Live At Leeds 

Various venues, Leeds

4/5

EVERY festival has a breakthrough act that comes from the leftfield. Live At Leeds’s revelatory moment comes when The Hosts play current single Give Your Love To Her and the hearts of all those present explode with emotion.

In an expanded line-up that now takes in over 20 venues and 200 acts playing across the city, the Sheffield five-piece go against the current scene’s guitar-heavy grain by reimagining mid-period U2 being played by Richard Hawley. 

Having picked up support from Steve Lamacq, they’ve got an onstage confidence that surpasses their current standing and the ability to work a crowd that already seems destined to work at larger venues.

If they’re thinking big, then The Hold Steady have already established a sizeable reputation. Currently celebrating the 10th anniversary of debut album Almost Killed Me, the Brooklyn-based quintet is steeped in the kind of blue-collar imagery of Bruce Springsteen. Their sound nonetheless has less of his anthemic hooks and more of Husker Du’s alt-rock, fed through an Americana shredder. Yet their workmanlike approach fails to excite.

Another name coasting on past glories is Albert Hammond Jnr. Opening with the kind of funky bass line that wouldn’t sound misplaced on Michael Jackson’s classic work, the promise is swiftly lost when he embarks on a string of try-hard tracks that trade on The Strokes yet reduce the formula to showman fretwork and a sanitised version of confessional sleaze.

One band needing no lesson in being base is The Fat White Family. With the shambolic gang mentality and shouty backing vocals of The Libertines, the South London six-piece tap into the bare-chested mania of Iggy Pop and the scattergun post-punk degeneration of The Fall.

With swaggering, lurching paeans such as Touch The Leather they bring an energy and sense of fun that for the time being compensates for a shortage of genuinely memorable tunes.

If they offer short-term thrills, then Disraeli Gears show signs of wanting a long-term career. Although not yet fully realised, the quartet’s goth-rock has undertones of The Cure with the bluesy edge of Blood Red Shoes. Once they tighten up their material and lose some of their more affected vocals they’ll be ones to watch.

Included on the ones to watch list of many, Courtney Barnett fails to live up to the hype. Despite issuing a string of glorious anti-folk EPs, the Melbourne singer-songwriter struggles to engage in a sizeable venue. Relying on Jeffrey Lewisesque narratives rather than traditional melodic hooks, she labours to capture the lyrical nuances with beefed-up arrangements from her two-piece backing band.

If she struggles with the studio-live transition, then Dolomite Minor struggle with basic songwriting. The Southampton power duo meld the heavy riffs of Nirvana and the blues of Led Zeppelin but there’s very little to string them together, with Joe Grimshaw’s deadpan vocals lacking the power to make the tracks sound anything more than rough demos. 

They can definitely play but are currently too untogether to make any real impression. Showing them how to work the power duo are Royal Blood, who make the venue erupt as they mainline the gigantic riffs of Led Zeppelin and the bluesy swagger of the White Stripes. 

The Brighton bass-drum duo generate a sound far bigger and sweatier than their individual parts, creating a frenzy of massive pop hooks that reel in those usually wary of such heavy music.

The buzz generated on the back of their recent Jools Holland appearance and heavy 6Music rotation helps to make them the festival’s immediate winners but the money’s still on The Hosts for the long haul.