Saturday 3rd August, Millennium Square, Leeds. Five and a half thousand rockers, punks and… well, pretty normal folk gather for a night of grooving and moving. But did Yard Act and co. prove to be worthy of our £30 (plus booking fee)?
This date has been locked in my diary for a number of months now. For those of you unaware, Millennium Square is right in the centre of Leeds. So much so that we struggled to find anywhere to get a pint beforehand, but we’ll get to that soon. Every summer multiple gigs are held here. Me and a mate thought we’d try it out. We had multiple options.
There was the ‘Ska & Mod festival’, the ‘Music of Bob Marley’ and the ‘Hacienda Classical’. We figured they’d all be full of middle-aged men looking to rekindle their youthful days. Which is fine, we would’ve had fun with them, but there was a better option.
Why would I want to see Yard Act?
Homegrown post-punk, indie band (I’m sure they’ll hate me for calling them post-punk and indie, please get in touch to tell me what genre you are, it’s tough to figure out) Yard Act headline a night of fun, upcoming and unique sounding music. I say homegrown, turns out that’s not strictly true (lead singer is from bloody Warrington apparently?? Can’t blame the guy for pretending he’s from Leeds I guess).
I would be lying if I said I was a Yard Act super fan. I’ve heard a few of their tunes, thought they were pretty good and never really thought much of them since. But I kept hearing the same whispers: “These guys are the best live band around, dude”, “You’ve got to check them out, they’ll rock your world bro !”. Okay, those quotes might be fictional, but you get the point, bro.
So I got my Monzo card out (other banks are available), spent 30 quid plus booking fee, and penciled the date into my metaphorical diary. Yard Act here we come.
The Weekend has finally arrived
After months of twiddling my thumbs and doing nothing but waiting for the 3rd of August, the weekend finally arrived. The excitement began to build when I went for a couple pints at Brudenell Social Club a few days earlier. My eyes were instantly fixated with a golden car parked just outside… or a golden rover to be more precise. As I approached this rover, excited to take it for a lil joyride, I noticed some writing on it. “YARD ACT, MILLENNIUM SQUARE 2024”. Fuck sake, I thought, guess I can’t steal it now. Out of respect to the boys, I left it alone and went on with my night. See the rover in all its glory here.
Anyway, you probably came here to find out if it was a good gig or not, I doubt you care about my ramblings. I’m going against everything I learnt in my Journalism degree here, “Just get to the point Jack!” my tutor would be screaming at me. Well guess what, there’s enough boring gig reviews all over the music journalism world, go read one of them if you don’t like my Bill Bryson-esque travel writing piece of genius (I’m actually quite humble if you get to know me).
Preparing for Millennium Square
We began the weekend by spending Friday night at the cornerstones for Leeds students. Hyde Park Book Club and the aforementioned Brudenell Social Club. After 8 or 9 pints we headed back, got a nice early night and woke up the next morning raring to go.
It was a lovely British summers day, so a classic look of a t-shirt and some corduroy trousers did the job. No jacket required.
On the X84 bus into town I noticed a couple fellow gig-goers. A couple old-skool rockers. 50 year old bloke with bleach blonde hair quiffed into style, sat next to a woman of similar age with a very impressive, proper mullet. Not the shite excuse of a mullet every 20 year old tom, dick and harry has these days.
When in town we began to get an idea of the mix of ages we were going to encounter at this gig. After these old-skool rockers on the bus, we noticed many younger people walking round town wearing Yard Act T-shirts. The excitement began to build.
Doors opened at 6, we got into town around 5ish, expecting to get a quick, quiet pint somewhere. That proved harder than expected. Saturday evening in Leeds city centre isn’t great. A lack of proper pubs means our options range from packed cocktail places such as ‘Be at One’ or more food-based bars such as ‘Almost Famous’. We just wanted a quick pint ! Guess where we ended up. Of course, Spoons.
Got a Doom Bar each, drank it as quick as possible whilst reading Tim Martin’s thoughts in the highly acclaimed Wetherspoons magazine ! Great stuff !
Millennium Square here we come !
Finally it was 6pm, we queued up for not long at all and got in after a pretty extensive search. “I have nothing on me officer, I swear !”
I should have been professional and got some pictures at this point. The sun was just setting over the buildings of Leeds City Center, it was quite nice, take my word for it. But instead I headed straight for the bar. One of my favourite pints is Amstel, so I went straight for one pint please before even checking the price. Turns out it was £6.50, not great, not terrible. Quick queue aswell. Zero complaints so far.
We then walked about 30 yards over to the stage and set up camp for the night (by that I mean we stood there sipping a pint and planned to not move again, apart from another pint or quick piss, of course).
It was perfect timing as just as we found our spot James Smith, lead singer of Yard Act, took to stage to introduce the first act of the night. Finally, let’s get to the music.
