Leeds Festival 2018: Poo Girl, riots and the time 'Foo Fighters' were coming - Leeds Fest's most famous myths and legends

They are just a few of the legends surrounding Leeds Festival in the past few years - as news breaks that Bring Me The Horizon could be the secret band for 2018.

-> Leeds Festival 2018: Banned items you can't take into the Leeds Fest campsite and arena

Pineapples Banned at Leeds Festival 2017

A strange but true story from last year. Indie rock band Glass Animals were performing and, in reference to the line “pineapples are in my head” in their song Pork Soda, fans would typically bring pineapples to their performances. But it seems that the fruit was too much for the festival and was altogether banned causing a hilarious outcry amongst fans, the media and the band for how strange the ban was. Glass Animals called it ‘fruitist’.

Twenty One Pilots 2016 Incident

Now going onto the not-so-nice stories. Alternative rock/rap duo Twenty One Pilots were performing on the NME stage when their set was cut short. Lead vocalist Tyler Joseph was crowd-surfing as part of their performance when he was pulled into the crowd where bits of his clothing was ripped off and his ski mask was stole. After being rescued by security he announced that their set was over.

Poo Girl

The one rumour that is constantly spread every year with a different version said each time of someone falling into the toilets and getting stuck. One year someone claimed it was dwarf, the next someone claimed that the person had died. But there is a very true story of this happening back in 2009. The 18-year-old, AKA ‘Poo Girl’, had dropped her bag down the toilet and had tried to grab it but ended up getting stuck for 20 minutes and having to be rescued by firefighters as a crowd gathered to watch. A rather embarrassing tale but it’s certainly made its mark as a Leeds Festival Legend.

The FFers Set

An infamous mix-up. As mentioned before Leeds and Reading Festival is known for having special guests and secret appearances which can range with anyone from You Me At Six to Bring Me The Horizon to even Simon from The Inbetweeners (yes, this actually happened last year; Reading got Drake and Leeds got Simon, so who’s the real winner here?) In 2008 there was a rumour going around that the Foo Fighters were going to perform on the BBC Introducing Stage under the name The FFers, so naturally over 3000 people turned up only to find out that it wasn’t The Foo Fighters but actually a band called The FFers (shocking). So the crowd did what anyone would typically do; get angry and bottle the band. The FFers from Leeds took it like champs and carried on their set to the end.

Panic! At The Disco’s Brendon Urie Knocked Out

Another story of bottling. This years headliners, Panic! At The Disco, were performing on the main stage and were in the middle of performing when frontman, Brendon Urie, was knocked out after a bottle full of liquid hit him in the face. He was out for 30 seconds where the rest of the band stopped to check on him. After getting back up the band continued playing the song from where they were cut off. The band later went on to say, “I guess we were sending a message to whoever threw the bottle, you can’t stop us!”

50 Cent Bottled Off Stage

What is it with people and bottling? In 2004 when people were still getting used to non-rock acts performing at the festival, 50 Cent, who was direct support for headliners Green Day, was the only rap act performing on the main stage that day inbetween Green Day and Placebo. People weren’t too happy with his appearance due to the difference in genre and, for some, in anger at having an artist with derogatory lyrics and so decided to let their feelings known at Reading when they pelted the rapper with plastic bottles and even a camping chair. The rapper tried his best but in the end walked off after 25 minutes.

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Leeds Festival 'Riots' 2002

Leeds Festival is a safe and friendly festival with a strong security presence today. But back in 2002 there was some crowd boisterousness. Guns and Roses were headlining on the Friday when they turned up over an hour late, breaking curfew, and what resulted after having their set cut short was something of a riot. Police had to be called after skips and toilets were set alight and electrical cables were pulled down in hours of “determined and sustained” violence. Over 200 officers had to be called to calm the situation down. This was the last year that the festival was held at Temple Newsam Park.

Daphne and Celeste Appearance

And we’re back at the bottling. Pop duo Daphne and Celeste were rumoured to have bullied their manager to get on the lineup for Leeds and Reading after Eminem was announced as the headliner, but after he pulled out they tried to do the same but couldn’t. Given that at the time only punk and rock acts would perform at Leeds Festival they weren’t exactly welcomed. When they performed they were greeted by bottles of urine, shoes, clothes and food, but they refused to leave the stage and even revelled in the madness.

Leeds Festival takes place this weekend from 23rd-27th August.