Live At Leeds In The City 2025
Festival season: something you’d usually associate with lush patches of grass, massive open air outdoor stages, and warm British sunshine (or rain). On the contrary, today’s festival opposed all of these: it was a cold, gray, and misty mid-November day, and rather than trotting through massive fields in the middle of the country, we were on a whistle stop tour of one of the nicest cities in the country. However, the importance of Live at Leeds in the City to the music festival scene cannot be ignored, perhaps more now than ever. In a gig economy where grassroots venues are shutting at an exponential rate due to post-pandemic struggles and a cost of living crisis, Live at Leeds in the City is a vital platform to help highlight not only the best up-and-coming talent on offer, but also recognize the heritage of playing smaller venues. Multiple award-winning and platinum-selling artists have plied their trades here - everyone from Mercury Prize winners like Wolf Alice and Sam Fender to some of the biggest artists in the world right now like Olivia Dean and Ed Sheeran. Thanks to what was an incredible day of music, I was lucky enough to see many artists who will undoubtedly lay their claim amongst the world’s top artists in the coming years.
Humane the Moon
Not the way that I had personally planned on starting the day (we’ll get onto that later), but the five-piece (initially a solo project of frontman Max Hanley) were a great way to start the day off. Their style was almost dreamy at times, with many things captivating about the band, from their jagged riffs to the dark themes they channel within their lyrics. Songs like ‘A Track in Orbit’, as well as their newest single ‘Tetris’ highlighted that thanks to the addition of multiple band members, Max has been able to take a bold step into a wider sonic palette. With 2 EPs out already and their Live at Leeds set marking the beginning of their first headline tour, they are definitely a band that I (like many others) will start to keep an eye on.
The Clause
In the words of frontman Pearce Macca, the last few months have been the craziest and most insane of the band’s career so far. With a long-awaited debut album that hit #1 on the UK Independent Charts and a major headline tour scheduled with a hometown show at the O2 Academy in Birmingham, it’s impressive for any band that’s started out, but to do it all of their own accord is an achievement in itself. Seeing them in a live setting, it’s clear to see why there’s so much on the horizon because they are more than comfortable playing the biggest of venues. A well spread mix of younger indie fans as well as those older fans who’d been following the band’s journey to this point, there was an energy in the room that started off small but built its way up across the entire set and to the fantastic ‘Element’, a song that epitomises The Clause: a feel-good group of guys who have had everything thrown against them, yet they’re still “feeling high in the sunshine”. They’re a band that have always prided themselves in being ambitious and setting their aims high, stating they want to be one of the biggest bands in the country in the next couple of years. If they continue on the upwards trajectory they’re on, their already proven resilience and sheer grit will get them very far in their career.
Keo
A lot has been said about this band in the last few months (I even did a full review of their Birmingham show last month!!), but what certainly needs to be stated is just how the band have continued to surprise and get even better with every performance. Coming now to the end of their autumn tour, you’d think that the band’s early tour excitement would have worn off and the tiredness would be evident for all to see. However, lead vocalist Finn Keogh’s performance sounded as if it was the opening night of the tour, especially strong on his falsettos and higher vocal ranges. Playing to a festival crowd is always a difficult thing for artists trying to grow, but the combination of attendees who became fans on the day and their long-time backers made for yet another high quality performance. After playing a few more shows in December in Southampton, they’ll get a well earned rest after the monumental year they’ve had, knowing that 2026 is only going to be bigger and better for them.
Katy J Pearson
A bit of a stylistic change from what had been on so far, but this Bristol-based musician definitely held her own. The songs you’d hear were your conventional indie pop tracks like ‘Tonight’ and ‘Save Me’ - dreamy guitar riffs, harmonized backing vocals and catchy melodies, delivered brilliantly by a singer you really feel like rooting for. Her infectious personality and smile was something immediately noticeable, and even though it might be because it was her last gig of the year, you could feel she genuinely enjoyed being on stage. Even when there were a few one-dimensional moments in the music and slight inconsistencies in her vocal performance, she had a great audience of fans tuned in the entire set. Many people have compared the musician to Irish pop singer CMAT (minus the references to Jamie Oliver petrol stations), and while they are distinctly similar in the style of music and even down to their vocal style, both have their own unique strengths that compliment the artist very well. It’s no wonder the two have such a close relationship, with Katy on the billing for CMAT’s Lido Festival day in June next year.
