Tag: Stereophonics

Leeds Venues 8 to 11

Continuing on the monorail of the 2014 Live at Leeds festival brought us to our next venue, Leeds Town Hall. Originally built in the 1850’s in a Baroque style on The Headrow, it was the tallest building in Leeds for over a century and it housed the law courts and council chambers and a public hall and was opened by Queen Victoria.

These elements were gradually relocated via the completion of the Civic Hall in 1933 and the Leeds Crown Court in 1993. At that point it morphed into primarily a concert, conference, and wedding venue. It is currently undergoing an extensive refurbishment in time for the 2023 Leeds city-wide cultural festival.

Leeds Town Hall. Image Flickr.

We arrived at the Victoria Hall which was a really striking location and contained a 6,600-pipe organ, the largest in Europe. The band on stage was Lanterns on the Lake, a five piece from Newcastle on Tyne who produce some swirly dreamy shoegaze with hushed female vocals, what’s not to like, I hear Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Cocteau Twins in their music. They were subsequently nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2020.

Unfortunately, as is the wont of these multi-event festivals we arrived late to their set and only caught their last two tracks, including their soaring outro. That was a crying shame as they sounded an extremely vibrant live act and I have never yet seen them since.

The building on Cookbridge Street that the Leeds O2 Academy is now housed in has a long history. It was originally opened in 1885 by Prince Albert and is a grade II listed gothic building. It was originally named the Coliseum where it staged circus shows and political gatherings. For the majority of the 20th century, it was the home to a cinema, television studio and a bingo hall.

In 1992 it became a bespoke music venue under the moniker Town and Country Club and Stereophonics and Stone Roses graced the stage there. It closed in 2000, before reopening the following year after refurbishment as Creation Nightclub before converting back to a singular music venue in 2007 under Academy’s ownership.   As with many venues in Leeds, the chosen band for the opening night on 08/10/08 was the local boys Kaiser Chiefs. Over the years the Pogues, Anthrax, Proclaimers and Deftones have played there.

Despite the striking exterior which could resemble a church, we entered into the cavernous main room with its capacity of 2300 which was a tad soulless. There is apparently also a smaller venue downstairs which can contain 400 punters. On stage was Ella Eyre, a soul singer from Ealing in West London, the previous year she had featured on a number one single with Rudimental. It was not my Yorkshire cup of tea and was a little warbly for my tastes.

Leeds O2 Academy. Image Credit able2uk.com

Progressing onwards brought us to Leeds Met Stage contained within what is now known as Leeds Beckett University. They have two campuses, one in Headingley and the other in the city side where we were located. It is a thriving establishment with 24k students and 185k alumni worldwide.

On the stage were The Bug, a dance music collective formed by London based producer Kevin Martin. They had been in existence since 1997 with an ever-changing line up.

We then sallied over to Leeds Met Stage 2 where we had a little wait before the Canadian power punks PUP (abbreviated from Pathetic Use of Potential) hit the stage.  They had only released their self-titled debut album six months earlier and they were very engaging, energetic, and downright good fun!

Lytham Gigs

One of the things I have missed since moving to Manchester is not having easy access to the seaside, there is something wholly soothing to me about gazing out into the blue expanse! The nearest point to Preston was about 10 miles down the road to Lytham/Lytham St Annes. It can sometimes be a ‘ladies who lunch’ type of place but I am nonetheless very fond.    

As a train buff there is the bonus of a single-track line which rolls through en route to its final destination of Blackpool South Shore. In St Annes, there is a terrific Chinese restaurant called Zen which we visited a few times. I recall also on my stag do alighting and visiting the pub by the station (there is always one!) and at that point PNE being 3-1 down to Lincoln with 20 minutes to go but then turning it around much to our merriment into a 4-3 win!

It is about 30 minutes’ walk to Lytham from there either down the wide sand strewn streets or the beach/sea front. On the way you pass the white church, numerous beach huts and Fairhaven Lake where there is a decent pitch and putt course where a group of us use to salve our hangovers on a Sunday morning. Nearby is the Royal Lytham golf course utilised by the British Open approximately every 15 years and savvy residents rent out their houses to international golfers in much the same way Wimbledon residents do every year.  

Also, in the 1980’s there was a terrific open-air pool with a couple of water slides, I remember in one of the summer holidays (1982/83ish) visiting regularly as my mate’s mum used to drive us over. The only downside was that it contained sea water which was very unpleasant to swallow! It reminds me also of another open-air pool nearer home in Haslam Park Preston which I used to visit.

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Fairhaven Lake. Image Credit Geograph Britain and Ireland.

Those roads between Lytham and St Annes are a challenge to cycle due to considerable cross winds which I can testify to as it formed the last few miles of the 100km Manchester to Blackpool ride which I completed once in 2012. On arrival in Lytham, you reach a mile-long pleasant grassy area facing the sea and the incumbent old lighthouse.

In the early 2000’s a group of us went to watch Lancashire play at Lytham’s cricket ground on a ridiculously hot day. I was a tad over cautious with the sun cream earning me the temporary nickname of Casper the friendly ghost! It was so close to town we had time in the lunch interval to scoot down to the County Arms for a refreshing pint of Boddingtons – the Cream of Manchester.

There are many cafes and restaurants dotted around the main square. In that vein and again, on my stag do we feasted on Square Pizzas from one of the establishments, I don’t know why but I found the simple concept of the shape of the pizza rather appealing, and I am sure it tasted better as a result!

There are around half a dozen pubs in town and my favourite is the Malt and Hops with its olde worlde charm. They are also blessed with a plethora of real ales, and I once had the dubious pleasure of sampling coriander beer there!

There is a huge pub called the Queens on the coast road facing the sea. Uncle George and I once had a lively session in there downing several pints of Old Peculiar before a hazy trip back on the last bus!

On the musical front, Lytham has developed its own niche with its very own festival which has just passed its 10-year anniversary and is held on the green opposite the Queens. In its early days it was an 80’s festival throwback but has burgeoned its reputation in the last few years with Tom Jones, Stereophonics and Kylie gracing the stage. I have never yet made an appearance, but Gill has attended a couple of shindigs there.   

Nearby on Station Road lies a posh Wetherspoons, if that is not an oxymoron? In its previous life it was a spit and sawdust pub called the Hansom Cab where bands occasionally used to play. In May 2000 I saw a noisy covers band called Discovery there.

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Lytham Hansom Cab. Image Credit lsacivicsociety.org.uk

Much like St Annes and any town worth its salt there is a pub right next to the station. The last train back to Preston was at a commendable ten to midnight meaning you could amble out of the pub at 11.45pm and walk the 50 yards to the platform in time for the train.  

The pub Is called the Station Hotel and the bands used to play on a stage right in the middle of the long thin hostelry. In 2012, I saw two gigs there and the bands in question were Stonecycle and Dance Hall Giants.