With the snow in Britain finally cleared off all roads and hopefully not making another appearance during a far to brief summertime, this can only mean one thing: the start of a beautiful British festival season. Whilst there may only be sunshine for a couple of these weekends the main focus is on the music not the lamentable elements. This is a key ethos of the wonderful Live at Leeds, who will not let cloud cover get in the way of some of the most vibrant British bands playing to awestruck audiences in this expansive metropolitan festival.
First band of the day came in the form of Pigeon Detectives who’s already energetic set has been revitalised by the release of their new album ’We Met At Sea’. Frontman Matt Bowman relished catching his breath between songs and sharing the company of his hometowns crowd, many of whom were on other peoples shoulders making them the tallest crowd of the day, before jumping up and down (and off) the stage whilst singing his way through the bands ever growing collection of gritty hits, with the audience suitably impressed by newer songs such as “I Won’t Come Back” and “Animal”.
Little Comets managed to tie the balance well between playing the livelier dancy songs off the first album and the more sombre, lyrically poignant songs of the second album to give the impression they are a band comfortable with their progression and understand they will be able to take new directions in the future whilst maintaining their song writing talents and crucially, the backing of fans.
Tribes had the whole crowd eagerly listening for the new tracks which would build anticipation for their album out later this month. Their sound maintains its roots of the first album, but there are now impressive overtones of American rock though the 60s to the 80s. Having an album materialise in just one year, like traditional rock bands in previous years, may be a gamble but from the hits played during the set there is still a highly optimistic mood that the rest of the album will not simply be full of filler.
Live at Leeds has prided itself on having a keen eye for spotting up and coming potential and in the evening the Cockpit venue’s dressing room was awash with talented musicians such as Swim Deep who managed to kick back with fellow Brummies Peace after having finished their shimmering, hype worthy set playing latest single “She Changes The Weather” amongst a raft of 90s inspired songs.
In Cockpit 3, Roo Panes, commanded the stage with innate gracefulness as the intimate crowd were all encapsulated by beautifully crafted harmonious songs containing delicate crystals of insight with their origins in poetry written by Roo.
Headlining the Cockpit were Peace who had just finished a 4 day residence in Dalston’s Birthdays were the final night was finished with a cover of Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” with support from previous touring friends Mystery Jets. Carrying on the spirit of the previous night, Dom and Harrison of Peace treated us to a backstage rendition of the number 1 single allowing the joyous mood to be taken onto the stage were a rowdy crowd lapped up the grungy singles of “Wraith” and “Follow Baby” whilst the epic “1998” induced a state of frenzied dancing to finish off a day that marked the start of what promises to be a fantastic summer full of great music.
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Post by Sam
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