It’s all about the music
Ultimate Thunder took to stage. A local band whose loud, in-your-face dance-punk makes you boogie before you even realise it. All but one members of the band have learning disabilities, and they are all full of energy and stage presence. Especially the drummer who soaked up every second as their set ended, before having to eventually be dragged off stage by his fellow band mates. Great bass lines and synth beats, slightly repetitive at times, but overall a fun and groovy kick off to the night.
As the crowd began to fill up, the second band took to stage. And these guys and girls from South London are ones to look out for. They’ll be playing all the big stages at festivals in coming years, mark my words. Fat Dog came onto stage, with the drummer sticking on his German-sheppard (I think) mask which can be seen below.
These guys put on a real show. The theme of the night continued with groovy bass lines and bouncing synths, but Fat Dog had their own uniqueness to them. Often breaking out into a Ska beat, reminiscent of Madness, with their sax player stealing the show. I love myself a good gimmicky band. The dog mask, the synchronised dance routines, the constant stern, unimpressed look on the bassists face. I loved it. The closing song, “Running”, is one of the best new tunes I’ve heard this year, check it out.
Next up are Mercury Prize nominated ‘English Teacher’. Another band from Leeds, heavily touted to be a top act for years to come. I missed the first two tunes because I was having a piss and getting a couple more pints. Worth it.
English Teacher were a slight vibe change. More melancholic and chilled out, but also arguably more talented. Although I personally enjoyed the rawness and energy of Fat Dog more, lead singer, Lily Fontaine, is clearly an extremely talented vocalist and she could have a big future ahead of her.
Next up was the main event… or so we thought. For the next half an hour we were graced with the greatness of a DJ who went by the name “Dave Beer”. Opening up with ‘Marching on Together’ that got the Leeds crowd going. “YORKSHIRE, YORKSHIRE” and all that. Then he went on to play some right tunes. “Barbarism begins at home” by The Smiths, a bit of ‘Blue Monday’ and a pinch of The Cure. Just as the (Dave) beers were beginning to settle in, this was the perfect warm up for the final act.
Just as the sun was fully settling, Yard Act finally took the stage. There was an instant mood change within the crowd. What was quite a calm and chilled crowd suddenly turned into a mob reminiscent of a prime Metallica gig.
Straight into the riff of “The Overload”, the crowd turned into a frenzy. and this continued for the next 90 minutes. I honestly wasn’t expecting such a lively and violent (in a good way) crowd. I remember going to see Black Midi in Liverpool about a year ago, the crowd was full of music nerds probably studying sound production at uni. Every time I would try be a bit lively I’d just get side-eyed and scoffed at. Bunch of boring pricks. But this was far from that.
It was mosh pit after mosh pit. Slightly unnecessary at times but I’m not complaining. I reckon if Yard Act decided to play a slow, brand new balled we would’ve moshed to it.
One of the highlights of the night being when “DEANO” came onto stage. Apparently Dean was a school mate of lead singer James Smith and they’ve recently rekindled their friendship. Anyway he came on stage, everyone chanted “DEANO”, James attempted to give him a little on stage interview but Dean was either strongly intoxicated or poorly media trained. In James Smiths own words, “alright we’ve milked this abit too much”. The show continued as Dean did a bit of very average looking crowd surfing.
By this point I had lost my mate long ago. I kept catching a glimpse of him, but there was no chance of reaching him. The rest of the gig is a bit of a blur. Lots of moshing and jumping. Fun stuff.
Quick shout-out to Yard Act’s backing singers. More bands should tour with backing singers and dancers, they really enhanced the performance.
There was a slight downer as I lost my bracelet which my mum got me from Barcelona. The very last mosh of the very last song, it flew off my wrist never to be seen again. However my mate did find a whole, unopened pouch of baccy on the floor on the way out. Swings and roundabouts I guess.
Good night?
So what did I think of the night as a whole? Was it that good seeing as I wasn’t necessarily a fan of any of the bands? Yes it was. And now I am a fan, especially of Fat Dog. I’ll be checking out their tour dates and getting a ticket.
A night of great, new music with a lively, violent, but very friendly crowd. No problems with staff, or queueing, or the facilities. Yes I lost my bracelet, but we did find that baccy. Guess that cancels it out.
If you’re unsure of going to a gig because you don’t know too many songs, forget about that. You don’t need to know the songs. Just pretend to yourself that you do and go for it.
Thought I’d try something different with this article. I’ve always been against doing gig or album reviews, they’re extremely over saturated and I don’t think they’re very creative. Hence why I’ve tried to make it more about my experiences of the weekend… it’s not only about the music, I feel like some people forget that, especially those pricks who went to the Black Midi gig. I’ll never forget and forgive you !!
Apologies if it’s abit long for your liking, let me know if you liked it. Also let me know if you didn’t like it. Then I can tell you how you’re wrong.
Cya next time. Peace 🙂
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