Yard Act live review: A long-awaited homecoming for Leeds’ post-punk heroes
Allow me to take you back to March 2020, it was a month which will go down in history for many reasons. Namely, it was the month that the United Kingdom was first plunged into lockdown, but it was also the month that I saw Yard Act for the very first time. Third on the bill at Brudenell Social Club in Leeds, playing to a dwindling crowd and reading lyrics from a sheet of paper. Flash forward to August 2024, and I am standing in the blistering sunshine of Millennium Square, Leeds, watching the very same band perform to 5,000 people with effortless grace.
To go from a sparse crowd at a 400-capacity venue to a colossal open-air performance in the city centre over only four years is certainly nothing to scoff at. However, given how prolifically busy Yard Act has been in that time, it is hardly surprising. From the release of their early singles to the Mercury-nominated debut album The Overload and the incredible follow-up, Where’s My Utopia?, the group has gone from strength to strength. In Millennium Square, there was a definitive feeling that this show was the culmination of all that success.
You see, just as The Beach Boys were the surf band who didn’t really surf, Yard Act are the Leeds band that aren’t really from Leeds. Despite forming in Meanwood back in 2019, none of the band members are native to Leeds, but that has not stopped the city from adopting them as their own. As such, their show at Millennium Square was as much a celebration of Leeds as it was a celebration of Yard Act. With specialised Leeds-centric merch, ‘Marching On Together’ blaring over the speakers, and two other incredible local groups on the bill, in the form of Ultimate Thunder and English Teacher, there was no questioning where the band’s loyalties lie.
In fact, the gig was such an authentically Leeds experience that I was late for Ultimate Thunder due to the unreliable nature of the bus service. Nevertheless, upon walking up to Millennium Square, my heart had a strange feeling of pride. My love for this band has taken me from Brudenell Social Club to Manchester’s Albert Hall, Bluedot Festival, and even the Woodsies Tent at Glastonbury. When I think of the pivotal moments in my life over the past four years, the vast majority of them have been soundtracked by Yard Act.
As I waited for them to emerge on stage, I thought back to all those nights I had spent going to see the band live. Luckily, each and every tour Yard Act have ever played was represented on the backs of T-shirts dotted across the crowd. It appeared as though my experience of the band was not so unique after all. Nevertheless, seeing all those familiar faces I have come to know while attending Yard Act gigs in the past provided a real sense of unity and togetherness within the crowd. As the sun set on the Leeds skyline, the group burst onto the stage and erupted into their first number, ‘The Overload’.
Immediately, the 5,000-strong crowd in Millennium Square was on-side and ready to express their adoration for Yard Act through the medium of moshing. From my vantage point just in front of the soundstage, I could look over the ensuing chaos at the front of the stage, with frontman James Smith commanding the audience like a sadistic post-punk conductor. The setlist chosen for the show seemed to favour the more celebratory, upbeat tracks in Yard Act’s discography, including the likes of ‘We Make Hits’, ‘Witness (Can I Get A?)’, and ‘Pour Another’. These tracks helped to add to the sense of celebration and euphoria that was inherent in the concert.
There were moments of reflection across the set, too. Smith dedicated the band’s stunning social commentary track ‘Dead Horses’ to the counter-protestors who had outnumbered the English Defence League earlier that day in Leeds, mere metres away from Millennium Square. “We love you,” he said while introducing the track but, unlike most frontmen in modern rock, you could tell that Smith really meant every word he was saying.
This was clearly an important show for the band, who have been stalwarts of the local scene in Leeds for years prior to Yard Act’s formation. Bassist Ryan Needham, for instance, was previously involved in the stunning psych outfit Menace Beach, guitarist Sam Shipstone was a founding member of Hookworms, and Smith was at the forefront of beloved Leeds institution Post War Glamour Girls. However, there was scarcely an opportunity for the group to discuss their musical journey to Millennium Square in between the pyrotechnics and smoke shows of this adrenaline-fueled set.
A brief moment to catch your breath came before ‘Down by the Stream’, which was introduced by Smith’s childhood friend Dean, who proceeded to crowdsurf for the duration of the track. Aside from that, it was only when the group got to their emotionally charged anthem ‘100% Endurance’ that Smith was able to tell the crowd what an important gig this was for Yard Act and for himself on a personal level. The song itself was the perfect end to the main part of the band’s set, with the line “Death is coming for us all, but not today, Today you’re living it, hey, you’re really feeling it” feeling particularly impactful given the circumstances of the show.
The grand finale of this groundbreaking show consisted of the band’s debut single ‘The Trapper’s Pelts’ followed by fan-favourite ‘The Trenchcoat Museum’. Following the tear-jerking rendition of ‘100% Endurance’, these high-energy, danceable tracks were much needed to keep the spirits high in Millennium Square, and they went down particularly well with the sea of dedicated moshers at the front of the stage, which had scarcely stopped moving throughout the set.
It felt as if the show could have continued indefinitely if it had not been for the noise pollution laws that dictated the curfew of the show. The distinctly Leeds-centric party continued after the band left the stage, as they participated in an official afterparty at Brudenell Social Club, where I had first seen the group all those years ago. For me, though, this colossal performance had left me feeling somewhat emotional, and so my night ended waiting for yet another delayed bus with the profound musings of ‘100% Endurance’ ringing through my ears – “It’s all so pointless, ah, but it’s not though is it?”
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