Celebrated introspective hip hop artist, musician, writer, producer and actor Loyle Carner has been announced as the headliner for ‘Above All Else’ a new curated event that will form part of the Live at Kirkstall Abbey concert series. An all-day celebration of music and culture just outside Leeds city centre, ‘Above All Else’ is a new event from independent Leeds promoters Futuresound with forward-thinking curation at its heart that puts music, arts and culture above all else.
- 1 August 2026
- https://www.futuresoundgroup.com
Released last summer, Loyle Carner’s fourth full-length album Hopefully! reasserted his position at the forefront of the UK’s intellectual and emotionally-charged hip hop movement. Focused as ever on familial bonds, this latest album centres on his own young family and how a sense of fatherhood has helped him reflect on the choices made in his own upbringing. Samples of children’s laughter trill under the artist’s trademark laconic wordplay and blissed-out backbeats whilst a newfound, bracingly frank delivery finds Loyle Carner laying bare daily struggles and existential uncertainties that come with newfound family responsibilities.
First finding his voice in 2013 with the A Little Late EP, it was Loyle Carner’s debut album 2017’s Yesterday’s Gone that brought the artist to national attention as he untangled personal experiences of grief and the pressures of coming-of-age via infectious humour and wit over effortless, soul-soaked grooves. Yesterday’s Gone earned Carner a Mercury Music Prize nomination and BRIT award nominations for British Breakthrough Act and British Male Solo Artist at just 23 years old. The critical success of Yesterday’s Gone pushed him to new creative heights on his second full length, 2019’s Not Waving, But Drowning and his third offering in 2019, hugo, which earned the artist his second Mercury Music Prize nomination and saw Carner contend with the hidden stresses of success, flying the nest, falling in love and his ongoing struggles with dyslexia and ADHD.
Opening at no. 2 in the UK Album Charts, Hopefully! became Loyle Carner’s highest-charting release to date and the artist celebrated its success with a headline world tour that saw four back to back sold-out shows at 02 Academy Brixton in his beloved London as well as a truly special headline performance on Glastonbury Festival’s iconic The Other Stage. With a body of work that is as affectingly personal as it is uplifting and universal, a decade into his career Loyle Carner’s impact has never been clearer: the same local hero, now rightly regarded as one of the UK’s most vital voices and one of this generation’s most important young artists.
Joining Loyle Carner at ‘Above All Else’ will be a full supporting line-up including acclaimed Grammy and Ivor-Novello award nominated songwriter Jordan Rakei and Kokoroko, the London based sextet famed for blending jazz, highlife, afrobeat, soul and diasporic grooves into one of the most exciting live shows around today. Completing the line-up is much-hyped Birmingham rapper Kofi Stone and rising Dublin collective Bricknasty.
‘Above All Else’ is part of Live At Kirkstall Abbey. Held in the grounds of the iconic Kirkstall Abbey, the outdoor concert series first took place in 2024. Welcoming over 15,000 people to the grounds of the 12th century Cistercian monastery, Live at Kirkstall Abbey’s first season took place over three days, featuring headliners Madness & Embrace and a host of comedians including Katherine Ryan and Ross Noble.
Also announced for next year’s series are revered British multi-hyphenates The Streets, performing their critically acclaimed album A Grand Don’t Come for Free; reunited Leeds indie heroes The Sunshine Underground celebrating 20 years of their classic 2006 album Raise The Alarm and art rock royalty The Maccabees will be playing their only northern headline show this year whilst the Kirkstall Abbey Comedy Festival makes a welcome return featuring Dara Ó’Brien, Jason Manford, Lucy Beamount and more.
Kirkstall postcode pre-sale for local residents (LS4, LS5, LS13 & LS18) will open at 10am on Wednesday 28th January here.
General sale opens at 10am on Friday 30 January 2026.
