Live at Leeds. Three words that have come to symbolise everything that is truly great about the experience of live music. From more than forty years ago and that incredible recording in the University refectory which committed to vinyl The Who at the very peak of their considerable powers to the present day festival that bears the same name, Live at Leeds has become synonymous with energy, excitement and exhilaration. Now into its seventh year, this annual festival takes up its traditional slot over the first May Bank Holiday weekend and is bookended by Friday’s Unconference seminars at Leeds College of Music and Monday’s Live at Leeds football tournament at the city’s Goals Soccer Centre on Kirkstall Road. Sunday is taken over by a separate ticketed event in the Millennium Square featuring The Vaccines, TOY and Temples, but the constant jewel in this festival’s crown is to be found on the Saturday.
Sharing both its ethos and format with the likes of The Great Escape in Brighton, the Camden Crawl, and Manchester, Bristol and Nottingham’s Dot To Dot festivals, Saturday at Live at Leeds is one massive celebration of live music spread across a wide variety of the city’s music venues from the 2,300 capacity O2 Academy (pictured below) to much smaller and more intimate locations such as The Faversham and Nation of Shopkeepers. The Grade I listed Holy Trinity Church dating from the early 18th century and the former wallpaper manufacturer’s building that is now The Wardrobe and which is more commonly associated with live performances of funk, soul, blues, jazz, hip-hop, pop and electronica, reflect quite perfectly both the diversity of places being used and the music that will be on offer at this truly exciting event.
At the last count there were some 13 different venues ready to open their doors from midday on the Saturday to more than 125 live acts who have been drawn from a deep well of emerging local talent and more established national acts. Everything Everything, AlunaGeorge, The Pigeon Detectives, The Staves (all pictured below), Rudimental, Laura Mvula, Peace, Savages and Darwin Deez are amongst those scheduled to headline on the day and they will be lining up alongside perhaps less familiar names such as Wolf Alice, Dinosaur Pile Up, Post War Glamour Girls, Melody’s Echo Chamber, Lulu James, Sam Smith, Tokyo Corner and Unknown Mortal Orchestra.
Full details of all the artists who are down to play on Saturday 4th May can be found here:
http://www.liveatleeds.com/artists/
And tickets at an incredibly reasonable £22.50p (plus booking fee) for the whole day can be bought here:
http://www.liveatleeds.com/tickets/
Once tickets have been purchased for the event they can then be exchanged for a festival wristband (the venue and opening time for the wristband exchange have yet to be confirmed but expect it to be in the city centre, probably from 10.00am onwards on the actual day). Wristbands will then allow you entry to each of the participating venues, as individual venue capacities permit.
There are now only just over four more weeks to Live at Leeds and given that tickets are selling fast you would be well advised to get in and buy them pretty damn quick or face the bitter disappointment of missing out on an early treat on this year’s UK festival calendar.
