Live at Leeds 2014 Launch Party Review

Over the past few seasons, Live at Leeds has built up quite the reputation on (beyond) saturated UK festival circuit.

Some how, its manage to stay current, and modern, whilst retaining its raw, cultish edge that puts it so far ahead of the rest of the inner-city festival crowds.  It celebrates young talent, becoming a who’s who of up and comers, the raw edge of indie and rock. The festival has also managed to it sit itself in the opening slot to the entire festival season, Heroic? No pressure right?
 

Hero status comes a loyal cult fan base, one that we are joined whole heartedly by tonight at Wardrobe: packed to the door with small time bands, hip local bloggers and a surprising amount of ‘Alex Turner’ quiffs. There’s a serious atmosphere here, after all this isn’t just the line-up to a cult (not to mention award-winning) festival, it’s the line up to what’s to come, this team is famous for picking up future huge hitters, Ed Sherran, LadyHawke, Maccabees, King Krule and the Futureheads have all played this festival, going on to play some of the biggest stages around, from glasto to the other local giant-Leeds Festival.

The line up this time, boasts an incredible list of names all playing across the cities three day event:
 Blood Red Shoes, Albert Hammond Junior and Kodaline are joined by festival favourites Pulled Apart by horses and the new stars of the indie scene; We were evergreen, Yuck and Say Lou Lou.

Once again the line up doesn’t disappoint, and that’s without the launch of the headlining acts…

 
Tommy Loebell

 

Live at Leeds 2014 lineup revealed!

Officially kicking off the UK Festival season, Live At Leeds is the first to bring you the bands that are going to break in 2014. The festival has established a peerless reputation for picking the most exciting new artists who are just on the cusp of great things and programming them across Leeds for one joyous musical weekend.
 
More established acts compliment these bright young things as they unite for three days of musical mayhem with over 150 bands performing in over 20 stages across the city including the legendary Cockpit who will this year celebrate their 20thbirthday!
 
The lineup itself is as strong as ever and packed full of the UK’s hottest acts across multiple genres, BBC Sound Of 2014 Poll runner up Ella Eyre leads the charge with her soulful Pop/R&B along with fellow Sound Of Poll finalist Chlöe Howl. Joining her on the lineup are the UK’s current #1 singles artist Clean Bandit whose unique mix of modern dance music and live string instrumentation has marked them out as a key cross over act for 2014.  The sardonic wit of Detroit hip-hop nativeLizzo and the ever arresting and constantly progressive electronic duo Fuck Buttons will also make highly anticipated appearances.
 
Ella Eyre
 
Indie fans need look no further than indie legend and The Strokes guitar hero Albert Hammond Jr. As well as this we have the addition of Pitchfork championed, jangly Welsh indie-pop sextet Los Campesinos! to the line-up as well as the ferocious, grungy pop songs of NME 2014 hopefuls Wolf Alice and Yuck’s Dinosaur Jr and Pavement influenced brand of fuzzy indie-rock.
 
Rock fans will also rejoice at the inclusion of Leeds’ noisiest sons and prime UK rock exports the chart- bothering Pulled Apart By Horses as well as fellow locals, the captivating I Like Trains.
 
As well as this the weekend features a separate set of eclectic, stand alone ‘Live At Leeds presents’ shows featuring Brighton’s alternative duo Blood Red Shoes, Dublin based 2013 breakthrough rockers Kodaline and post-metal titansNeurosis respectively.
 
CONFIRMED ACTS IN FULL:
 
ALBERT HAMMOND JR / BLOOD RED SHOES / CATFISH AND THE BOTTLEMEN / CHLÖE HOWL / CIRCA WAVES / CLEAN BANDIT / COURTNEY BARNETT / DRENGE / ELLA EYRE / FUCK BUTTONS / HUDSON TAYLOR / I LIKE TRAINS / JOHNNY FLYNN / KING CHARLES / KODALINE / LAUREN AQUILINA / LIZZO / LOS CAMPESINOS! / NEUROSIS / NINA NESBITT / PULLED APART BY HORSES / ROYAL BLOOD / SAY LOU LOU / THE HOLD STEADY / THE MIDNIGHT BEAST / WOLF ALICE / YUCK
 
AMBER RUN / ARC IRIS / ARTHUR BEATRICE / AUTOBAHN / BAT AND BALL / BLAENAVON / COASTS / CRYSTAL SEAGULLS / CYMBALS  DARLIA / DENAI MOORE / DIVE IN / DOLOMITE MINOR / EAVES / ELIZA AND THE BEAR / FAIR OHS / FLYTE / FRANK HAMILTON / FRED PAGE  FYFE / GAMBLES / GEORGE BARNETT / HAPPYNESS / HERO FISHER / HIGHASAKITE / HOLY MOUNTAIN / HONEYBLOOD / INDIANA / JACK GARRATT / JAMIE ISAAC / JAWS / JOEL BAKER / KHUSHI / LANTERNS ON THE LAKE / LAURA WELSH / LOLA COLT / LOVE ZOMBIES / LYGER / LYLA / FOY / MARIKA HACKMAN / MAUSI / MENACE BEACH / MELT YOURSELF DOWN* / NORMA JEAN MARTINE / PALACE / PARAKEET / PAWWS PRIMITIVE PARTS / PUP / RAINER / RHODES / ROSIE LOWE / SAM AIREY  SAN FERMIN / SHY NATURE / SIVU / SNARKY PUPPY* / SOLIDS SOUTHERN / SPRING KING / SUPERFOOD / TELEMAN / THE AMAZING SNAKEHEADS / THE BOHICAS / THE CREASES / THE SCENES / THE TEA STREET BAND / THE WYTCHES / TOURIST / VUKOVI / WE THE WILD / WE WERE EVERGREEN / WILD CUB / YOUTH MAN
 