Divorce
When researching what to say about the Nottingham four-piece’s set, I was immediately taken aback by the fact they’d only formed in 2021 and have only just released their debut album, Drive to Goldenhammer, in March. Because from the surface and what I’d seen, they played as if they’d been well-established and on the scene for years. It also made sense reading the band had met when they were 16 years old, because the chemistry between them on stage was palpable and infectious. This was despite vocalist Tiger Cohen-Towell mentioning they’d begun to lose their voice following their opening set for The Last Dinner Party in Dublin the night before, with them powering on through the 45 minutes and still sounding absolutely excellent. Tiger, alongside co-vocalist Felix Mackenzie-Barrow, strike the perfect balance of emotional resonance and succinct lyricism, backed by an equally epic set of talented musicians. Drummer Kasper Sandstrøm, who’s also the guitarist for fellow Nottingham band Do Nothing, was a real standout - it’s insanely difficult to be able to so brilliantly play for two different bands, but if there’s anyone that can pull it off so flawlessly, it’s Kasper. Anyone that I spoke to about the band told me how destined they were for the very top, and I would be hard-pressed to disagree.
Fat Dog
There was a club night going on upstairs at the Leeds’ Student Union’s Terrace bar, but the real club was a few meters downstairs in Stylus for unequivocally the most bananas set of the festival. The London-based band, widely known and praised for their live performances, were a fitting selection to help headline the festival alongside Jalen Ngonda. It’s very much a telling sign when you see an entourage of blue-shirt security guards in front of the barrier that it was about to be a beautifully chaotic set, and oh boy it was. It’s hard to describe the band’s music without getting to experience it in a live setting, but its eclectic mix of genres such as dance, punk and klezmer serves as a certainly unique combo that somehow works. Stylus was undoubtedly the busiest it had been all day, and it’s a testament to frontman Joe Love and his band’s live execution that while there were the obvious mosh pits on the floor, everyone from the back to the balcony was jumping up and down, some almost in amazement of how bonkers the set was. Whilst maybe not my favourite act of the night, it was certainly by far and away the best experience of the festival, and that was a really high bar set across the Saturday.
The Rolling People
It’s a shame that these Stockport-based boys were booked to play at the same time as many of the biggest acts of the night, because their gargantuan sound deserved to be heard by many more. These fresh teens have certainly taken the local scene by storm, and their Live at Leeds performance does well to back that. In their early careers so far, they’ve drawn comparisons to many local heroes like Blossoms and Inspiral Carpets, and they strike a similar level of excitement as those bands did at their humble beginnings. Lead singer Charlie McNichol had as much heart and charisma as he did chops and energy, and he emphatically delivered every line like he was playing the show of his life. Charlie’s vibrant nature was also backed strongly by a band of not just musicians, but friends - it was another case of this being a group of lads having the time of their lives playing music for others. Whether it was their debut track, ‘Better Man’ or their newest single, ‘The Best Is Yet To Come’, it is undeniable that the best really is on its way. Having played across festivals and major support slots over the last year, they’re ready to embark on an end-of-year headline tour, as well as a major hometown Manchester show at the New Century Hall in April 2026. A combination of big show bookings and new music could propel them to new heights next year, so they’re one to keep an eager eye on.
Fletchr Fletchr
The saying “good things come to those who wait” is one that almost feels cliche, but for those who are fans of the band, they very much had to wait patiently across the entire day. Initially scheduled for a 2pm slot at the Belgrave Music Hall, the band were unfortunately stranded on a ferry in the middle of the Irish Sea after playing a headline show in Dublin the night before, meaning they couldn’t play that time slot. However, fully to the band’s credit, they persevered to play today, and while an 11pm slot at the Lending Room meant they’d unfortunately clash with many of the biggest acts of the night, the fans who turned up were certainly not left disappointed. Speaking with frontman Rohan Fletcher after the set, who admitted he’d been running on 3 hours of sleep, you wouldn’t think they’d still have given 110% for a smaller than usual audience. And yet they absolutely did. Their live dynamic works incredibly well, with a big highlight being bassist George Green and guitarist Adam Sanders complimenting Rohan’s incredibly powerful vocals with their excellent harmonies. It also helps that the tracks they played tonight off their upcoming EP, We All Feel The Same, are very well arranged instrumentally. The addition of Adam Sander’s saxophone on many occasions during the set brought a very loud cheer of support from those who were at the set, and while there unfortunately weren’t many due to the last-minute changes, everyone I spoke to had nothing but overwhelmingly positive words to say. This felt like the perfect set to close out the festival, embodying the spirit of what Live at Leeds in the City is all about.
As I walked out of the Lending Room at midnight, on the complete other side of the city, I let out an initial sigh that some of the venues for the festival were incredibly far from each other. While it did make for some brutal clashes, and unfortunately some missed sets that I would’ve been interested in, there is no Live at Leeds in the City without the 14 venues that make it possible. And getting to dart around Leeds seeing what each place had to offer was part of the experience. Not only is this brilliant value for money, it’s more importantly brilliant value for time. In the next 5-10 years, people will be telling their friends or relatives, “I saw this band at Live at Leeds before they became massive!!”, and the stories and comments of how cool an experience that must’ve been will commence. No other festival in the country does it as well as Live at Leeds, and as long as it continues far into the future, many more artists are in the wings, waiting to be discovered here.