Ella Nelson heads down to the O2 Academy Leeds to attend the third show of Maisie Peters’ ‘Good Witch’ Tour.

Written by Millie Cain
Edited by Eve Moat

As we arrived at the crown jewel of Hyde Park’s independent music scene, Brudenell Social Club already had a swarming crowd of individuals in dark wash jackets with cans of £2 beer in hand awaiting JAWS’ arrival. The social club on Monday night was a warm haven against the treacherous October downpour, yet people still crowded outside clutching half-damp cigarettes with the distinctive smell of blue razz lemonade floating in the air. As soon as my flat mate (and occasional musical prodigy) Jack and I ran into the building, there was an immediate homely feel, calls across the room, and familiar nods of heads, made even more lovely by the eclectic soundtrack and cheap bar.  

There was a real fizz of excitement in the air, it didn’t feel like a Monday – the bar spun with the ambiance of a well-awaited Friday night, as students and locals alike bopped their heads along to Leeds’ own post-modern grunge band “Slow Team” who had the mighty job of supporting, and packed a punch as the alternative three piece burned out their souls to their home crowd and JAWS fans who were lapping up their seemingly endless energy.  

It was not long before arms were raised and clapping along to their new single “Match Point” which eclipsed the whole room, a bit more post-punk sound than the rest of their setlist- they’ve recently been leaning more into the sleek ethereal shoegaze indie that has weaved its way in over the last few years and has been done so fluidly by this band. Lead vocalist, Lucy, had ensnaring charisma, and her fellow bandmates Morgan and Max bounced off each other as their looping sounds pressed up against each other and filled the venue, cracking jokes throughout. There’s exciting potential with their recent change of tempo for huge growth, and they’re in the right place for people who will undoubtedly eat it up. 

JAWS’ arrival onto stage was met with louder cheers than could’ve been expected from the venue: a familiar hum of excitement, a sparking buzz filled the air as they launched straight into their arguably most popular single, “Stay In”, with a well-oiled groove, and especially cool elegance from bassist Leon Smith catching the whole room. The popularity of the song had a huge immediate impact on the crowd, with heads bobbing, and arms high, as the band slowed down for the instrumental builder of the song that gives it a real textured, layered quality from the Birmingham 4 piece.  

The second song of their set, “Top of My Skull” from their new EP If It Wasn’t For My Friends, Things Could Be Different, released in September, had a huge increase in tempo and the disjointed bridges injected a new lease of energy into the space. This new single is really taking a step away from the synth-heavy shoegaze indie that initially shot them to fame in 2012. Drummer Eddy Geach appeared almost as a sci-fi hero, nearly drowning under the crazy amount of cymbals, but which he appeared to navigate with incomprehensible ease.  

Noticably, the green lights flooding Brude added to the almost nonchalant, casual air of the band, while sounding so technically tight, as if it was a live recording. It was evident how polished and practiced every member was before embarking on this tour- especially it being their first one since 2021.

New song “Are My Friends Alright?” brought back the synth, pop sound, and was well received by their cult-like crowd. JAWS’ fanbase has certainly been strong for the last few years, following them up and down the country on each and every new tour. In the recorded version, it has a faint autotune (almost Casablancas-esque) mumbling sound to it, that was mastered live by lead singer Connor Schofield.  

Their stage chatter however, was few and far between, with brief thank yous, an introduction and an actually quite funny anecdote about their previous Brudenell show, in which someone had crashed the stage to brush their teeth, was the extent of the conversation between the band and their audience. While they held a very well-respected and professional presence in the room, I couldn’t help but wish to hear a bit more from the band themselves.  

Before I knew it, they were closing with fan favourites “Be Slowly” and “Gold”, and the audience were electric from the first light riff of their final song, chanting along and polishing off an exciting show that was wrapped up in talent and drowning in potential.

JAWS have toured new EP If It Wasn’t For My Friends, Things Could Be Different, which was released on 15^th September, whipping around Northern-heavy venues in Newcastle, Glasgow, Manchester, with a home show in Birmingham, and a couple of Southern trips to Bristol and London. With how clean and polished they’re sounding, and the punchy new EP, there’s no doubt we’ll be hearing more from them soon, hopefully with some festival shows in the coming year.

