Saturdays

An unexpectedly full Saturday, as 20yo invited me along to a gig in Leeds and we decided to double that up with football at Guiseley beforehand. 

Guiseley were hosting Lancaster, and 20yo decided to lend his support to his current adopted city, while I stuck with Guiseley despite my own Lancaster loyalties. Guiseley’s long unbeaten run had come to an end mid-week, and that dip in form continued, with Lancaster securing a 2-1 win. Guiseley remain second in the Northern Premier League table though.

Then into Leeds, which was at the intersection of people finishing their shopping day, people arriving for their night out, and people pouring back in to the city city centre after watching Leeds United hammer Cardiff City at Elland Road. Yes, it was busy. 

We had something to eat at Trinity Kitchen (Vietmanese tofu curry for me, pizza for 20yo) and then walked up to Leeds Uni where the gig was taking in their ‘Stylus’ venue, i.e. the basement of the SU building, dodging the fancy dress adorned Otley Run crowds along the way.

The music started with Saturdays at Your Place (main image), who we’d seen last year at the Key Club. Hailing from Kalamzoo, Michigan the three piece are part of a new wave of the Midwest emo scene. They’re a good band, with for me hints of Pavement, i.e. more alternative rock than pop punk. 

Headliners were Origami Angel (extra) -YouTube channel link - , a D.C. drum/guitar duo, who are either the latest wave of emo or the second wave of easycore, depending on your subgenre allegiances :-) I hadn’t heard any of their stuff before - the drum/guitar combo (with occasional synth backing track support) had me inevitably thinking of White Stripes, but that’s probably quite an unfair comparison. Quite heavy at times, quite melodic and noodly at others, I’ll probably need to listen to them a bit more to make a judgement.

The venue was fine. 20yo headed off down the front (both images) while I took a balcony position. And it was all over by 10.15 so plenty of time to make a train home. I noticed a band more of my era, The Wedding Present, are playing there in a couple of months, so perhaps a chance for a revisit…