We found ourselves wandering through the mythical streets of Leeds last Saturday, all in aid of Live at Leeds 2015. After being given the oppurtunity to appear on the guestlist, we was looking forward to what was all set to be a cracker of a day.
Following a few hours of trekking round the city centre, the o2 Academy Leeds was our first stop for the much coverted of late, Saint Raymond. After recently embarking on a tour with Ed Sheeran, Callum (A.K.A Saint Raymond) has seen his name venture out to a far wider audience of late. This was to be the second time of seeing the Saint for me, after catching his set at Leeds Festival last summer. Performing a number of his much loved singles, such as 'Young Blood', 'Letting Go' and 'Fall At Your Feet', it was clear to see that Saint Raymond certainly got the Leeds crowd going with his upbeat and youthful nature. Our next stop was to be the Leeds Uni Stylus for the five-piece from Stockport who have recently been doing rounds with The Courteeners and The Charlatans on tour, Blossoms. Following these support slots and with a place at Reading and Leeds already booked for later in the year, the Stylus was anticipating a decent performance and they weren't to be let down. Performing solid renditions of 'Cut Me and I'll Bleed' and 'Blow' along with various others, Tom Ogden and co swept Leeds of its feet with their ever blossoming pyschedelic synth-pop sound.
Directly after Blossoms saw Spector take to the stage, the band of whom I was most looking forward to seeing. Spector opened with a couple new tracks before they unleashed the likes of 'Chevy Thunder', 'Twenty Nothing' and 'Celestine'. Lead singer Fred Macpherson was not best pleased with the crowd though as the London based four-piece shot into 'Celestine', stopping the song and stating in a dissapointed manner "Come on Leeds, you can do better than that. This is a song called Celestine". Spector also performed new track 'Bad Boyfriend' along with the set closer, 'All The Sad Young Men' as the fresh and more matured sound got the chance to air itself live. Before leaving the Stylus stage, Fred got the last word in, encouraging the people of Leeds to "Vote Labour" in the General Election, which resulted in more than a few jeers. For me, Spector are one of the great live acts and this was not a dissapointment, Live at Leeds was my second Spector gig and it will most certainly not be my last. The Strypes, also playing the Leeds Uni Stylus, were up next. The quartet from Cavan stormed onto the stage, belting out brilliant renditions of much praised classics such as 'Blue Collar Jane' and 'You Can't Judge A Book By Its Cover' from their debut album, 'Snapshot'. Their youthful liveliness was ever present, as they bounced their way around the stage at every given oppurtunity, enganging with the crowd in a brilliant manner, The Strypes executed their powerful set superbly. New tracks such as 'Scumbag City' almost certainly proved that the quatet aren't to be a one album wonder, these young lads from Ireland are only going to get bigger.
The Strypes performing Blue Collar Jane @ Leeds Uni Stylus (Above) Spector performing All The Sad Young Men @ Leeds Uni Stylus (Top, Right)
Unfortunately as we had to make the long journey back to Grimsby, we had to miss headliners The Cribs, Swim Deep and Reverend and the Makers. Though when following the Live at Leeds que hashtag on Twitter, it appeared we weren't the only one's missing out on the hometown return for The Cribs as Leeds Town Hall reached capacity in minutes. All in all, we had a cracker of a day at Live at Leeds and we certainly advise checking it out.