Spring King, Live At Leeds 2016. (Photo: Gary Mather for Live4ever Media)
As Dinah always said, ‘What a Difference a Day Makes’. Live at Leeds might not be the day she was thinking of, but it’s still one of ‘those’ days. The problem with LAL, unlike your standard tent in a field, is where to start.
It’s a festival that really does incorporate the city, and that’s a logistical nightmare to relish. So, with wristband, map and timetable at the ready, Live4ever dived head first into fray.
Now, we could go through the day stroke by stroke, but that would just be painting by numbers. So instead let’s talk about it terms of music. What’s on offer is everything, if you want a little bit of this, or some of that, then it’s there for the taking. Or on the other hand if you just want a whole heap of the other, then LAL will serve it up in spades. But today (April 30th) feels more like a buffet kind of day.
It’s something when within the space of a day you can say you’ve seen the most promising electro, indie, grime and rock artists in the country, and still feel like you’ve missed out. The bands today really do show just how vibrant the UK music scene is right now.
One of the clear highlights, Loyle Carner, is blowing UK hip-hop and grime apart. His natural and intellectual style owes as much to artists like Roots Manuva and Drake as it does to The Pharcyde and Del The Funky Homosapien. It’s showcased in a low key, subtle manner, humble even, but the confidence in flow and delivery shows a belief in his own music rarely seen in modern musicians. Carner knows. And now so does Leeds.
On any other day, seeing an artist this good would be considered a win, but with LAL it’s just part of the proceedings. Like catching the Spring King tearing the Stylus to pieces. Defiantly taunting the crowd with their brilliance, they bluster and blow through their songs. Unlike Carner, subtlety and ambience are brushed aside, instead this is triumphant, challenging and brash. They push an excited crowd into a frenzy, and then simply join in with the chaos. The stage, crowd and band are mess, but it’s all by design. Now that’s exciting.
Or if pandemonium isn’t your thing, then why not try a band that’s going the other way. Girl Friend‘s synth sound has a wonderful lineage. Everything electro is praised, but their beautiful pop sheen has a wonderfully subversive edge. Their sound might sparkle brightly, but it’s a darker shade than other synth bands. For all the gloss, there is intent. There’s as much a flavour of White Rose Movement as there is Ladyhawke or Metronomy.
It’s this kind of range of subversiveness that appeals, and it’s best summed up by Rat Boy’s closing set at the Brudenell. His amalgam of sounds is bristling with inventiveness and ire. As much Beastie’s as Willy Mason, with something of Gonzales’ wit and The Streets’ sarcasm. It’s almost a party atmosphere, and he has the sense to go with it. The obvious Jamie T comparisons don’t do him justice. This is something different; just as clever, less belligerent.
Other notable mentions, at least from this reviewer would be: The Lapelles, young and seemingly out of their depth, until they played, boy was that an incorrect presumption. Clean Cut Kid fascinate and entertain with a sound that is expressive and powerful. While Blossoms confidently match expectation, which makes an expectant crowd very happy.
It’s something when you can’t find room to detail just how good bands like Fronteers and Los Campesinos! were in a review, due to just how many other bands you saw.
LAL isn’t a day out, it isn’t even a festival in any known sense of the word. Instead it’s a re-education. Showing Leeds the way things are, and sticking two-fingers up at what was. Whatever you thought you knew when you arrived is gone as you leave.
LAL is 100 homecoming gigs in 12 hours, no matter which way you look you are spoilt for choice. Its only drawback is its point of difference. By the end you want two more days, you don’t want to go home yet. Music needs days like this, where things happen and lives are changed, it’s the difference between music, and music.
And this is music, Dinah was right, because boy a day can really make a difference.