ALASKA / ALLUSONDRUGS / APOLLO JUNCTION / BEARFOOT BEWARE / BLUE LAUREL  CARNABELLS / CHARLIE STRAW / CITY OF LIGHTS / DISRAELI GEARS / ENGINE / FANS  FAWN SPOTS / GLASS CAVES / GLASSBODY / GOODBYE CHANEL / HARRY RIDGWAY  IMP / JONNY QUITS / MARSICANS / MODO STARE / MUNICH / NARCS  OTHERPEOPLESLIVES / PIP MOUNTJOY / QUENTINS BASEMENT / SAMUEL S.PARKES  TABLOIDS / THE MEXANINES / THE VENDETTAS / THEN THICKENS / WE WERE FRONTIERS / WEIRDS / WITCH HUNT / WHITE ROYAL
 
*THESE ARE SEPARATE TICKETED EVENTS, SATURDAY WRISTBAND’S ARE NOT VALID
*FRIDAY 2nd MAY > THE COCKPIT > BLOOD RED SHOES
*FRIDAY 2nd MAY > BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB > MELT YOURSELF DOWN (FULL A/V SHOW)
*FRIDAY 2nd MAY > THE WARDROBE > SNARKY PUPPY
*SUNDAY 4th MAY > O2 ACADEMY LEEDS > KODALINE
*SUNDAY 4th MAY > LEEDS MET > NEUROSIS

Live at Leeds 2013 Review

Live at Leeds, now in it’s 7th year is a city center festival featuring over 100 bands local and international.  A wristband entitles you (subject to capacity) to visit any of the featured venues, including The O2 Academy, Leeds University, The Cockpit, Milos and The Nation of Shopkeepers.  Due to the distance between some of the venues and wanting to cram in seeing as many bands as possible, we predominately stayed in the Leeds Met/Uni area, so had to give a visit to our favourite Brudenell a miss which would have meant a long walk or taxi ride.

There were early teething problems with a long queue snaking round the musuem for the wristband exchange but due to the beautiful weather, people were in high spirits and did not seem to mind the wait in the sunshine too much.  The Cockpit had long queues from opening so we also gave it a miss.

The first venue I visited is Nation Of Shopkeepers. It’s already 1 in 1 out at the small pub venue when I arrive, and The 4 piece Night Engine are thrilling the packed crowd with their set of intelligent energetic pop. Reminiscent of Pulp and Richard Hawley with a nice take on 80s synth pop thrown in mid set. They’re definitely one I would catch again.

I spent most of the day The University where there are 3 stages, the largest of which is The Refectory which holds 2000, and also houses the smaller 500 capacity Stylus and even smaller The Mine in the basement which featured heavier rock and punky bands during the day.

Katie the photographer headed over to a rammed 02 Academy to catch The Pigeon Detectives usual sing-along raucus set in a surprisingly early afternoon slot.  Disappointingly the pit was so narrow and so many photographers present, they were only allowed one song was allowed to photograph the band, which for a band who’s songs are in the 2-3 minute region was sadly too short.  Not really her cup of tea musically, their set was fun to watch though from the calm of balcony though.

When I arrive at the University  Department M are just about to take the stage in The Stylus. Their name makes them sound like an 80s synth duo, which indeed they are, but with the addition of a very tribal sounding drummer. The male singer looks like a Doctor Who era David Tennant in a lab coat, but bizarrely sounds like Alison Moyet! Halfway through they ramp the speed up and drop some sequences into the mix, it becomes quite danceable.

In the Refectory hipster Charlie Boyer & The Voyeurs have certainly upped their game, and all the songs are much more catchy than when I last saw them. I can see why they’ve been snapped up by a major label.  I can also see their skuzzy guitar pop being a big festival hit in the summer.

Katie  made the short walk to Leeds Met to catch Leeds based Middleman who played an absolutely blinding set, and was her hi-light her the day.  Their mix of intelligent hip hop lyrics, rock and Prodigy style beats had the crowd dancing away and trying to catch one of the many CDs thrown into the crowd.  Singer Andy topped their energetic set off by launching himself into the crowd superman style (and then proceeded to lose his phone)

Post War Glamour Girls are named after a John Cooper-Clarke poem which gets them off to a good start. They’re dark, doomy and catchy and have me tapping along from the start. When the dual male and female vocals come in together its heavenly. “Service Station Blues” is a dark indie blues song and

Back in The Mine Castrovalva is wishing someone “happy birthday you motherfucker”. There’s lots of pelvic thrusting from the larger than life rapper over a hard metal rhythm.  There’s also synth samples in there too. Bonkers is the only word for it!

