Photo: Jon Mo
It may seem to get earlier each and every year, but festival season is now officially upon us - getting off to one hell of a start up North at Live At Leeds festival. With 22 brilliant venues rammed with the best up-and-coming as well as established acts across one of the UK's greatest cities, it made our maiden voyage into the summer one of discovery as well as celebration.
These are the 10 best performances we witnessed at Live At Leeds festival 2016.
We Are Scientists
"Yorrrkshiiire," bellow the capacity crowd at Gigwise's Stylus Stage for tonight's culminating headline performance. "That's good to know," smiles back bassist Chris Cain, resplendent in black suit and impeccable moustache. "Around here you have exit signs, but don't mount the name of the shire."
Our pleasure, as a sea of flailing limbs fly with pure Northern abandon, as new tracks shimmer alongside the old during a set where nothing feels like a chore. Many of the bands that rose to fame in the 00s indie glory days when we first fell in love with WAS have either fallen by the wayside or drifted into self-parody. But while 'This Scene Is Dead' still bristles with that menacing potential of the quiet-LOUD art-rock charm that made their debut so essential, new tracks 'Buckle' and 'Classic Love' from Helter Seltzer still shimmer with that inescapably pop sheen, albeit with a far more considered depth.
Through an hour of exquisite banter and shameless indie disco joy, we draw to a natural end with the timeless fire of 'The Great Escape' and aching brilliance of 'After Hours', but as we end of the newbie of the playful earworm of 'Never Too Late', you realise that it doesn't matter when or where we are - 2005 or 2016, New York or Yorkshire, there's something so loveable and familiar about We Are Scientists that means they always feel like home.
Sløtface
We can't lie, we were pretty disappointed when social media censorship forced Slutface to change their name, but a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, and the effervescent youthful exuberance of these four Nordic sprites is nothing short of a force of nature.
With the barbed edge of Blood Red Shoes, the pop-punk tune-smithery of Green Day and Weezer, mixed with a rampant, giveth-no-shits, taketh-no-fucks, fearless riot-grrrl adrenaline, their already dedicated following lose themselves in the instant madness of 'Shave My Head', 'Bad Party' and anthem for doomed youth 'Sponge State', while those present and previously unfamiliar are left utterly shaken by their new favourite band. The future is Slutface.
Kloe
Sultry pop-noir, with the sensual swagger of BANKS or FKA Twigs, albeit destined for the darkest of dancefloors with the hooky anthemics of Charli XCX - with the added fun of a Scottish night out gone wrong. Make no mistake, this is music for the night time, and that's certainly the spirit she performs in as she fluidly bumps and grinds across the stage.
"I'm such a fucking dickhead," she chuckles, being dragged from the floor after an ambitious dance move sees her fall flat on her arse. "I fall over all the time, I'm Madonna."
Madonna on Buckfast, for the 21st Century. We'll have some of that.
Los Campesinos!
The genre-defying Los Camp remain at the top of their game. The unique space they occupy falls somewhere between indie, noise-pop and punk, but over five albums their idiosyncrasies have grown far less twee and transformed into an arsenal of sound, with all barrels unloaded. It's an onslaught of danceability, based beneath articulate tales of the pitfalls of post-millenial youth. We're still with Los Campesinos, let's just hope everyone else can keep up.
Glass Caves
Live At Leeds breaks-free from the venues and bursts out on to the street for the first time this year. The new Briggate stage hosts a crop of new acts, who play in the open-air to festival-goers and curious passers-by. Setting things in motion, Glass Caves open the show – bringing Leeds’ busiest shopping street to a standstill. Currently working on the follow-up to self-funded album Alive – they’re certainly ones to lookout for.
Mystery Jets
“Who wants to go back to the noughties?” William Rees proposes to the O2 Academy audience, before playing ‘Young Love’ and the eighties-inspired ‘Two Doors Down’ from their breakthrough record Twenty Something. Indie hits aside, Mystery Jets don’t disappoint with cuts from this year’s magnificent Curve Of The Earth. Opening with the cinematic Radiohead-esque ‘Telomere’ and new single ‘Bubblegum’, Blaine and the gang prove they’re just as vital in 2016 as they were at the height of last decade’s indie madness.
Blood Red Shoes
Over at the Leeds Beckett Student Union, it’s Blood Red Shoes’ first gig back after a nine-month break from playing live - and they’re back with a bang. Lead singer Laura-Mary Carter unleashes walls of deafening guitar on appropriately titled opener ‘Welcome Home’ before sidestepping into the familiar riff of ‘Light It Up’ as the room shouts its chorus back to the stage.
Being from the opposite end of the country doesn’t stop drummer Steven Ansell starting-off a “YORKSHIRE” chant mid-set – Leeds has clearly being good to Blood Red Shoes in the past. We look forward to what the Brighton duo brings to the table next – don’t leave it so long this time!
Spring King
Manchester never sounded quite so close to the West Coast of America - where slacker rock meets the sounds of surf, and the sheer pop drive of The Beach Boys is driven by the alt-rock experimentalism of Arcade Fire. As laissez-faire as their sound may be, there's a life and effervescent energy behind Spring King, a compulsion that demands to be heard. That's why we're pretty thrilled to see what the future holds for them in 2016, especially after their incredible set on Gigwise's Stylus Stage. Surf's up - here's a wave that you don't want to miss.
Band Of Skulls
Keeping things heavy, Band of Skulls see the night out at the SU, showcasing material from their upcoming fourth record, By Default. Emma Richardson takes-on lead vocal on the funk-laced new single ‘So Good’ while the stomping ‘I Know What I Am’ provokes one of the biggest crowd reactions of the day. The setlist is a whirlwind of a monster riffs and pop hooks – what better way to begin the band’s next chapter?
Blossoms
Fresh from announcing that they’ll be supporting Kasabian at a massive stadium gig in Leicester, Blossoms show that they’re destined for similar heights of success. Without a debut album out yet, the Stockport boys already have enough crowd-pleasing tracks under their belt to satisfy a festival crowd - they have the tunes to match the swagger, and nothing can stop them.
Meet the UK's new guitar heroes.
