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After all the news headlines; that incident on stage with Bradford rappers Bad Boy Chiller Crew, the controversy over the choice of 1975 to step in for Rage Against The Machine, the full return of Leeds Festival for the first time since Covid ended in musical triumph with a hero’s return by Arctic Monkeys.

Having opted for the safer waters of guitar bands on its partial return in 2021 in the dark days of lockdown, this year's embrace of shiny new pop, urban and rap at Bramham Park in the shape of Charli XCX, Megan Thee Stallion and Dave appeared to pay off in front of some of the biggest crowds ever seen at Leeds Festival since its launch in 1999.

The sad and tragic death of a teenage fan over the weekend cast a cloud over any sense of complacency but the event has shown the capability to bounce back in the past.

By the final day on Sunday, Leeds Festival was on the home strait with a triumphant return to it's late 90s rock and indie roots on the main stage, if not on the smaller stages where rap and pop dominated.

The view from the hill - Dublin post-punk band Fontaines DC on the main stage at Leeds Festival.

From the competent; Wigan-based The Lathums with lead singer Alex Moore in a magnificent white suit; to the inspired, Alex Turner’s Arctic Monkeys, guitar bands briefly ruled the earth again – or nearly.

Dublin-based five-piece Fontaines DC looked like a group that now seen the world - except for lead singer Grian Chatten still in his trademark black polo shirt and dark shades.

Despite their brilliance at Strokes meets The Cure dark guitar dynamics, there is a big fat rock band in there, as big as Deep Purple, just stuck in a small band's body.

Destined for grand things, Wolf Alice are rapidly transforming themselves into a stadium act.

Backstage at Leeds Festival - Punk-rap band Bilk's vocalist and lead guitar guitarist Sol Abrahams and bass player Luke Hare with reporter Graham Chalmers in the middle.

Musically rich and instrumentally impressive, this London-based alt-rock band led by Ellie Rowsell sound like Nirvana if the grunge legends had fallen a little under the spell of Muse.

But they remain great band in search of any purpose beyond being a great band.

Since AM, their biggest album internationally, was released in 2013, Sheffield headliners Arctic Monkeys have become less frequent visitors to their home county of Yorkshire.

But boy have the vast crowds on the hill in Bramham Park missed them.

Playing a connoisseur’s setlist heavier on album tracks than hits to please themselves as much as fans with only one song from their forthcoming new album The Car, there is no aspiration to be a great band, they already know they are one.

Bending music to their will, what was once a young indie band are now a proper slightly louche rock band with Alex Turner a genuine rock star.

It’s all a bit different from Essex-based punk-rap three piece Bilk who collar this reviewer in the guest area to spread their message about “bringing back real rock n roll”.

Barely out of their teens, Bilk clearly possess the attitude to do just that.

Leeds Festival review: How Arctic Monkeys came, saw and conquered