Despite the ridiculously early door time of 6pm it doesn’t take long for O2 Academy Leeds to fill up and a definite Saturday night in Yorkshire atmosphere to build up. This crowd is young. There’s early teens with parents, masses and masses of late teens/early 20’s and a good number from an older generation who love their music and appreciate that decent tunes weren’t only released when they were youngsters. Huge singalongs to songs blasting out over the speakers by Joy Division, The Stone Roses, The Human League and more from back in the day show just how important social media can be for rejuvenating interest in the so called classic chart hits from before most of tonight’s punters were even born.
By the time local band The Sheratons take to the stage (it’s just turned 6.25pm) the place is getting really busy and it’s clear that there’s a sizeable number in to see this homegrown talent. The Sheratons play a set of indie rock, foot tapping, catchy tunes. Opening with the rock guitar of ‘Truly Gone Fishing’ the crowd are behind them from the start. It’s fast paced and has a decent portion of those at the front dancing. They continue blasting through most of their releases to date. ‘Bronze Tonight’ harks back to those jangly guitars of a 90’s indie disco, ‘Raving And Dancing’ is harder with nods to both 70’s glam and punk. Rarely does a support band grab the attention of such a large number of those watching but The Sheratons do just that.
The Clause bring an altogether different vibe that are an even bigger hit with a venue that must now be almost full. ‘Time Of Our Lives’ opens with an almost psychedelic rock guitar before morphing into one huge sing-a-long. The Clause have perfected that bouncy, rocky, easy to sing to and very easy to “have a dance after a few drinks” to sound and this carries on through their set in songs such as ‘Fake It’, ‘Sixteen’ and the huge nod to the Madchester scene of Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Oasis that is ‘In My Element’. The crowd love them and when they’re not shouting ‘Yorkshire, Yorkshire’ between songs they’re singing with the band and having one big dance party.
By the time The K’s walk on stage the place is absolutely rammed, you can almost feel the atmosphere that’s building and the sense of anticipation for what’s about to happen. Suddenly The K’s are becoming huge. Album ‘I Wonder If The World Knows?’ crashed into the top 3 of the UK album charts and it seems that tonight every single person present knows every word to every song. Opening with ‘Icarus’ The K’s play 11 of it’s 12 songs. The place erupts in 2000+ voices for ‘Chancer’, the pit absolutely bounces for ‘Throw It All Away’, the phones are out and people swaying from side to side for the anthemic ‘Lights Go Down’ before the people bounce once again for the manic pace of ‘No Place Like Home’.
As a band the K’s dominate the stage, using every inch to roam around working the crowd up. It’s visually brilliant with superb lighting backing up great sound (not something you can always expect here). Together the whole atmosphere is one that makes it damn hard to resist dancing with even those on the balcony out of their seats waving their arms around.
‘Picture’, 2019’s ‘Glass Towns’, with it’s huge guitar riff and massive chorus and ‘Aurora’ make up the rest of the seeming non-stop pace of the main set.
The K’s return after a short break to deliver the heart-wrenching ‘Valley One’ before rounding off a great evening of huge indie-pop sounds with ‘Hometown’ and finally their 2017 debut ‘Sarajevo’. Little wonder venues are selling out. This is a band that have really caught the ears of a younger generation who want more than Beyonce and Taylor Swift. There’s still time to catch them before they end up playing those huge soulless arenas but that’s where The K’s are certainly heading. They also play a number of the summer festivals, including Leeds/Reading. Alternatively, for a more chilled out atmosphere try and grab a ticket for one of their acoustic shows celebrating the release of ‘I Wonder If The World Knows?’.
