Music lovers are inundated with choice when it comes to upcoming artists thanks to the virtues of streaming – yet a large contingent rally around one figure, their rise to fame can be meteoric.

Nobody knows this better than one Billie Eilish, a relatively unknown entity as little as a year ago. Sporting her signature baggy wardrobe in electric green, she had the entire crowd bouncing from the very opening notes of ‘Bad Guy’, the chorus of singing from the amassing audience almost on a par with Billie’s amplified vocals!

With a devilish confidence that was profoundly infectious (change), the echoing pulses of synth ripples out through ‘My Strange Addiction’, through ‘You should see me in a Crown’, at which the crowd lost any remaining sense of decorum, attaining a state of feverish excitement that never filled from there on out, even through the touchingly sweet ‘Ocean Eyes’.Prowling about the stage like a stalking tigress, Billie conducted the crowd with a humble power far beyond what any of us could muster as a teenager, riding the nose-tingling bass and samples that pitch and fall like cresting waves.

All this at just 17 years of age. Superstardom really is intrinsic!

A full tent’s worth of energetic punters served as proof of Aitch’s growing popularity at Leeds Festival on Sunday afternoon. Bumped up to the Radio 1 Stage ahead of his performance, Aitch made sure that the huge crowd that watched his 30-minute set were given a gig to remember.

Make no mistake, the future is extraordinarily bright for the Manchester-born rapper. With the audience firmly planted in his hand, Aitch breezed through a sweaty-yet-enjoyable number of instant classics. ‘Taste (Make It Shake)’, ‘Wait’, and ‘Keisha & Becky Remix’ brought the house down.

Aitch’s consistent calls for “the biggest mosh pits of the day so far” were greeted with wild enthusiasm too, and the 20-year-old lapped up the adulation that spilled out of every corner of the packed Radio 1 Stage tent.

Aitch – whose real name is Harrison Armstrong – will be headlining festivals like this one in the near future. His infectious personality, instantly recognizable songs, and rapid rise over the past year have made him one of the most exciting artists to emerge recently. Give it enough time, and there will be more people than those present at Leeds Festival who will be able to fire Aitch’s lyrics right back at him.

The relationship between individual fans and the collective, as well as between said fans and their artists, is paramount in rap culture. Stories of shared experiences are what bind the most dedicated fans to their musical idles.

The call-and-response of AJ Tracey’s name before he even took to the stage, therefore, set the precedent for the rousing unity of audience and artist that was to follow. Skipping effortlessly through the lyrics to each track, Tracey demonstrated his ability to toy and play with words in gymnastic fashion, while the rumbling bass was punctuated by ticking synthesised drums.

The crowd responded in kind, bouncing like popping bubbles as Tracey paced about the stage, backed by spaced-out graphics of melding, rippling, merging colour. Bemusing pasta-related graphics aside, AJ Tracey put on a display of British rap that did himself, and the movement as a whole, very proud indeed.

It’s quite fitting that Georgia’s most popular song is ‘Work About the Dancefloor’, as she certainly did so on the Radio 1 Dance Stage on Sunday afternoon.

Taking to a festival stage for the very first time might be daunting for some solo artists, but not Georgia. The Londoner impressed with a stunning vocal range that, combined with her tight electronic drum skills, gave those present a chilled performance away from the glare of the summer sun. A brilliant instrumental on the drums partway through her set was indicative of how talented Georgia is, and her repertoire of other songs was warmly received too.

Bringing her slice of electropop to the Radio 1 tent, Georgia rattled through top tunes like ‘Feel It’ and the aforementioned ‘Work About the Dancefloor’. There was even time for Georgia to debut her latest song called ‘Never Let You Go’, and it was very much in keeping with the mellow-yet-dance vibe that she’s going for.

Based off of this performance, it won’t be the last time that we see Georgia at Leeds Festival. In truth, it wouldn’t be majorly surprising to see her promoted to a bigger stage next time out. It would be worth it, after all.

If it was energy that you wanted on a hot Sunday afternoon, Against The Current were happy to oblige with gusto.

The three-piece brought their signature pop-punk vibes to the Main Stage and played their way through some of their most well-known songs. Whether you’ve been a fan of theirs since the beginning or only recently come across them, Against The Current had something for everyone as they brought an ocean of noise to Leeds Festival.

The likes of ‘Gravity’ and ‘Voices’ – popular songs on the band’s YouTube channel – enabled the entire audience to join in without fear of missing out. Newer numbers, such as ‘Almost Forgot’ and ‘I Like The Way’ were given run-outs too, as Against The Current added songs from their latest album ‘Past Lives’. ‘Wasteland’, the ninth track from debut album ‘In Our Bones’, closed out their set in superb style and ensured that they were warmly applauded off at the end.

Lead singer Chrissy Costanza led the audience in plenty of arm waving and jumping throughout, while Dan Gow and Will Ferri were excellent on guitar and drums respectively. It was a tight performance that belied the band’s tender years, but one that bodes well for the future.

We may only be a few sets into the day, but when hard rockers Boston Manor made their entrance on to the Radio 1 Stage, it could easily have been the last set of the night with the uninhibited abandon of the mosh pits!

Ten years after their first experience of this festival as punters, the quintet shook the stage they once gazed up at to its very core! Repping their Blackpool heritage with fierce pride, the journey that this young band have been on since those first hometown shows in clubs and cafes is epitomised in this stage-shattering performance, with riddling guitar lines that bore an infectious virility, the edges licked with white-hot screams.

Whether the sheen in the air was haze or sweat, nobody could tell – nor did they seem to care, as each lively chorus swept them along for the ride of their lives. The piercing electricity of ‘Funeral Party’ descended into utter chaos, as ‘Bad Machine’ brought hundreds of crowd surfers flying towards the barrier; the fiercest wall of death of any band across the weekend came screeching out of a sense of utter wild revolt; and, to top it all off, a circle pit that spanned the entire width of the tent accompanied the anarchistic ‘Lead Feet’.

Quite frankly, everyone else can head home – Boston Manor have undoubtedly won this year’s festival by a country mile!