This year’s Tramlines Festival has completely sold out, and with the three-day music event fast approaching, there’s much to plan, sort and organise to ensure a smooth and successful weekend. With outfits picked out and packed, hotel rooms booked and paid for, and annual leave approved, there’s only one thing left to sort – and that’s your festival schedule.
As a music enthusiast, I always want to make the most of every moment when it comes to festivals. And with such a fantastic line up this year, with the likes of Richard Ashcroft, The Courteeners and Paul Heaton, it can be overwhelming to try and ensure I don’t miss any of the performances I want to catch.
At previous festivals, I’ve found myself sitting in front of a Google spreadsheet with the stages splits and times in a separate tab going back and forth to work out who to see at what time.
Luckily, Tramlines understands the struggle and has introduced a game-changing solution in the form of the official festival app. The Tramlines app does all the hard work for you, and will quickly become your ultimate companion both before and during the festival, helping you create a personalised experience and conquer any artist clashes.
Here’s how I use the Tramlines app to plan my perfect festival weekend and make sure I get the most out of it.
Before Tramlines
Countdown to the festival
As soon as you open up the Tramlines app, it displays a countdown of the days, hours, minutes and seconds until you’ll be back at Hillsborough Park with an ice cold cider in your hands. This is a great feature as you can quickly check exactly how long it is until the festival as it’s much quicker than opening the calendar app and counting, and also generates excitement and buzz around the live music event. It is Sheffield’s biggest party, after all.
Read up about the performers
Under menu and ‘artists’ there is an alphabetical list of every performer playing at Tramlines Festival where you can get a feel for which singers, artists and comics you may want to see. There’s photos of each performer where you can get a general feel as to whether they’ll be your cup of Yorkshire Tea, but you can click each one and read a short bio to confirm if they’re up your alley. Make a note of whoever catches your attention – you’ll need them for the next step.
It was also on this page I spotted the slot for a ‘secret set’ on Saturday afternoon with the fake name Scottish Flies. If The Churnups turning out to be Foo Fighters at Glastonbury is anything to go by, then you’ll find me down at the front for that one.
Create a schedule
Under ‘line up’, festival goers can view the stage splits and performance times across the whole weekend, including the Sarah Nulty Stage, T’Other Stage, The Leadmill, The Library, The Open Arms and Into The Trees.
To the right of each artist there is a blank box which you can click to mark with an X to signal that you’d like to add them to your Tramlines schedule. This year, among my must-sees are The Enemy, Pale Waves, DMAs, Richard Ashcroft and Reverend and the Makers, as well as Kaiser Chiefs and The Courteeners. But I’ve also marked a number of smaller bands I’d like to catch sets of, like Prima Queen, October Drift and Lizzie Esau.
By selecting your favourite artists, you can build a personalised itinerary that ensures you catch all your must-see acts.
Check for clashes
Brand new for 2023 is the official app clashfinder. Gone are the days that your day will be an unorganised push and pull between competing acts on different stages. That said, I have always found the stage timings to be very well thought out and have always managed to catch at least 10 minutes of everyone I wanted to see, even if there have been clashes in the past.
On the clashfinder, you can view the line up for each day on a colour coded timeline which shows which sets crossover. Most are staggered, however a couple do start at the same time. For example, I’m going to have to choose between Stockport’s indie rockers Blossoms, or Eurovision babe Mae Muller on Saturday, with Pale Waves and DMAs tearing my heart in two on the Friday.
But armed with this knowledge I can plan ahead, and perhaps be able to catch half an hour of one, and half an hour of the other.
Listen to the playlist
If you log into spotify through the app, you’ll be able to listen to the official Tramlines playlist, which is prime for getting you in the festival spirit ahead of the weekend. Play it while you’re prepping, packing and even in the hotel room while you put on your (biodegradable) glitter. It’s such a great way to see which songs may get played, and discover emerging artists you may not have heard of previously, too.
During Tramlines weekend
Park map
The official festival map will be updated shortly before the festival, but it’s so handy to have at your fingertips when you arrive at Hillsborough Park so that you know where to enter, where each of the stages are, and all of the additional facilities.
In years gone by, I’ve screenshot this and put it as my phone lockscreen, but there’s no need when everything is neatly housed in the Tramlines app.
Now and next feature
The now and next feature is slightly similar to the clashfinder, but allows you to see which sets are impending, so that if you’re ever stuck on what to do or find yourself with a gap in your schedule, you can use this feature to decide on your next move and work out if you want to head Into The Woods, or to the Open Arms.
Keep up to date with any time changes
Downloading the Tramlines app and allowing notification means you’ll receive real-time updates, announcements, and news directly to your phone. Whether it’s changes to the schedule, surprise guest appearances, or exciting festival activities, you’ll be in the loop, ensuring you don’t miss any valuable experiences during the event. You wouldn’t want to miss that secret set, now, would you?
So if you’re ready to browse the lineup, pick and share your favourite artists, create a brilliantly bespoke schedule of where and when to go and get the latest announcements and news sent straight to your phone, you can download the official Tramlines festival app on Apple or Android right now.
Read more:
- Tramlines 2023: The must-watch acts on the line up including Richard Ashcroft and Courteeners
- Giant Yorkshire puddings, pizza and pastries: What we ate at Tramlines 2022
- The 27 acts I got to see and photograph at Tramlines Festival 2022
- Disco ball headdresses and leopard print – what I wore to Tramlines 2022
- Tramlines Festival 2022: Seven incredible moments from the Sheffield festival
