{"id":36197,"date":"2026-08-10T09:22:04","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T04:22:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=36197"},"modified":"2026-08-10T09:22:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T04:22:04","slug":"take-a-first-look-inside-leeds-major-new-revamped-music-venue-testbed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=36197","title":{"rendered":"Take a first look inside Leeds&#8217; major new revamped music venue TESTBED"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>Leeds\u2019 major new revamped music venue TESTBED is set to reopen next month after a major overhaul.<\/p>\n<p>Founders Laura Wellington and James Abbott-Donnelly have overseen the project which sees the venue expanding from 10,000 square feet to 23,000 square feet with an overall crowd capacity of 2,500.<\/p>\n<p>Guests entering through the new lobby will find a brand-new 5,000 square feet mezzanine level, an upstairs bar and a balcony view overlooking the main dance floor. Downstairs, a custom-built stage allows for an immersive 360-degree crowd setup around the DJ booth, with plans already underway for a Room 2 reveal in 2027.<\/p>\n<p>It will also be the \u201conly venue in Leeds equipped with a custom-built L-Acoustics L2 system for festival-grade audio clarity\u201d along with a huge 8m x 4m high-res LED video wall, and a custom LED ceiling display. You can take a first look inside the venue below.<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" data-testid=\"article-content article-paragraph\">\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DbsxF-iNzWZ\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\">\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DbtOAKusVa6\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\">\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Temporary portaloos have also been permanently removed, replaced by four brand-new, custom-designed toilet blocks that double previous capacity. In addition, a\u00a0high-capacity ventilation and air circulation system has been fitted throughout the industrial warehouse space.<\/p>\n<p>Since opening in 2021, TESTBED has \u201ccarved out a reputation as a unique, forward-thinking, multi-purpose space,\u201d according to a press release.<\/p>\n<p>AMAAD \u2013 the promoters behind Junction 2 Festival, LWE events, and Ironworks \u2013 has partnered with the venue, along with live music programmer Ghostwriter who has brought the likes of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/little-simz\">Little Simz<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/yungblud\">Yungblud<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/geese\">Geese<\/a> to The Prospect Building in Bristol, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/everything-everything\">Everything Everything<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/the-sherlocks\">The Sherlocks<\/a>, and The Callous Daoboys to Quarters in Brighton.<\/p>\n<p>Full lineups and opening details for TESTBED will be announced in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/reading-leeds-festival-2026\">Reading &amp; Leeds<\/a> has also seen <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/reading-leeds-boss-talks-biggest-ever-arena-overhaul-and-strength-of-uk-and-irish-music-on-line-up-were-buzzing-with-ideas-for-the-future-3955730\">the upcoming festival\u2019s \u201cbiggest staging and arena overhaul\u201d ever for this year\u2019s edition<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The northern leg in Leeds will take place at Bramham Park between August 27 and 30. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/florence-and-the-machine\">Florence + The Machine<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/charli-xcx\">Charli XCX<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/fontaines-d-c\">Fontaines D.C.<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/dave\">Dave<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/raye\">Raye<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/chase-status\">Chase &amp; Status<\/a>\u00a0will all top the bill.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/kasabian\">Kasabian<\/a>\u00a0are due to open proceedings up in Leeds, serving as the northern site\u2019s first-ever Thursday night headliners. There\u2019ll be various acts exclusive to each location, too, including\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/news\/music\/blossoms-join-leeds-festival-2026-line-up-as-special-guests-cant-wait-for-this-one-3948213\">Blossoms<\/a>\u00a0(Leeds),\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/loyle-carner\">Loyle Carner<\/a>\u00a0(Reading),\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/jamie-webster\">Jamie Webster<\/a>\u00a0(Leeds),\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/men-i-trust\">Men I Trust<\/a>\u00a0(Reading),\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/the-ks\">The K\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0(Leeds) and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/artists\/gunna\">Gunna<\/a>\u00a0(Reading).<\/p>\n<p>As part of these major improvements, the festival\u2019s main stage has been revamped as\u00a0<strong>The Grid. <\/strong>Other stages include <strong>The Gallery, The Ballroom <\/strong>and <strong>The Canopy<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n  fbq('consent', 'revoke');\n  fbq('init', '370979561341328');\n  fbq('track', 'PageView');\n<\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leeds\u2019 major new revamped music venue TESTBED is set to reopen next month after a major overhaul. Founders Laura Wellington and James Abbott-Donnelly have overseen the project which sees the venue expanding from 10,000 square feet to 23,000 square feet with an overall crowd capacity of 2,500. Guests entering through the new lobby will find&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2026_testbed_press_2000x1270.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-gossip"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}