When: 15th October 2022
Where: various venues in Leeds city centre
The day starts in a sunny manner whilst we pick up our wristbands from The Wardrobe but is quickly derailed by a classic Yorkshire downpour. Whilst offering ourselves a brief hiatus underneath some shelter, we glimpse Live at Leeds in action – a man running down the Headrow with a guitar, just open to the elements. In hindsight, I hope the guitar was okay.
Nevertheless, we run to Headrow House, the nearest venue we can think of in the moment and we are delighted to find Mundo Mitchell gracing the stage. A lovely first set for us, the Scotsman’s tunes were imbued with emotion and infectious songwriting with ‘Hide’ from their most recent EP being a solid favourite.
Next, O2 Academy, the biggie venue of the day to see Palace, a definite must-see on our list. With a painted seascape hanging at the back of an emotive soundscape, many of the audience are intrinsically connected to Palace’s discography. They put on a great show for fans and piqued interest as one of the O2’s earlier acts.
Nation of Shopkeepers is a fairly obvious but somehow almost secret Leeds venue. We pop down from the O2 into the end of a set and the place is heaving. Grabbing a drink, we wait until we see Harvey J. Dodgson, a youngster with great stage presence (with the help of a band who are all clearly best mates and love playing live) and, unsurprisingly, great tunes too. ‘Oxygen’ has been added to my Spotify playlist and on repeat since.
Onto the main headliners, Live At Leeds veterans and general indie scene returners, Sundara Karma, gave off an iconoclastic mix of new and old music, with ‘She Said’ and ‘Explore’ being their final offerings. The metallic logo is very different to the colourful output of their last trip to Live At Leeds but nevertheless they still put on a good show. It’ll be interesting to see what they come up with next.
Stumbling into the rammed Belgrave Music Hall Canteen at 8:30pm, we’re ready to stuff our faces with food and slot ourselves into Joesef’s crowd by 10pm. Headlining one of the festival’s stages for the first time, Joesef may be considered an unconventional headliner, however, his sultry, jazz-inspired, lo-fi instrumentals – as well as the charming Glaswegian in him – have enamoured many, leading to a great, passionate crowd at Belgrave. Everyone’s excited to see him and some even know all of his lyrics. Joesef’s skill lies in bringing people together and hands out some feeling as he devotes a song “to anyone going through a hard time” before the room is singing a chorus back at him – the day is done and it feels like everyone’s had a glorious time.
