Independent Venue Week 2025: Adult DVD offer a synth-laden soundtrack to a Saturday night in Leeds
Yorkshire has always been a creatively rich county, with its gorgeous countryside and impressive landmarks inspiring some of the most iconic novels of all time, from Wuthering Heights to Dracula. Perhaps there is something in the water – or the tea – that makes Yorkshire such a fertile landscape for art, which is solidified by the large number of independent venues operating across the area, which welcomes both emerging and established talent.
As someone from a small village, it didn’t take much to impress me when I moved to Leeds, suddenly discovering an array of gig venues and community-driven spaces all within a walkable radius. Yet, Leeds is a truly special place for art, live music, and collaboration, with some of the greatest venues in the country existing within unsuspecting neighbourhood roads or alleyways.
For the past five-and-a-half years, I’ve routinely visited local independent venues like Brudenell Social Club, Hyde Park Book Club, Mabgate Bleach, and Wharf Chambers. In these venues, I’ve made friends, discovered my love of genres I never knew existed, been on dates, watched some of my most-listened-to bands, visited art installations and experimental music nights, attended film screenings and charity fundraisers, and even met some of my favourite musicians.
On Saturday, my evening schedule was the busiest I’d seen it in a while: two gigs in one night – the first a no-wave icon, the second one of Leeds’ most exciting new bands. I was admittedly tired, but when the city offers you two great gigs in one night, you make things work. At 8:15pm, my housemate and I were Headrow House-bound, arriving just in time for Lydia Lunch and Marc Hurtado’s night of Suicide and Alan Vega covers.
Lunch and Hurtado were great, creating a nightmarish atmosphere as they reimagined tracks like ‘Ghost Rider’ and ‘Frankie Teardrop’. Only in Leeds can you get to see someone as legendary as Lunch, a fiercely independent musician, before walking just five minutes to catch a band tipped for success taking over the gig space of another indie venue. Adult DVD, a synth-infused act with just a string of singles and EPs to their name, were playing two sold-out ‘In the Round’ shows at Belgrave Music Hall and Canteen for Independent Venue Week, the first starting at 8pm, the other at 11pm. Due to my Lunch plans, I geared myself up for the later show, which wouldn’t see the band begin playing until 1am.
Arriving at Belgrave, a venue owned by the same people as Headrow House, I waded through a crowd of students dancing in the main bar until I reached the main gig area upstairs, where Adult DVD’s instruments were sitting not on the stage, but in the middle of the room. ‘In the Round’ –which sees the band play on the floor while the audience forms a circle around them– is a concept that has so far had great success, with previous lineups including Thank and Fuzz Lightyear, and Green Gardens and Neve Cariad.
It’s an intimate and engaging set-up, and it proved to be the perfect way to consume Adult DVD as they played into the early hours of Sunday morning. After a set from acid house newcomers Farewell Moscow, who were the ideal primer for a night of dancing, Adult DVD emerged onto the floor and blasted through songs like ‘Yacht Money’ and ‘Bill Murray’ as well as some newer tracks. There was an undeniable buzz of excitement in the crowd. Adult DVD are a band known for their tight and all-consuming live shows, but this was easily one of their greatest performances to date.
With the crowd consisting of casual listeners, friends of the band, and die-hard fans sporting Adult DVD-themed earrings, everyone came together to dance and drink to a mixture of pounding drums, thick layers of synths, and tongue-in-cheek lyricism. Time melted away, and it became clear that nights like these when nothing matters but music and friends and letting yourself look a bit ridiculous (who cares if you can’t dance?), are truly the glue that holds everything together.
We live in such uncertain times, but really, what’s better than going to a gig? The thriving Leeds music scene, which unites people and forms a vital sense of community, wouldn’t exist without these independent venues that give local artists opportunities they might not otherwise get. Here, friendships are made, art is created, and careers are formed – you might even meet the love of your life or hear your favourite song while standing on sticky floors scattered with plastic cups.
In a world currently defined by war, political turmoil, economic disaster, and neglectful governments, we need music, art, and connection more than ever, and it’s independent venues like Belgrave and Brudenell – and bands like Adult DVD – that keep this well-needed sense of community and creativity alive.
