Live at Leeds 2013 

What we all need, we are frequently told, is more choice. Things are better that way apparently. Even though the evidence mounts up against this every day. Dozens of gas companies but it always comes out of the same pipe - its just the pricing tarrifs that change and can anyone understand which is the best and why? And as Springsteen sang '57 channels and there's nothing on' - I think I've got the same Sky TV package as him!

Anyway enough of the seemingly irrelvant preamble. What has this got to do with 'Live at Leeds 2013'?

Well bear with me. Once upon a time there were gigs and you went to see a support act and a main act and stood around a lot watching beardy blokes in shorts and heavy metal t-shirts mess about with guitars and fail to count any higher than 2. They also spent (and continue to spend) a lot of time messing about with pen torches and gaffa tape. I swear they go back and check those cables more often than I go back to check I've locked the front door (and turned off the cooker; and unplugged the iron).

Anyway hanging about was a fact of life at gigs. And then I discovered festivals. At Leeds Queens Hall I went to see a punk festival and it was more of the same. Only there were more bands on. Similarily you'd go to Reading or some park in Slough and there'd be loads of bands on one stage.

And then the revelation. Festivals could have two stages and soon they sprouted more than two stages. So most of the time there was a band on somewhere and you had to choose between acts. And lo it came to pass that two acts you were desperate to see would be on at the same time. Plus with no hanging about between the bands there were no natural breaks to go to the bar, to the toilet, to chat to your friends or grab something to eat. So you had to sacrifice yet more live music to fit these things in!

All this was at least in one field or park (apart from Glastonbury which was like a mini Village - I still recall missing Primal Scream because there was a massive snarl up of people trying to cross a very small bridge). Live at Leeds is held simultaneously in a dozen or so venues all across Leeds. So when you're not drinking, peeing, chatting or eating you might be on a forced hike between two distant venues. You think I'm exagerating? Use google to work out the distance between the Wardrobe and the Brudenell Social Club. See what I mean!

Additionally as the night wears on, more people join in and more famous bands are on stage it sometimes gets hard to get into the gig of your choice and you have to go off and find something else less popular. Did I mention the clashes - at times there are 3 or 4 bands you want to see on at the same time whilst at other points you have to choose between several bands you've never heard of.

I'm making this all sound pretty awful. And really its not - but it can be frustrating at times and as Paul Marshall said 'Its a long day so don't drink too much too early' - he then pointed at me and Mrs Windbag - the sheepish couple with the beers at noon in Milo.

So yes that's where we started in a packed upstairs at Milo watching Lone Wolf. Frankly he was bloody great and although I haven't heard his album yet I've heard selected songs at three seperate gigs so far this year and they sound better each time. I particularly like that one where he finishes the song by beating the hell out of a drum.

Downstairs Serious Sam Barrett accompanied by David Broad is doing his thing. It sounds pretty good but having seen him on many occasions before we leave and head to Holy Trinity church.

Something weird has happened to Harry George Johns. He's being all nice and sincere between songs. It doesn't suit him. It doesn't seem like the real him. Last time I saw him it was at Velvet in Wakey and everything felt on the edge of kicking off. Read my take on it here. The music is pretty good though. He's got a great voice.

Next after some discussion we head down to see the Backyards at the Wardrobe. We took the opportunity to have a pint of proper beer and got a seat. The band were pleasant enough but didn't really blow me away.

We then headed up to the Cockpit to see our first real clunkers of the day. Sons and Lovers were completely bland. The program compared them to Mumford and Sons and Dry the River. I know both those bands have their haters but I like 'em and Sons and Lovers were nothing like them. The music was devoid of any interest.

Anyway it was time to pop off to fill our stomachs in time for the evening shift.

So a couple of hours later we were up in Cockpit 3 watching Pete Roe and his backing band Hot feet prepare. They had a serious amount of gear but they got on with it and were all ready in time (unlike Sons and Lovers who seemed to mess around for ever). Pete Roe is one of my favourite live acts at the moment. He has a lovely warm voice and sings in an effortless almost conversational style. His guitar playing is excellent (as you would expect for a guy who was the main man in Laura Marling's band for the last two albums). The songs are folky but not in a 'Hey Nonny No' kind of way. They remind me a little bit of Nick Drake's 'Bryter Later' album with their warm mellow busy arrangements.

Still not everybody is happy one loud bloke who's probably had one too many beers insists on shouting to his mates about how much he dislikes it all. Eventually he pisses off to make somebody else miserable.

There seems little point in rushing round to try and catch the Crookes in the main Cockpit. As it happens apparently it is stupidly packed in there. So we hang about grabbing a beer and await Thomas J Speight. Tom's not the strongest singer in the world but he has some pretty striking songs and he's accompanied by an accomplished female vocalist and a talented lead guitarist. He has bags of chutzpah and presence and manages to keep the crowd interested and does his usual thing of jumping into the crowd to play unaccompanied that always captures everybody's attention,

So the plan is to head off to see the 1975 and Swim Deep. But unfortunately the queue for the Cockpit is heading back into the centre of Leeds and its one in one out. So plan B we head back for a quick chat with Tom Speight before popping back to Holy Trinity.

Thankfully the church is quietish and so we watch Dancing Years. This might sound a bit weird but I liked them better when they were called Joseph and David. The line up is more steady now and they are probably more professional but they seem to have lost a bit of the spark they used to have.

We decided to stick in the church and await the Staves. Luke Sital Singh is better than I remember him.

Soley is probably the wrong artist at the wrong time. By now a fair few people are the worse for wear and as interesting as her music is it isn't the most engaging stuff I've heard and there's lots of outbursts of shouting. Its hard to work out why this is occurring. But it would appear that some of it is Soley's fans telling people to shut up. Anyway not the best 45 minutes of the day.

Finally here are the Staves. As they prepare to come on its good to see that despite their growing stature they are still not above helping to carry the gear into the venue. This is the second time I've seen them and this time I'm actually pretty au fait with their music. Its great to hear those harmonies in the raw though and they play my favourites 'Facing West' and 'Mexico' and all the other great stuff off their album. A good finish to a pretty good day.

Off we headed into the night dreaming of gigs where there was no choice and plenty of chances to hang around doing nothing in particular