Azealia Banks brings ‘212’ to Leeds festival

Grimes, Katy B and Metronomy also hit up the dance tent

Azealia Banks brought her hit ‘212’ to Leeds festival today (August 26) during a brief set in the Dance Tent.

The rapper arrived on stage with two black-clad dancers, launching straight into ‘Grand Slam’ before asking the huge crowd, “Yo Leeds, you all ready to get this party started?”

“How many of you all are drunk today? How many of you all been smoking that ganja? How many of you all smoking in the house right now?” she said, before a rendition of ‘Fuck Up The Fun’.

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Launching into ‘Van Vogue’, she then performed a cover of Zebra Katz’s ‘Ima Read’, which she dubbed her “favourite track of 2012”. Halfway through the track, she paused for a dance break, which saw the two dancers perform acrobatics across the stage.

“This is my favourite song I’ve ever written,” she said before ‘1991’. “I lied,” she said afterwards. “This is actually my favourite song,” she added before starting ‘Liquorice’. To close her 20-minute set, she thanked the crowd before playing her breakthrough track ‘212’.

Azealia Banks played:

‘Grand Scam’
‘Fuck Up The Fun’
‘Van Vogue’
‘Ima Read’
‘Bambi’
‘Jumanji’
‘1991’
‘212’

Earlier in the day, Katy B also drew a large crowd to the Dance Tent, opening with 2011 single ‘Broken Record’, before inviting “one special guy” drawn from the crowd onstage to sit on a chair while she cavorted in front of him during ‘It’s Never Easy’.

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Following ‘Go Away’ with a horn-heavy as-yet untitled new song, she played a medley of pop hits including Eurythmics’ ‘Sweet Dreams’ and House Of Pain’s ‘Jump Around’, throwing a series of Katy B-branded beachballs into the arena. She finished off the set with ‘Moving With The Lights On’, dedicated to “anyone who’s been in a club dancing until the lights come on”.

Canadian electro pop artist Grimes played an afternoon set in the Dance Tent earlier in the afternoon. Flanked by a drummer and topless make dancer, her set focused mainly around third album ‘Visions’.

Metronomy later headlined the tent, playing mostly tracks from their third LP, 2011’s ‘The English Riviera’ as well as older tracks from their 2006 debut ‘Pip Paine (Pay the £5000 You Owe)’, including ‘You Could Easily Have Me’.

Keep up to date with all the latest Reading and Leeds 2012 news on our live blog

Reading And Leeds Festivals 2012 in photos

Stay tuned to our Reading And Leeds Festivals hub for news reports, reviews, videos and photos from both sites all weekend.

To read the ultimate Reading And Leeds Festivals review, pick up the new issue of NME, which is on newsstands from Wednesday (August 29) or available digitally. If you’re at Reading or Leeds this weekend, be sure to Tweet or Instagram your pictures to #NMEreading and #NMEleeds and the best will make next week’s issue.

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