Month: November 2019

366. BOB: Wharf Chambers, Leeds [26.11.19]

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Artist: BOB

Support: The Beer Snobs

Venue: Wharf Chambers, Leeds

Date: 26.11.19

Bands come and go. Your favourites call it a day and you sadly accept that you’ll never see them play live again. Never say never . . .

BOB return for a ‘one off’ tour of intimate venues, in towns and cities where they always had a loyal following. Sadly, The Duchess is long gone from the Leeds live music scene but Wharf Chambers is a fitting substitute.

BOB sound like they never went away. Their old songs are timeless and new additions to their setlist perfectly fit the bill.

Great to see some (literally) old faces in the crowd from teenage gig years gone by. The BOB Barmy Army marches on . . .

364. The Chemical Brothers: First Direct Arena, Leeds [21.11.19]

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Artist: The Chemical Brothers

Support: 2manydjs [DJ Set]

Venue: First Direct Arena, Leeds

Date: 21.11.19

Some gigs need an arena. Lights, lasers and crystal clear block rockin’ beats. Incredible visuals, big bouncing balloons and two gigantic robots. The brothers always work it out.

Setlist: Go / Free Yourself / Chemical Beats / MAH / Bango|EML Ritual / Swoon / Temptation|Star Guitar / Gravity Drops / Got to Keep On / Hey Boy Hey Girl / Eve of Destruction / Saturate / Elektrobank / No Geography / Escape Velocity|The Golden Path / Don’t Think|Under the Influence|Get Up On It Like This / Dig Your Own Hole / Wide Open / Galvanize / C-H-E-M-I-C-A-L|Leave Home|Song to the Siren / Block Rockin’ Beats // Got Glint? / Catch Me I’m Falling / The Private Psychadelic Reel

363. Kate Tempest: Belgrave Music Hall, Leeds [12.11.19]

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363a_Kate Tempest [121119]

Artist: Kate Tempest

Venue: Belgrave Music Hall, Leeds

Date: 12.11.19

For the first of the evening’s two intimate shows, Kate Tempest walked on stage and made a simple request. In such a small venue she could see right into the faces of the audience and would rather not perform to a crowd of cameras. She therefore asked us to take one shot for social media and then put our phones away, which we duly did.

363b_Kate Tempest [121119]

Tempest took a moment to compose herself and then unleashed an astounding word-perfect set of poetry and rap from her ‘Let Them Eat Chaos’ and ‘The Book of Traps and Lessons’ albums. The powerful lyrics were beautifully set to the haunting beats and  keyboards of Clare Uchima.

As the gig ended there was momentary silence from an awestruck audience, still processing the barrage of wise words and meaningful messages of a truly mind blowing performance.

362. An Evening with Mike Joyce of The Smiths: The Constitutional, Farsley [9.11.19]

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362b_Mike Joyce | Constitutional

Artist: Mike Joyce

Interviewer: Dave Simpson

Venue: The Constitutional, Farsley

Date: 9.11.19

On a Saturday night in Farsley (a small suburb on the edge of Leeds) the one and only drummer from The Smiths sat casually chatting away – like a normal bloke who just happened to be in one of the world’s most renowned indie bands.

Despite Morrissey & Marr’s bittersweet memoirs and the infamous pay dipute, Mike Joyce seemed full of fond memories of his time with The Smiths and beyond. At one point, whilst telling a tale, he beat out the drum intro from ‘The Queen is Dead’ on the arm of his chair. It was a surreally special moment.

362c_Mike Joyce | Constitutional

I couldn’t resist being a ‘fanboy’, so as Joyce went for a fag break at the end of the gig, I got him to sign my gig poster and original copy of “Hatful of Hollow”.