LIVE AT LEEDS FESTIVAL 2014 - Special Preview

Live at Leeds is in its eighth year and after 2013’s event boasted appearances from the likes of Everything Everything, AlunaGeorge, Rudimental, Laura Mvula, Pigeon Detectives, Peace, The Staves, Savages, it’ll have to go some this time around to match last May’s festival. Taking place across various venues in Leeds over the May Bank Holiday weekend v.2014’s line-up hasn’t quite the same level of ‘headliners’ but we think that there’s plenty of strength in depth which is worthy of special consideration, so here is our guide to those lesser known bands and artists on the Saturday ‘wristband event’ schedule.

  BLAENAVON at Nation of Shopkeepers 1.00pm
We were alerted to this three man band from Hampshire    over 2 years ago by the excellent ‘Crack In The Road’ online blog and have been eagerly awaiting the chance to catch the precocious teenagers ever since. Though still at school (!) they’ve crafted some beautiful indie rock befitting experienced veterans and have drawn comparisons to early Wild Beasts. We reckon they’re pretty special.


  THE WITCH HUNT at Leeds Uni ‘Stylus’ 2.00pm

Fans of The Kills need to check out this Leeds trio, formed around heavy guitar licks and the piercing vocal talent of lead singer Louisa Osborn. Live at Leeds has a habit of supporting local bands and here’s a great example of that ethos paying dividends for wristband purchasers because this is a band who have grown enormously as a live act over the last year or so and seem ready to stake a claim for serious recognition. If we were  label A&R scouts we’d be at this one. 

 THE MEXANINES at The Cockpit 3.00pm

Back in the summer of 2011 we saw a Bradford 3 piece on the BBC Introducing Stage at Leeds Festival. They were one of the highlights of a weekend that included Elbow and Interpol, despite their youthfulness and relative inexperience. The band played a kind of blues infused indie rock, the blues element largely emanating from the rich lead vocal of James Brander. They’ve since added keys and sax to their sound and we’re looking forward to hearing how they’ve developed. When we caught up with James recently he was looking forward to LAL. “We are really excited to be playing at this years live at Leeds festival! We are very lucky to have landed a great spot at the cockpit this time around and if it's anything like the last time we played we know it's gonna go off big style!”


 LYLA FOY at Leeds College of Music 3.30pm
You may know Lyla Foy by her previous moniker ‘WALL’ but she reverted to her own name recently before signing to label Sub Pop for the release of her beautiful debut album ‘Mirrors The Sky’. Lyla deals in simple, minimalist and melodic pop. Leeds College of Music could be the place to stop off if you’re looking for a relaxing break in the middle of a hectic schedule. 

 GALLERY CIRCUS at The Packhorse 5.00pm

North Easterners need no telling about the identical twins who make a bigger racket than many full bands. The twins are energetic and engaging performers armed with killer hooks and soaring vocals. One half of the ‘anti-garage’ duo Graeme Ross can’t wait to play the festival: “I think the line-up looks great this year and we're delighted to be playing. It will be our first show in the city and couldn't have asked for a better one. We will be playing some new material and our new single Club house killer will be released in the same month.”

  GAMBLES at Holy Trinity Church 5.00pm
If you’re younger than 50 this is the closest you’ll ever get to seeing and hearing Bob Dylan in his prime. Actually, that’s a bit of a disservice to Matthew Daniel Siskin whose simple songs with beautifully crafted lyrics deserve to be appreciated on their own merits. We’ve been tracking his progress from the off in late 2012 and he’s possibly the artist we’re most looking forward to catching at the festival. Thumbs up to the organisers for putting him on in such a beautiful setting. We predict he’ll have many more disciples after the May Bank Holiday weekend. 

EVA STONE at The Cockpit Bar 6.30pm

The one thing all of our featured artists have in common it seems is a precocious talent and 22 year old Eva is possibly the best example of this, singing with a mature, smokey, bluesy voice of situations that you’d swear she could have no personal experience, except for the fact that her delivery is so authentic. A native of the North East she recently headed to the Capital where she found new management and a new impetus. The future looks bright for this talented young singer/songwriter. 

As an addendum we’d suggest for an authentic Leeds indie experience you check out local favourites THE WIND-UP BIRDS at a fringe event at Milo’s. The band take the stage at 11pm we understand. Their debut album ‘The Land’ was one of our favourites of 2012 and we hear good things about the soon to be released follow-up.


As if that wasn’t enough there’s some great bands and artists of greater repute playing this year’s Live At Leeds, our pick of which would be THE HOLD STEADY, YUCK, GEORGE EZRA, MARICKA HACKMAN, LANTERNS ON THE LAKE and ROYAL BLOOD.


On the night preceding the Saturday wristband event there’s also BLOOD RED SHOES playing The Cockpit and following the release of their brilliant new album we’d recommend catching that if possible. 

Words: Russell Poad

Photos: Daniel Robson (The Witch Hunt & Gallery Circus)

Photo: Caroline Briggs (Eva Stone)