Once again I head over to The Stylus to catch Deep Sea Arcade, who start off as shambling indie but by the third number have progressed into the most wonderful shoegaze pop noise.  There’s even a bit of happy Monday’s vibe going on, they’re totally glorious by the end, another one I’ll catch again

Over in The Refectory, Australians Splashh make a huge pop sonic wall of sound that deserves more of an audience than turn up for their early evening spot. They have dual vocals over groovy fuzzy pop. Pretty good.

Katie tthen made the fairly long walk across the city centre to Milos to witness a magnificently shambolic punk set from Kleine Schweine, whose sub two minute songs all appear to be about Eastern European former communist countries and dictators.  It was a bit cramped in Milos to say the least, with the band literally in the crowd’s faces and a brief mid set break to down some shots!

Savages are soundchecking in The Stylus, and it’s loud. As they come on the temperature rises as their disturbing intro tape plays. the dry ice rises and the band kick in to their first number, but the volume has already dropped, but we have our first moshpit of the day to the throbbing bass and hypnotic drums. Unfortunately there’s something wrong with the lead vocal mic, after 2 songs, the band jam quietly in the background while its fixed, later in the set the band launch into a jam of “Don’t Let The Fuckers Get You Down”, which consists of the title of the song repeated over and over for 5 minutes, its brilliantly incendiary and mesmerizing under the monochrome lighting. They’re the best band of the day for me.

Dutch Uncles wow the crowd in The Stylus with their spiky pop music, they’re massive over the Pennines and it can’t be too long until the rest of the country wakes up to them. One fan has even got his own Dutch Uncles flag, on a Dutch flag, obviously. They are the only band I’ve ever seen with a lead xylophone part in their songs. They end a stunning set with an unbelievably good cover of Grace Jones’s “Slave To The Rhythm” which the crowd lap up.

Katie saw veterans of the Leeds music scene, Hawk Eyes at last year’s Beacons Festival and liked them so much live she caught them again at Leeds University Mine.  Not quite as energetic as their set at Beacons, which may have something to do with singer Paul having his leg strapped up, they nevertheless put on a great 30 minute set of riff laden hardcore rock/ punk.

The Walkmen in the Stylus play a geat set to a packed crowd who love it. The band have been celebrating the last date of their tour today by playing darts in The Fenton. The singer is quite drunk, which may explain why he sang half a song from the moshpit which he appeared to fall into, but drunk or not, what a voice!

Live at leeds 2013 was great festival, exhausting and very heavy on the legs after 12 hours on the feet walking from venue to venue. It had a brilliant vibe, everybody we chatted to was so friendly from the teenagers to the 50+’s, and every genre of music covered. I can’t believe two natives of Manchester have never made the short trip over the pennines to the festival before, and will definitely be returning in future years.

Check out the photos here

Live at Leeds 2013 Preview

Now in it's 7th year, Live at Leeds returns to Leeds City Centre over the May bank holiday.  For those who dislike muddy fields and need their creature comforts and a nice bed not cold, muddy tent at the end of a busy day watching music, city centre festivals such as Live at Leeds are ideal.

The weekend kicks off on Friday 3rd with the free Unconvention event comprising of talks debates, discussions with respected people from all aspects of the music industry. The weekend comes to a close on Monday with he annual inter-band 5 aside football tournament.

Saturday is the main event which sees over 100 bands descend on the city centre area.  Venues include the 2,500 capacity Leeds Academy, Leeds Met, the Cockpit club next to the train station and ace pub the Faversham.  Our personal favourite is the Brudenell Social Club, which is a Phoenix Nights type social club, but in an indie way, with amazingly cheap beer.

If your goal is to see as many different bands as possible throughout the day, we suggest you concentrate your attention around the Universities / Academy / Nation Of Shopkeepers area with several venues a few minutes walk away.  That way if one band isn't your thing you can quickly move catch another band just down the road.

At the time of writing the full venue timings have not yet been published, but we hope to catch the twangy guitar sounds of The Walkmen, the quirky Darwin Deez, Manchester’s Everything Everything, the post-rock, the Gothy sounds of Savages, the off-kilter spiky pop of Dutch Uncles, and  Birmingham's Peace who are currently gaining good NME and 6 music exposure. If you prefer your music noisier and rockier, Leeds' Hawk Eyes put on a good, energetic gig.

Everything Everything

Other bands playing include local boys and headliners The Pigeon Detectives, electro Swimming Pools, wierd noiseniks Maybeshewill, folk sisters The Staves, hottly tipped Londoners Charlie Boyer and the Voyeurs, Manchester's the 1975, Sheffield's The Crookes, and the grungey, feedback laden Splashh. The real joy of these city centre type festivals is wandering into one of the smaller venues and catching a band you've never heard of and coming away with a new favourite band.

With a little forward planning, it should be easy to catch 5-10 bands over the 12 hour period which makes the £22.50 a bargain by festival standards.