black honey – A Gig A Month 2015-2022

The Arena in Leeds is an amazing venue. We were pretty high up, but the sound is fantastic wherever you are. The sound at this gig was incredible from just two people (with the occasional pair of backing singers). From a bass guitar and drums these guys don’t give a second to breathe.

Who went? This one was supposed to be just my wife, Clare, and I. Unfortunately, Clare was ill for most of the week and had only just got back to work with a lingering headache. A Royal Blood gig was not what the doctor ordered and so she took a pass out. Ste stepped in at last minute and we headed down to Leeds after work. On arrival at my house, Ste got ready, packed up his car and we were about to leave in mine…

Only not quite straight away. Ste managed to lock his car keys in the boot of his car. The car was new, it was dark and there was no obvious release mechanism. 15-20 minutes later after lots of sighing and random button pressing, we found the release mechanism and were on our way.

Some bad traffic meant we didn’t actually arrive in Leeds until about 6.30pm and had to source some food before heading in to the arena.

A local shopping centre had a chinese place with preprepared chicken, rice and noodles. It was quick, plentiful and tasty and did everything it was required to do. We headed into the arena, grabbed a quick pint of Heineken (expensive – > £10 for 2! – but tasty) before taking to our seats. We were on the third tier up about 15 rows from the back. Black Honey were already on stage, more than halfway through their set. I like this band and enjoyed what I saw. Oddly, when we caught them at Glastonbury this year, we only caught the first part of their set. I’d like to acth them again in the future.

At The Drive-In were up next. I didn’t know the first time around and so didn’t know anything. There were a some blokes outside noting that they didn’t know who the support acts were, but that their next gig was At The Drive-In and they couldn’t wait. They were in for a treat. We weren’t. Clare and her headache would definitely have struggled with this one.

Ste & Andrew say Royal Blood in Newcastle earlier this year and they did a pretty short set. They were one of my highlights at Glastonbury too. At Leeds, they did almost two hours in total, playing 9 off How Did We Get So Dark? and 8 off Royal Blood, and it was brilliant.

Opening with Lights Out set the tone for a powerful and spirited gig. Royal Blood are a band that always seem to be enjoying themselves, happy to be on the journey they’ve found the pair undertaking. Every song was a belter with both giving their enthusiastic all. The were some menacing mosh pits forming in the standing area and at one point the band had to stop playing for fear of potential crushes. They resumed and more mosh pits followed. When they closed on the immense Figure It Out, we weren’t expecting an encore, but were pleased to get one. During the encore there was a moment that I find incredibly puzzling. Someone through a shoe at Mike Kerr. A shoe. It hit him too and I believe he rightly noted the audience member as a c**t before handing the offending shoe to a security guy pointing out that if the shoe fits… I could give the benefit of the doubt and say that I’m sure he didn’t intend to hit the lead singer, but honestly.

After leaving the gig we settled in for an hour in the multi-storey car park. I expected it, but still frustrating. Ste managed to get out of the car, find a local vending machine and get us some pop for the way home. As he arrived back, I was just ready to leave. We headed home about midnight. It was a great night. It also gave me the excuse for a second Mike Myers quote in the space of two reviews. Smashing baby!

The pace immediately builds on day 3. Friday arrives and from that point on there’s barely a break from the music. The day started with a cup of tea and the opening act of The Other Stage. The Pretenders were up first. They started slow with tracks off their new album, but soon played some crowd pleasers. Not my type of band. A satisfactory, if not impressive start to the festival. It soon improved.

We headed to the John Peel Stage next. We’d just discovered Rews on the playlist and thoroughly enjoyed their set (missed the first few tracks). Black Honey immediately followed. They also sounded good, but we only caught a few tracks before we needed to head off.

The scheduling at Glastonbury can be a personal challenge. You need to work out who you want to see in their entirety and prioritise accordingly. Blossoms were one of those priorities, so it was our first trip to The Pyramid Stage. They were really good without ever really sparkling. I feel like they are holding back a little at times, but I’ll be really interested to see how they develop on album number 2.

The sweet sounds of First Aid Kit followed. This is a band that always sound amazing. They didn’t disappoint. Oddly, Ste and I had been rubbishing the song, You Are The Problem Here, in advance, but this was a great part of the set. A trip back to the Other Stage followed.

Glass Animals were up next. We were eating a square pie for a few songs of this set and never really got involved. It was decent without ever engaging me significantly. They did trow some awesome inflatable pineapples into the crowd though which is something.

Back to The Pyramid Stage for three of our most anticipated sets.

Royal Blood took to the stage and were immediately impressive. Those two produce such an awesome noise. So powerful, catchy and engaging. The two of them seem to have a great stage presence. Their second album had juts got to number one and they celebrated by cracking open a massive bottle of champagne on stage and guzzling it all in front the huge crowd. Class.

The xx were next. This set seemed to go quickly. This may have had something to do with alcohol which had been a steady intake since 12ish. The xx sounded great and seemed to have a set full of familiar tunes, despite the fact that I’ve only properly got into them since the most recent album. Elbow were playing a secret set of the park stage and in previous years we’d have headed there, but given how many times I’ve seen Elbow, I’m glad we stuck with The xx.

An so for the first headliner. Radiohead. We hadn’t seen Radiohead live since 2003, so were really looking forward to this, especially in anticipation of an OK Computer heavy set. Unfortunately its was a bit of a led down (no pun intended). Despite featuring 6 OK Computer tracks and a tonne of other great tunes, it lacked some emotional connection. We thought a significant problem was the stupid use of the big screens. There was rarely a standard image displayed and instead you had to watch an arty collage of nonsense. We were to far from the stage to see what was going on directly and could really only see the silhouette of an unmoving security guy on stage. Consequently there was no connection. This had a significant impact. Don’t get me wrong. It was good. Just not great. OKNOTOK I guess.

The night didn’t quite end there. Just enough time for a lengthy dash to The Park (first visit) to catch the embers of The Flaming Lips set. I think we caught 4 tracks. All were good and seemed very entertaining. A pleasant coda to the first full day of music.

Unfortunately, post Lips, we got caught in a massive crush outside of the park area. If we did have any plans to continue on to anything else (we probably didn’t), then they were swiftly brought to a close be being sent in opposite directions. We met back up at the tent. Day three done.

On Friday 23rd June we walked 15.25km and saw 10 bands across 4 stages. Highlights were First Aid Kit, Royal Blood and The xx.