Tag: Bloc Party

Preston Venues 52 to 53 Moor Park – Part 2

Sunday arrived and Gill and I were up bright and early for attended the Radio 1 Big Weekend on Preston Moor Park and with the weather set fair and my festival hat donned we traversed the fifteen-minute walk to the gates.

The festival site was located towards the ‘Deepdale Road’ end of the park where the football pitches are located, probably selected by the organisers as the best geographical drainage point. We were in place for the opening of the doors at 12 and there were three stages in operation, the Main Stage and the In New Music We Trust Stage, both under marquees and the Outdoor Arena for more dance orientated acts.

The exact location of the Radio 1 site. Image Credit blogpreston.co.uk

The first band we saw was an enjoyable set from the Enemy from Coventry with their mod-inspired sound. They had just released their debut album ‘We’ll Live and Die in These Towns’ which remarkably went straight to Number 1 in the UK Charts and in fact their first three albums all went Top Ten.

Next up was a musician called Sam Duckworth whose stage name is Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. He was followed by the Sri Lankan rapper Mathangi ‘Maya’ Arulprgasam who performs as the rapper M.I.A. which translates as either ‘Missing in Action’ or Missing in Acton’! She subsequently received an MBE in 2019 for her services to music.

We then saw Dizzee Rascal with his suitably ‘hammed up and bonkers’ set, with the London group the Klaxons followed Dizzee. Three months earlier they had released their debut album ‘Myths of the Near Future’ which went on to win the Mercury Prize later that year.

The day of watching bands was interspersed by wandering around the site, basking on the grass, having a cold brewski and seeing many people I knew. On one such foray I caught a segment of Rihanna singing her current hit ‘Umbrella’ which went to Number 1 that very day with its refrain of ‘Ella, Ella, Ella’!   

I also saw Just Jack and Mark Ronson, who has been a renowned collaborator with many acts such as Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga. The Dundee scamps the View were reassuringly shambolic and their ‘Superstar Tradesmen’ track was as gloriously anthemic and joyous as ever!  

The View. Image Credit tenementtv.com

We missed the Stereophonics as we decided to watch the full set of Newcastle Upon Tyne’s stalwarts Maximo Park, who probably shaded it as the highlight of my day with Paul Smith’s laconic delivery.  

We split the headliners and watched the first half of the set by Bloc Party before wandering over to view the final part of Kaiser Chiefs, who I always slightly cruelly paint as a cartoon band, but they do have some fine festival tunes and the lead singer Ricky Wilson was a whirling dervish on stage. He gave the security staff palpitations by clambering up a gantry during the outro of ‘I Predict a Riot’.  

The music finished bang on the curfew at 10pm and we sauntered the short distance home down the park reflecting on a never to be repeated day in Preston musical history!

On a much less grand scale there are other festivals that take place annually on the park. One such event is Rockprest that places its stage near to Preston Moor Park Pavilion which I attended the once in 2015. It is a tribute band event which I am always highly sceptical of but that was countered by the chance of visiting a new venue virtually on my doorstep, I believe the event continues to this day.

Preston Moor Park Pavilion. Image Credit flickr.com

I attended the day after gallivanting around the Heptonstall festival which I shall cover in a future blog. Thus, I was rather jaded and the two bands I saw, namely an East Lancashire act called Folkestra, and the nattily named Pearl Scam from Manchester who have been in operational since 2011, didn’t salve my fatigue. The torrential downpour obliterated my remaining resolve and I skulked homewards! 

Leeds Venues 6 to 7

Continuing the tale of the Live at Leeds multi event in 2014 takes us onwards to Leeds Wardrobe. The venue is situated on St Peter’s Square, Quarry Hill in the Cultural quarter alongside Leeds College of Music, Northern Ballet, Yorkshire Dance, and the BBC. It is accessed via crossing the very busy ring road.

The venue opened its doors for the first time in 1999 and has established itself as one of the city’s longest running independent venues and regularly hosts over 250 gigs per year. Its roster is primarily in the jazz, funk and soul domain and previous acts who have played there include Sly and Robbie, Beverley Knight, and Amy Winehouse.

The establishment models itself in a New York retro vibe and the ground floor consists of the main bar and restaurant. On our attendance I recall they had booted up some temporary pizza ovens and the Pepperoni’s were cooking up a storm. At our second Live at Leeds in 2021 they had some acoustic acts playing in the main bar, but not whilst we were in residence.

Leeds Wardrobe. Image Credit whatpub.com

Stairs then take you down to the main venue with the stage immediately to your right which sits in front of a sunken dance floor and bars to the left and the back of the room. I liked it instantly as it felt spacious and had a good vantage point from all areas. It was blessed with a terrific sound system. There is also a local story that a ghost is resident in the basement room and the site is built upon an old well.

We purloined a seat at the back and the band on stage were CYMBALS (not to be confused with Cymbals with Guitars) from London town. They were a four piece post punk act and had just released their second album Age of Fracture. They splintered after that album and became and remain a two-piece to this day. They had an 80’s sound to them and resembled to a degree Bloc Party.

On our return to the venue at the delayed 2021 festival we saw a full set from a solo artist called Louis Berry, who turned out to be the last act we saw that day and we grabbed seats to the side of the stage as we had walked many miles traversing to venues far and wide.

He was a young Liverpool lad who had a very challenging upbringing as he was born to a heroin addict father. He could fair belt it out in a busker style reminiscent of Jake Bugg. After the 2014 gig, we headed up out of the basement, temporarily blinking in the afternoon sun prior to then grabbing some tea.  

The next venue was Leeds Holy Trinity Church located on Boar Lane. It was originally built in the 1720’s and has Grade 1 listed status. In 2020 a major refurbishment took place and became the home to a mid-week ministry for city centre workers.  They periodically have events there with listed for later this year a couple of movie soundtrack nights and as appears to be inevitable the obligatory tribute to Queen performed by a string quartet.  

Leeds Holy Trinity Church. Image Credit en.wikipedia.org

At the 2014 event they had a full day’s roster of acoustic acts performing with Marika Hackman near the top of the bill. On the bill as we attended was a young Irish folk singer called Orla Gartland from Dublin. She had only released a couple of EPs at that stage, but she has built a huge following on You Tube since by posting cover songs and has had over 24m views. Her music was featured on the recent BBC hit series ‘Normal People’ and she was firmly in the Joni Mitchell mould.