John Robb - Do You Believe in the Power of Rock & Roll? Live from The Old Woollen, Leeds, 28/4/2024

Ever wish you’d been born ten years earlier? An unusual phenomenon perhaps but while I’ve got you, please allow me a moment’s elaboration. In my case, emerging a decade sooner would have seen my formative years immersed in the nation’s Beatlemania thrall instead of the fab four as a fading memory, my early teens coinciding with glam, my late teens punk and post punk instead of hair metal…..bah! 

Killing Joke - Leeds 02 Academy, April 8th 2022 (LIVE REVIEW)

Unlike many contemporaries, the supremely influential Killing Joke can still boast their original line-up as a draw to paying punters. With these guys we’re not talking one or two founder members fleshed out with a bunch of Kens. 

Balthazar (LIVE REVIEW) Leeds Belgrave Music Hall - April 7th 2015

Belgian quintet Balthazar were due to kick-off their 30-odd date European tour in Leeds before an extra date was added for the previous day in Brighton. Singer Jinte reveals the band have never played Leeds before, perhaps an explanation of the surprisingly thin crowd. 

Lucy Rose (LIVE REVIEW) Leeds Brudenell Social Club - Sunday March 15th 2015

As I hurriedly arrive at The Brudenell Social Club for tonight’s gig, the venue front usually busy with punters getting in their last cigarettes before the show starts is empty, and the car park is bursting to capacity with cars in every nook and cranny. This can only mean one thing, Lucy Rose has started, oh and it’s clearly going to be very busy.

Kate Tempest - (LIVE REVIEW) Leeds Brudenell Social Club, 14th February 2015

Caught in a maelstrom of accusatory descriptions; award winning poet; glottal stopping rapper; Brit school graduate; nothing Kate Tempest does fits easily into a press releasable box. Rapping since she was old enough to talk, with a diversion into poetry and spoken word performance, debut album Everybody Down sought to combine the two. Managing it masterfully, it tells the tale of a triumvirate of characters as they make their way through the obstacle course that is 21st century London, pairing Tempest's observations with the sparse backdrop of producer Dan Carey's stylings.

Two Gallants - (LIVE REVIEW) Leeds Brudenell 23rd February 2015

It was with a shiver I ventured out into a bleak and rainy night to witness San Franciscan duo Two Gallants swing by the Brudenell, admittedly knowing very little about them except for their reputation for being perhaps bleaker than the evening. With a capacity crowd queuing long before doors opened, my interest was well and truly piqued.

Mark Lanegan - Leeds Beckett University January 22nd 2014

Find me an artist who has lived, breathed and would die for his music more than this man we've gathered here to see tonight, and you're a better person than me. Having reached a half century in age, he shows no signs of slowing down either in recording terms or his relentless touring schedule.