Another new year and another cracking programme of events is in store for us courtesy of Please Please You. The ultra-consistent York-based live music promoter has once more put together a delightfully diverse run of shows at various locations across its home city, Leeds and Manchester.
Between next week and the middle of July, Please Please You has already lined up 22 gigs for us with the promise of many more still to come. God Is In The TV has checked out the current schedule and picked out just a few of the many musical highlights that lie ahead in this the first half of 2019.
Joining considerable forces for the occasion with the Brudenell Social Club, Please Please You gets its 2019 ball well and truly rolling on the 16th of January when the Lætitia Sadier Source Ensemble is welcomed to the famous Leeds’ venue. Whetting our already great appetite for the eagerly anticpated return of Stereolab, the band’s frontwoman Laetitia Sadier and her Source Ensemble (Emma, Nina and Xavier) will be heading up to Leeds after an appearance at the Rockaway Beach Festival in Bognor Regis.
Come the 6th of February and the hugely talented Oregon-based singer-songwriter Laura Veirs will appear at The Crescent in York. Her 10th solo album, last year’s The Lookout was described by The Guardian as “her most satisfying yet”. Expect to hear songs from that record and a glittering career that now spans more than two decades.
In February last year, Halifax indie-pop sensations The Orielles’ released their debut album Silver Dollar Moment and their star is still very much in the ascendency. They will celebrate a tremendous past 12 months and the record’s first anniversary at The Crescent on the 26th of February.
On the 14th of March in a joint collaboration between Please Please You and TV’s Over, NYC-based musician and No Wave icon James Chance hits town with his band Les Contorsions, to play at the Brudenell. Their show at the now sadly defunct New Roscoe in Leeds back in 2007 in front of only 23 people still remains one of my top ten gigs of all time. Miss this one at your peril.
The following week on the 20th of March, Ólafur Arnalds will perform in the Grade I-listed splendour of Leeds Town Hall. In what promises to be a stunning evening of neo-classical experimentalism and ambience, the celebrated Icelandic composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer will take us on a melodic journey across his career, including material from last year’s highly acclaimed album re:member.
The following month on the 12th of April, the venerable master of minimalism Terry Riley is set to play in the Riley Smith Hall of Leeds University Union. A man who is often mentioned in the same breath as fellow American composers such as Steve Reich, Philip Glass and John Adams will perform here as part of a duo with his son Gyan Riley.
And then four nights after playing at Manchester’s Deaf Institute on the 29th of April, Otoboke Beaver, the punk-rock-garage quartet from Kyoto, Japan make a glorious return to the Brudenell as part of their Golden Week Tour 2019. Their last appearance at the Brudenell was one of the best gigs of 2018. Support on this tour comes from South Korean bands Say Sue Me and Drinking Boys and Girls Choir.
Bringing the current schedule of gigs to a triumphant close will be Melbourne’s The Stroppies. Playing consecutive nights on the 12th and 13th of July at The Crescent in York and Leeds’ Hyde Park Book Club respectively, the wonderfully named Aussie band will bring tons of dynamic DIY pop goodness to these shores
For a full list of all of Please Please You’s forthcoming shows please look HERE
