If unearthing musical treasures is very much your vibe, Live at Leeds is a day-long festival you need to frequent. Its annual ‘In the City’ instalment delivers household names and fresh-faced, emerging talents to a selection of top venues. So you can structure your itinerary by plotting artists you want to see or just totally wing it. 

You might make a beeline for certain stages, though you could just as equally swan into a bar because something that caught your ear as you walked past. It’s whatever floats your boat, and that’s why it’s an event Record Weekly is always so chuffed to be able to review as press*. 

Ahead of Live at Leeds: In the City 2023, I wrote a fairly concise bucket list to help you readers pen your agendas. Due to set clashes, I’d struggled to finalise RW’s myself, though, and, in the end, a level of spontaneity ruled out and I struck a balance between checking out artists I’ve promoted on the site, ones I’m generally nuts about and a couple I hadn’t come across before. As I said, the festival is all about discovery! 

First up was Lucky Iris at Oporto. The two-piece consists of Maeve and Jasper, who delivered a feel-good start to proceedings via their chilled pop and soft house blend. Naturally, as they’re BBC Introducing mainstays in West Yorkshire, they were rightful artists to play on that stage. ‘23’ was their opener and they smartly closed with ‘Speak Soon’, though it was great to hear ‘Coffee Shop’ again. That was their first song I’d ever heard, which was released way back when I saw them at Long Division. I couldn’t have been more suitably poised for a day of buzzy sounds after that. 

After VENUS GRRRLS’ unfortunate withdrawal from the line-up, a gap appeared on the plan pre-Drella. So Fiona-Lee (who’s recently toured with Coach Party) beckoned at Northern Guitars. A rustic bar-come-guitar shop, split across two publicly accessible levels; it was the ultimate spot for her fantastic voice and lone electric guitar plucking. Again, a fine display of why this event is excellent for finding new music. The singer-songwriter’s powerful soft rock tracks were melancholic. And that voice? Angelic and mighty all at once — especially on the romping finale, ‘Mother’. 

Drella at Sela? The scheduling gurus had fun with that one. Ten years after Jon, Toby and Alfie attended the festival as a trio of mates, there they were, together, on stage as a band, playing Live at Leeds: In the City 2023. And the Bradford punks were not just grateful, but so bloody deserving of their place. 

Regular readers will know Record Weekly’s both a fan and a pal of the lads, so it was awesome to see them rip up the venue and fill it to capacity. Drella delved into social issues and injustices, politics and climate change through their expertly crafted, if not poetic, lyrics. The blazing ‘Nothing To Lose’ gave a massive serving of slick, angsty grunge — and there was a particularly solid clap at the end for this latest single of theirs. But it didn’t get much more incredibly impactful than the ferocious ‘Divide’. Keep this outfit in your view. 

A slower pace then enticed from the brick walls of Call Lane. Maltese singer-songwriter Shaun Farrugia shared that he had relocated to East Finchley in pursuit of his music career a while ago, but his first venture to Leeds brought him to Northern Guitars, where we’d managed to pull up a pew. And from the very beginning, with the accompaniment of a single electric guitar and keyboard, his songs about loss and the appreciation of his partner induced goosebumps. His roaring vocals oozed clarity and they were so well-placed against the instrumental mellowness. It was a smooth-sailing 30 minutes that supplied a welcome rest between the alt-rock sets on the schedule. 

Part of me wishes ‘f*cking fantastic’ as a simple, to-the-point statement wouldn’t seem a lazy way to describe SNAYX’s performance. Because it was just that — and less can often be more, you know? In fact, the trio’s whole dynamic is testament to the latter. With Charlie on vocals, Ollie on bass and Lainey on drums, each member has a very defined role and it all works in well-oiled unison.

It’s no wonder they’ve been going from strength to strength; garnering major festival slots and selling out headline shows. This band’s work ethic is relentless, their engagement with the crowd impeccable and their commentary on current affairs and the dire state of the UK’s socioeconomics utterly on-point. And The Key Club, with its low ceiling and rumbling sound, was ideal for their rollout of rippers including ‘Boys In Blue’, ‘Work’, ‘I’m Deranged’, ‘H.A.N.G’ and the brand-new ‘Better Days’. 

It would be incorrect to position south-east-coast four-piece, Kid Kapichi, as anything less than heavyweights. Off the back of their five-week tour of the States with Nothing But Thieves, the Hastings hell-raisers returned to Leeds to orchestrate a mammoth mosh pit at Stylus. It often feels an underrated venue on the gigging circuit, but the band dished up a healthy reminder of just how amenable it is to having its roof blown off. 

You know they mean business when Kid Kapichi kick into gear with ‘Sardines’. As per, their politically charged lyrics commanded air fist pumps and yelps. Every second was curated carnage, whether it was through the somewhat funky ‘I.N.V.U.’ or the just-dropped ‘Let’s Get To Work’. They even revived tracks such as ‘Death Dips’ and ‘Violence’, which remain Spotify streaming favourites. But their apt government slating crescendoed, naturally, during the gentle, though almost satirical ‘Party at No. 10’. Blistering riffs and thudding drums held everyone’s attention throughout, and that culminated in one epic end — it was only right for the riotous ‘Smash The Gaff’ to sign them out.

Au revoir, arrivederci… KK were royally insane once again. What a way to round off the day.

Head to our Instagram for some collab reel footage put together by Wolforna, too.

*With huge thanks to Hanglands for the press access