Leeds Festival 2001

Leeds is the largest city in the county of West Yorkshire with a population of just shy of 1 million. It is an educational hub containing five different universities.

Leeds has endeavoured to retain the original available architecture and even the shopping areas have a pleasing aesthetic to them, they have thus far avoided adopting the Manchester vision of building skyscrapers in the city centre. They have also utilised the existing wharf areas by placing hotels and bars in those districts.

On a good day, you could drive there in an hour from Preston as it is well served by motorways, but because of their reliance on car culture the city council are wrestling with how best to implement greener initiatives going forward. I have traversed through their large extremely busy train station many times, quite often commuting through to Shipley for work purposes.        

One of Gill and I first visits there involved a visit to a terrific Indian restaurant called the Darbar, though it is unclear whether the restaurant is still operational.

My old schoolmate and friend Rick Clegg has been one of the key supporters of this blog and he has imbued his commendable musical ethos into his young daughter Charlotte who now resides in Leeds. Charl herself has already built up an impressive catalogue of gigs and venues, her father should be proud!

I have attended two separate Live in Leeds wristband events, which serves to showcase the numerous interesting venues across the city including gigs in churches and cafes. The most recent being in October 21 where we hit the outermost venues and traversed 11 miles that day, is there anything better than a long walk, new venues, good music and a couple of cheeky beers to boot!

My first musical visit was a day trip on the final day of the Leeds Festival in 2001 primarily because it had such a stellar bill.

The festival was held in Temple Newsham Park and was the third year of hosting after the organisers of Reading Festival decided to set up a twin event in the North.

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Leeds/Reading Festival Bill 2001. Image Credit Leeds Festival.

On the main stage, we just missed, And You Will Know Us the Trail of Dead but caught a strong set from Frank Black and the Catholics.

They were followed by Rancid and an enjoyable performance from Feeder and ‘Buck Rogers’ went down a storm. The other main stage band we witnessed were Supergrass and one track from the headliners Manic Street Preachers, the reason for the short span was that we had other preferred headliners to witness.

Lower down the bill on the Evening Session stage we saw Elbow and Gorkys Zygotic Mynci and on the Concrete Jungle Stage I enjoyed a high-octane performance from Dropkick Murphy’s.

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Dropkick Murphys. Image Credit Fanpop.

That brought us to the three acts that had inspired our attendance, first up were the perennial punks Snuff who as ever inspired moshpit mayhem due to the fine original material and their clever choice of frenetic cover versions.  

The penultimate act on the Evening Session Stage were Teenage Fanclub who were in crackling form. The headline act I am sure you won’t be surprised to learn was Mogwai, resulting in the wrench of missing Rocket from the Crypt who I am also a huge fan of, but life is full of these difficult decisions!

They proceeded to play a greatest hits set including ‘Mogwai Fear Satan’, ‘Ithica 27o9’, ‘New Paths to Helicon Part 1’, ‘2 Rights Make 1 Wrong’ and as they were wont to do at that point in their trajectory ending the set with their 20-minute hymn ‘My Father My King’. 

Manchester Venue 47 – Ruby Lounge

One of my favourite venues in Manchester was the Ruby Lounge situated on High Street opposite the Arndale Centre and backing onto the Northern Quarter. The venue opened in 2007 and sadly closed in 2018 as it was hoovered up in a £79m city centre development.

It was housed in a somewhat dilapidated seven store block and behind the unprepossessing metal doors were stairs carrying you down to the venue. It was one large room with battered sofas and a games machine to the left, bar facing and a stage to the right. It had a scruffy charm, and the capacity was 375 for live music and 600 for club nights. It had a thin access to view the stage that could be a slight inconvenience when it was busy.

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Entrance to the Ruby Lounge. Image Credit Britannia Hotels.

I attended there nine times in total and they always had a sonic sound system and as a result I have seen some astoundingly loud gigs. A case in point was my first attendance in 2009 to see A Place to Bury Strangers, a noise rock combo from New York. Remarkably the support band Dead Confederate outdid them on the decibel count. They hailed from the birthplace of REM in Athens, Georgia. Prior to the gig I had explored for the first time a selection of the plethora of bars located nearby in the Northern Quarter. Another regular pre-gig pub was the English Lounge which is only 100 yards from the venue.

My second and third visit also continued in that vein, first up were Rock Actions shoe gazers Twilight Sad. The next was to see Pelican, a post rock four piece from Chicago, Illinois. We were chatting to some punters prior to their set who advised us not to leave our beers on the wooden shelfs as the sound check was so loud, they had knocked a couple of glasses off. They were totally instrumental and ear splintering, and I would quantify them in my Top 5 loudest list, and they were also fabulous as it is so good to hear bands as uncompromising as they are!

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Pelican. Image Credit en.wikipedia.org

In 2010 I saw the grungy quartet Dinosaur Pile Up from Leeds. They did not stay long in the memory and it was one of those gigs where their friends and family were in attendance which I always find in equal parts odd but endearing.

In 2014, I saw Pains from Being Pure at Heart for the fourth time and it was by now unfortunately a case of diminishing returns as their output for me gradually depreciated after their stunning debut album. They were not a patch on their electrifying set in Chorlton 5 years earlier which I will cover in a future blog. They were supported by Fear of Men.

Later that year I saw again the perennial London punks Snuff who were in fine fettle and their cover of the Likely Lads propelled me as ever into the mosh pit! The following year I went to see Preston’s Evil Blizzard due primarily to support them on a Manchester date. Despite them putting on a show I couldn’t warm to their musical output. They were supported by Creature Comforts.

My penultimate gig there was a terrific double bill of Ex Hex and Jacuzzi Boys, both bands I had seen before. Jacuzzi Boys are a highly accomplished garage rock band from Miami in Florida. Ex Hex are all female three-piece hailing from Washington DC and are in the mould of the Go-Go’s and had an effervescent presence. My final gig there was on 28/05/16 to see an Australian band called the Rubens as part of the Dot to Dot festival roster.