Leeds is a city brimming with musical talent and enthusiasm, with every northern street oozing some kind of inspiration and output, and the annual Live At Leeds festival sees a whole host of bands join the homegrown musicians to celebrate and showcase the best in new music. The city slicking festival’s seventh year saw over 120 artists performing across the city, from highly successful Yorkshire lads The Pigeon Detectives to the new and emerging Witch Hunt, local legends Sky Larkin to New York newbies MS MR, and the straight up swilling rock’n’roll of The Struts to soulful synths courtesy of Lulu James. Determined to see as many bands as possible without running around the city like a relentless parking attendant on speed, we spent Saturday the forth of May discovering some new favourites.
Kicking off the festival at the uber-cool Nation Of Shopkeepers was young Georgia Thursting. Soulful and skittish, Georgia and her band played a funky and bluesy melange, all short songs about love and heartbreak. For those keen to find out more, the helpful lass has made it easier to hunt her down amongst the devilishly densely populated world wide web, stressing to the titters of captivated gentlemen the doe eyed songstress stressed that her name is not Thrusting but Thursting. Told.
Menace Beach have been something of a buzz band of late, and their short (fifteen mins max) set revealed why. Pivoting around the boy girl dynamic duo of Ryan and Liza and supplemented with members of Sky Larkin and Hookworms, their scuzzy grunge riffs and furiously grooving melodies are sure to continue turning heads.
Live music in a church is always a winner (especially when accompanied by a pint), and today was no different. Leeds’ Holy Trinity Church is one of the county’s most eminent art spaces, and we arrived in time to catch the end of George Ezra‘s set. The shifting strains of this young songsmith resonated through the rafters of the church, his vocals and notes blossoming into inspired and invigorating tunes. After his final notes died away and we were left with chills, we ran to Mill’s (the least practical venue ever conceived) to catch the bluesy swing of Liverpool born David Broad.
Next up was a sprint to the Uni to see what Post War Glamour Girls had to offer. Straddling pendulum style between glorious soaring strings and harmonies and angst driven roars and rumbles, this home grown band sent shivering and colossal shifts through the crowd as they captivated every member of the audience via their intimidating and heavy ambience. Australian indie rockers Deep Sea Arcade were up next, with their raucous and furious rock crackling with punishing thrills that left every audience member bouncing.
According to certain corners of the press guitar music has been dead for a while, and Savages are the band who are going to bring it back into fashion. The following statement may have us vilified and marginalised by certain sectors of the small music press, but… Really? Not nearly as tantalising as the reviews and hyperbole would have you believe, the set was frustrating and limited and failed to set us alight.
Wolf Alice have been making waves on the airwaves with their stupefying youthful melodies and crackling hooks, and today’s gig reassured early fans that their faith was not misplaced. Poppy nineties influenced grunge flecked with thrillingly steadfast riffs – they could well be one of the few ‘new wave’ bands to last longer than a few months.
By this point the Cockpit was already operating a one in one out system as the queue snaked multiple streets from the venue. The crowd lined up in anticipation of something of a buzz line up, with Peace and their fellow B-town buzz band Swim Deep on the bill, punctuated by the gritty and soaring Unknown Mortal Orchestra. The latter in particular are as seductively sincere as their grubby tumbling songs are instinctive and invigorating. Particularly potent and thrilling onstage, their vivid and resonant melodies were delivered in a somewhat seismic fashion.
With both Swim Deep and Peace you know what you are getting, and they rarely disappoint. Sunny grunge, soaring choruses, languid and defiant lyrics and entrancing guitars, both bands banged out tune after tune. Even in the dark and wintry tunnel of the Cockpit Swim Deep’s summer tune King City warmed and welcomed with spirit. Despite Peace lead singer Harry’s best attempt to distract from the musical output of his band, by rocking a sartorial ensemble put together by cutting up his grandmother’s curtains, tablecloth, and carpet, all in one outfit, he was unable to detract from what are some absolute belters of songs. Lovesick and Float Forever were particularly riotous.
As the final notes rang out and the crowd descended into the nearest indie disco, the overwhelming feeling was one of success. We had sore feet (followed by an even sorer head the next morning), but we also had a whole host of newly discovered bands to further investigate. Another year, another festival, and yet further proof that this northern city has a lot to offer.