Leeds Festival 2022: Sheffield bands Arctic Monkeys and Bring Me The Horizon announced as headliners on Sunday

The first line up announcement for both Reading and Leeds has now been revealed and it is a big win for the Steel City.

Sunday at Leeds Festival will see two of the city’s major acts take to the main stage.

The festival will take place at Bramham Park over the August bank holiday weekend in 2022.

Arctic Monkeys have not headlined the festival since 2008, and the announcement has sparked rumours they may be preparing to release a new album.

Rock band Bring Me The Horizon have performed at Leeds Festival multiple times over the years, with frontman Oli Sykes telling NME magazine in 2016 that they ‘should be headliners’.

Both bands originally hail from the city, with all members of Arctic Monkeys coming from High Green and attending Stocksbridge High School.

Oli Sykes also attended Stocksbridge High School and was in the year below Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner and his bandmates.

Earlier this year, he told The Sun that Arctic Monkeys had been a ‘massive inspiration’ for Bring Me The Horizon and that he would love to collaborate with the band at some point.

Also on the line up for Leeds Festival next year are Rage Against The Machine, Dave, Halsey, Megan Thee Stallion and Glass Animals.

More bands are yet to be announced in the lead up to the event, which will run from Friday, August 26 to Sunday, August 28, next year.

Will Arctic Monkeys play again in Sheffield?

The band, who grew up in High Green, played plenty of gigs in Sheffield back in the day, including their first ever show at The Grapes pub on Trippett Lane.

It took place in June 2003, with only around 40 people unwittingly experiencing the first ever live show from a band that would go on to be one of the biggest in the world.

They have played multiple shows in their hometown – including a huge stage show at Utilita Arena – as well as smaller, more intimate venues at the beginning of their career.

In the very early days, they started rehearsing at Yellow Arch Studios in Neepsend, before getting signed in 2005.

But with Arctic Monkeys achieving global success and Alex Turner moving to Los Angeles for a long time – before moving back to London – it has left many people wondering if they will ever come back to their Sheffield roots.

Back in 2020, a planning application from music promoter SJM sparked speculation that they may be planning a series of homecoming shows.

Posters appeared saying the company had applied for a license for three live music shows between June 4-6, 2021, at Hillsborough Park.

It was never confirmed that the application had been made on behalf of the band – despite the rumours and Facebook event which had been created – and Sheffield City Council quashed the claims earlier this year.

They said they had not received a planning application for any music events in the park other than Tramlines Festival.

It came after they confirmed that an application was made by promoters SJM Concerts in 2018 to put on concerts there, reported to be for the Arctic Monkeys, but was submitted and then later withdrawn.

But with the band back in Yorkshire next year and headlining a major festival just a stone’s throw away, could a homecoming show be off the cards?

They are currently working on an LP and have announced tour dates for 2022, but so far have not announced any shows in the UK.

How to get tickets for Leeds Festival 2022

All first release tickets for Leeds Festival next year have sold out, and pre-sale tickets went out at 8am on December 8, 2021.

General sale tickes will be released at 9am on Friday, December 10, 2021.

Both day and weekend tickets will be available.

You can purchase tickets from the Leeds Festival website, which also has more information.

Festival organisers have said instalment plans will be available to split the cost into four payments.