Crowd at Damnation – Credit: Rich Price Photography
Following the highly successful 2021 post-lockdown return of Damnation Festival to Leeds University, 2022 sees the event move back to its original home city of Manchester, now expanded to take place in the 6000-capacity BEC Arena.
The move, whilst probably inevitable, was always going to be something of a gamble. Some of the smaller rooms at the Leeds, Damnation were getting dangerously crammed, and the festival’s repute, ticket-buying demand, and band-booking clout had outgrown its former venue. But, on the other hand, many had come to regard the Leeds University Union, for all its quirks and eccentricities, as Damnation’s home.