Their new EP is available on all streaming platforms, and the band can be found @jawsjawsjaws on their respective social media platforms.

Setlist: 

Stay In  

Top of my Skull  

Driving at Night   

Are My Friends Alright?  

What We Haven't Got Yet  

Right Infront Of Me  

17  

Just A Boy 

Sweat 

Donut 

Be Slowly 

Gold

Written by Richard O'Brien
Edited by Eve Moat

Let me take you back to March 2023, strangely with snow still on the ground in Leeds. Sat in the Leeds Student Radio office browsing a list of new songs provided by a promoter. While the list may have had 20 or 30 songs, one stood out. It was continuously clawing away at my attention each time I tried to continue my way through the list. That song was Dolores Forever’s ‘Good Time All The Time’. At the time, the band’s YouTube channel had 2 songs without videos. Since then, the band has slowly grown under the radar but is now ready for your attention with their first headline tour. While this may be their first headline tour, the indie pop group has been in the music scene far longer than you might expect.

After becoming friends at a house party, both working as songwriters at the time, the duo of Hannah Wilson and Julia Fabrin decided to form a band. Dolores Forever was formed releasing their first single ‘Kilimanjaro’ 2 years ago. Since releasing that debut track, the band has been progressing towards their original goal of playing in stadiums. Although it could be easily misunderstood, this dream is not born from a place of vanity. Rather, it is a fear of being labelled an acoustic band despite producing songs that demand to be played loud. Over the summer, Live at Leeds in the Park was filled with that noise. On Wednesday night, Oporto was the next stepping stone towards that vision. While the end goal may not be playing Oporto, the duo certainly didn’t show that. Making their way through the sellout crowd, admittedly a small one given the size of the venue, the two were dressed in Alice in Wonderland-esc dresses. The perfect contrast to their grown-up lyrics focused on the trials and tribulations of womanhood in the modern age. From the bands perspective, most songs focus on either money, death, expectations, or a combination of all three.

As a band still awaiting their big, breakout hit after 2 years, the setlist felt evenly weighted. Rather than waiting the full hour set for their biggest hit at the end, the earlier parts were evenly balanced with the latter. I would argue the band fired out the blocks swinging with their best tracks. As evidence, three of their four most-played songs on Spotify and their latest single all appeared in the opening third of the set. Reliably, Dolores Forever bingo was checked off with all songs featuring at least one of the themes of money, death, or expectations.

Another band with similar existential fears is The Big Moon. And fans of the indie queens should look out for Dolores Forever’s new track ‘Shut up and Eat the Pasta’ which previewed halfway through the set. Much like The Big Moon’s ‘Dog Eat Dog’, the song combines genuinely emotive lyrics with humour and the mundane. “Is this as good as it gets?” The band asks dejectedly before shortly moving on to singing “Shut up and eat the pasta, it’s going to taste great”, something all students can attest to. A slightly less enjoyable part of the shared human experience, break-ups, are vividly detailed in the aforementioned debut single. Although most seasoned gig attendees could have spotted the change in tone as the drummer exited the stage two-thirds of the way through the set, the stripped-back acoustic style came as a welcomed surprise. With an emphasis on lyrics, the duo drew attention to their songwriting capabilities leaving no listener questioning their origins in the industry. Just take the lyrics “When I fell, I hit so hard. Landing on the bones of mountain climbers.” Despite this brief change in tone – and lyrics – the duo were down but not out. An unreleased song about the pressure of the music industry and the need to keep going, sung with both vocalists facing toward each other for the majority of the track, felt like an insight into the band’s genuine friendship. That friendship was on full display as Julia laughed whilst explaining how she had previously (and more importantly, accidentally) set her hair on fire in Oporto, or as Hannah nervously reminisced about her phobia of talking in front of large numbers of people.

If the closing of the set is anything to go by, Dolores Forever should get used to the crowds. Arguably no lyric felt more relatable to the audience than “Serotonin in my mind keeping me awake” featured in the closing song ‘Party In My Mind’. Leaving the packed Oporto, every member of the audience knows exactly what Dolores Forever meant with that lyric.