I have a confession, when I received my tickets in the post they did say Leeds Met, so yeah I turned up to the met. On arrival it was blatantly obvious the gig wasn’t at that venue at all because there was no one around, by the time I arrived at the 2 nd venue I had missed the support band so this is my apology to them!
The refectory is a funny old venue, as the name may portray this isn’t a real venue it is the university food hall. The sound is never great and if you actually manage to see any of the band on stage it’s nothing short of a miracle. One thing you can be sure of is having a room full of people all up for a good night.
The set was launched with ‘Decent Days And Nights’, a single that was actually originally released last July. As much as this was a great way to kick off the set, it seemed a shame to use one of their strongest songs so early on, the next song was ‘The City Is Here For You To Use’ followed by A To B, a definite crowd chorus sing-along. By which time the crowd were fully warmed and the band is full stride.
What took me by surprise was how little Barry lead vocalist & guitarist spoke. I was expecting a group full of cocky guys from Sunderland, they were maybe a little too restrained! The group had 2 saving graces in the form of Ross (singer & guitarist) & Jaff (singer & Bassist), if it wasn’t for their crowd banter this evening could have turned nasty. All four members of the band sing, harmonies remain strong throughout the evening. 3 or 4 songs from the end they played ‘Hounds Of Love’ this is the best song of the evening and has the crowd joining in with the signature Whoah oh oh oh vocals. I don’t think even The Futureheads knew what a following they were going to have, the 50 minute strong set did have it’s moments but the crowd was still hungry for more the Futureheads took to the stage for a 3 song encore concluding with ‘Piece of Crap’ a high octane song, that left the audience ready for the next time the Futureheads roll back into town.
