Marking the final date in the Record Weekly festival diary for 2024 was Live at Leeds: In the City*. And although a little later this year, we couldn’t wait for it.

The coveted multi-venue, day-long event annually sees some of the finest venues in central Leeds set up stages for an abundance of acts, and it’s always one of our absolute favourites in the calendar. 

First up, Wolforna at Sela Bar. Their 12:30pm slot meant that they were the opening artist for many who’d turned out early doors to make the most of their wristbands. And it didn’t take a minute for the venue to be at capacity. “Give us a cheer if you’ve seen us before”, asked frontman Jack, to which there were only a few whoops; the massive cheer he’d hoped for came from those who’d never seen them perform. That spoke volumes about how many people had poured into the 100-cap bar to hear Wolforna’s blistering noise and brand-new EP, ‘Tales of the Damned’. 

The opportunity to discover talent is what’s so great about Live at Leeds, and people were in awe of Wolforna’s ferocious heavy rock as they delivered ‘Something Missing’, ‘Reset’ and BBC Radio 1 Rock Show favourite, ‘22 Degrees & Sunny’. Every chugging riff, red-hot solo, rumbling bass string and crisply thumped drum skin was flawless. There were to be no refunds issued for broken ears. The crowd merrily dispersed after their set, and plenty of handshakes and praises were sent in the five-piece’s direction. It was going to be hard to top them.

Tucked down the Grand Arcade, Santiago was the next bar on our list. It’s another modestly sized venue, but it packs a grungy punch. So its upstairs gig area was ideal for Indoor Foxes. Martha and her band hail from the Glasgow circuit, and they possess a well-known name in their circles. The bodies funnelled into the room had created yet another well-deserved, at-capacity situation — something every outfit wanted to achieve on the day. And Indoor Foxes was another to experience that buzz.

Sweet, ethereal yet super-angsty vocals really give them their edge — as evidenced on ‘Church Music’, ‘White Rabbit’, ‘Butterfly Boy’ and ‘Manic’. But it was thanks to their riffy fretwork, tight bass and on-point drums that their sound was quite as immaculate.

The main stage at Leeds Beckett’s SU isn’t talked about as much as it should be; it’s huge and the arrangement of the speakers guarantees a treat, whoever you’re watching. I was last there for Friendly Fires, but Live at Leeds had been blessed by some holy scheduling; CASISDEAD was the late-afternoon set we’d gone to catch. The UK rap artist had garnered a pretty mixed crowd, though there were pockets of younger clubbing types who were really going for it. There was very much an early party vibe, which had raised the energy levels and reignited excitement for the rest of the night. After all, English Teacher were due on next. Although I wasn’t totally clued up on all the tunes that Cas and the rest of the team electronically served, it was the grand finale of ‘Pat Earrings’, that sealed the deal for me.

Then things started to get seriously busy at Beckett. English Teacher were a bit later than planned to the stage, which allowed more and more hordes of people to descend upon the venue and pack it like sardines. We’d never seen it so rammed!

As queues trailed outside, we witnessed a rapturous response to the recently crowned Mercury Prize winners, who burst into action with the ever-popular ‘R&B’. And although our view from quite near the back obscured moments, session string musicians were evident, plus there was a keyboard waiting. This lot had really understood the wow-factor, hometown-show assignment, and they put on quite the display. Everyone was nice and buoyant for ‘Broken Biscuits’, too. 

Edinburgh’s swim school have done masses since their 2021 Live at Leeds debut. And The Key Club was the ultimate, dark-and-moody spot for the trio to do their thing. We last saw them earlier this year at the dinky Oporto, not too long after they hit Hull to support The Amazons. On both occasions, they were captivating, and it was the same here in Leeds. But we did detect a slightly poppier sound to their original rock. Not a complaint, though; they smashed it.

They opened with ‘Seeing It Now’, one of their softer, newer numbers, yet it was the extended intro to ‘Give Me A Reason Why’ that fully hooked me. They started to get feistier at this point, and Alice really came into her own, singing and moshing in the crowd on ‘delirious’. It had all the desired firepower and more. As things got progressively louder, the wildly raucous ‘let me inside your head’ evidenced how strong the two guitars are in unison, backed up by ultra-solid drums. There’s clearly no stopping this band.

So that draws festival season to a close. And what does that mean? The baubles and mince pies are on their way…

*With huge thanks to Hanglands for the press access and photo pass.