugababes, and a bit more rain. 

Gates opened an hour and a half later than planned, as staff did their best to fight Mother Nature by laying down straw, canvas, and cordoning off the worst areas of the mud after two days and nights of rain. 

About twenty minutes after the announcement on the app and Twitter, hundreds of festival-goers packed the trams and braved the conditions, in the name of Reverend and The Makers, and the Sugababes.

Taking to the main stage at 3pm, the Sugababes brought the energy and nostalgia value. They played the classics, including Round Round, Push the Button, and Too Lost in You, alongside some newer songs and a cover of Flowers. Of course, they finished off their set with About You Now, which got the crowds singing and dancing even right at the back of the park. A bit of crowd work kept people distracted from the rain, and we sang them out at the end of the final song (after happy birthday to Callum, one of their crew members).

By this point, most people had accepted their ponchos and waterproofs to be redundant. As one man put it, shaking his drink can at his family, “I’ve drank this six times. It keeps on refilling.”

Unfortunately, the delay at the start of the day made a total reschedule of the stages impossible, meaning some early acts were cut from the lineup. Philippa Zawe, Kazeem Jamal, Tamer Kattan, Weekend Recovery, Nina Gilligan, Jemma Johnson, Tai Ògún, Wemmy Ogunyankin and Mui Xyu all lost out on performing. 

As of the early evening, the crowds do not seem to be diminishing, but time will tell whether or not the endless supply of blood orange Thatchers is enough to keep Hillsborough Park full until the end of Paul Heaton’s set, which ends at 9:15pm and finishes up the weekend.

After three days of persistent partying in less-than-cheery conditions, no one could accuse Sheffield of not knowing how to make the most of a rainy weekend. Festival revellers, drenched in mud and soaked to the core, are going into the last night of Tramlines with their heads up - and their hoods - to see Kaiser Chiefs, Professor Green, and Ella Henderson play tonight.