Leeds has always been a must-play city for bands and one which has a consistently bustling music scene, so what better way to praise it than by hosting a festival there, and I don’t mean the infamous Leeds Festival.
Live At Leeds is something that you can’t find in an open muddy field, but instead one that scatters all its hidden gems in between every nook and cranny in the city. It’s a place where artists find their feet in small downtown bars and the real indie kids come out to play. The day starts for everyone at the Leeds First Direct Arena where prepubescent teens to middle-aged rockers queue for wristbands and begin to plan their day ahead.
My day started at the most quaint sounding venue on the cards, ‘A Nation Of Shopkeepers’, where I would end up spending my afternoon here watching three equally fine acts. On arrival, it was more like a nation of people queueing for the bar whilst trying to stay within ear shot of the band on stage, and so I spent the first show of the day at the back of the crowd merely listening to the band on show, Blaenavon. They’re an admirable trio of young lads who have forged a sound out of the remnants of The Maccabees and Bombay Bicycle Club. At one point a bursting Foals-like guitar riff showed the growing maturity in their sound. Their set began with debut track, ‘Into The Night’ and finished on ‘Prague’, their two strongest songs, allowing the lead singer’s distinctive vocals to quaver over the crowd.
Hibou took to the same stage mid-afternoon and blessed us with their hawaiian surf-pop vibes all the way from Seattle. All the focus was on frontman Peter Michel and his dreamy vocals. The up and down tempo of ‘Above Us’ showed off their finer guitar skills whilst the darker vibes in ‘Glow’ were at points reminiscent of Bloc Party. They even had time to treat the crowd to a new track, ‘Eleanor’, which had a menacing little picky break down. Feel good vibes all round.
Down the road at the O2 Academy Hudson Taylor were just kicking off so I went in and sat at the back, and listened to their folky vibes which are pretty repetitive and lack luster after a while. They come somewhere in between me picking up a guitar and Mumford & Sons and lets put it this way, anything near sell out arenas is ambitious for them. Elsewhere, another folk inspired band were taking to the Nation Of Shopkeepers stage again - Southern. A young brother and sister duo, born in Belfast and living in Liverpool who ooze a cool bluesy rock scent. The sound wasn’t perfect but the six songs they played cancelled that out. Lead songs ‘Shout It’ and ‘Where The Wild Are’ entice the largest crowd so far into the venue. Playing all the tracks off their debut self-titled EP ‘Southern’, they drew loose comparison to the likes of Fleetwood Mac and Jake Bugg whilst the high, overlapping vocals remind you of White Stripes. There are shouts of ‘encore’ before I manage to grab Thom from the band for a quick chat.
A promising first few acts and Years & Years followed suit. Another band that proved that the youth are stealing the limelight, actor and lead singer Olly Alexander led the band out in a t-shirt and shorts. He may look like he’s ready for a PE lesson and the synth player’s been drafted in as the ‘not cool’ kid from School Of Rock, but these boys are ready for much bigger things if Alexander’s extensive range of choir boy come soul singer vocals are anything to go by. Genuinely happy to have a crowd, and a group of screaming girls who are also eager to see them, the band bust out a few songs including ‘Real’ and their cover of Sean Paul and Blue Cantrell’s ‘Breathe’ brings about comparisons similar to the kind of stuff Clean Bandit are doing.

Elsewhere indie band of the moment Circa Waves filled out the NME Stage at The Cockpit. They’ve got a relentless energy about them, getting straight into things with early hits ‘Get Away’ and ‘Good For Me’, detecting a Pigeon Detectives kind of vibe as the crowd shout back at them. Crowd pleaser, ‘Stuck In My Teeth’, is evidently inspired by The Strokes, whilst new track, ‘Fossils’, has a catchy guitar riff reminiscent of The Wombats; they’re basically a perfect combination of your favourite indie bands of the past ten years.
Wolf Alice, on next, bring even more people into the Cockpit and kick things off with latest track ‘Moaning Lisa Smile’ before hurling themselves through equally ferocious ‘She’ and ‘Storms’. They’ve upped their live game and lead singer, Ellie, is starting to become the kind of girl who might bite your parents heads off if you ever took her back home. They enter the bouncy, feel good zone of ‘Bros’ before ending on the rebellious ‘Fluffy’.
With just a few acts left to play around the city,
Johnny Flynn opens the doors of the Holy Trinity Church whilst
Palma Violets play their
'secret set' at The Faversham. The Lambeth group play a sweaty and tightly packed 45 minute set, showing off some of their new songs and rounding off the festival.
Live At Leeds brings you the intimacy that other festivals can’t. It’s the first steps for many of these bands, and just a joy to play such special venues for others. Seven years in, it’s bigger than ever and ready to open it’s doors again next year to some of the best up and coming live bands around.
Joshua Shreeve (@JJShreeve)