Review – Feeder

Date: Friday 8th November 2019

Venue: Leeds Becketts Student Union, Leeds

Supports: Novacub

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Following on from day two’s incredible intimate gig with Being as an Ocean, Day 3 of the four gigs four days brought in the big guns with a chance to catch Feeder playing to a sold out crowd in Leeds Becketts Student Union. Unfortunately due to more transport issues which seem to be becoming a regular theme these days we arrived just after tonight’s support Novacub had finished playing so only managed to catch headliners Feeder. However given the stream of people collecting stickers and meeting the band at the merch table they must have put on a decent show and I’ll certainly be keeping my eye out for an opportunity to catch them again next time they are around.

With over 20 years of material available at their fingertips there was an air of anticipation around which tracks the band were going to include in the setlist alongside the cuts from their newly released album ‘Tallulah’. As the band opened with Youth it made for a fun start. Being the first track on the album it was clear that people were singing along and it was great to experience the song live. Following this up with older hits such as ‘Lost and Found’ and the iconic ‘Feeling a Moment’ made for a very strong start to the night. With huge LED screens behind the band showing fantastic visuals alongside the tracks it was clear that over the many years Feeder have developed their live performance into a very slick process. With new album just released you would expect there to be some material in the set from it but in Feeder’s case tonight, nearly half of their 22 song setlist came from the new album. With the new tracks spread throughout the set it meant that the band struggled to keep the energy from older tracks going as the slower nature of the new tracks kept slowing the show. The newer tracks aren’t all slow and steady though as the bands play through of ‘Kyoto’ seemed to pick up the crowd with its heavier stylings and similar to sounds to their earlier tracks. Other highlights of the slightly drawn out middle section included the incredible sounding ‘Insomnia’ which coupled with the huge screen flashing the words through the chorus had the crowd all dancing and singing along; and a rare play of ‘Comfort in Sound’ which was a real treat for the crowd. As with the start, the band didn’t hold anything back towards the end of their set with a huge closing one two of ‘Seven Days In The Sun’ followed by the very well known ‘Buck Rodgers’ as the perfect set closers they really woke the crowd back up from their lull during the middle section of the gig and finished off the main set in fantastic style with even a sizable pit opening amongst the jumping bodies during ‘Buck Rodgers’.

As the band left the stage for a brief pause before their encore, the crowd certainly knew what was coming as after the standard chants for one more song they burst in to singing the opening guitar of ‘Just a Day’. As the band took back to the stage they had to put a pause on the singing as they had new track ‘Blue Sky Blue’ to play through first. Whilst the track itself is anthemic and builds nicely, putting it between ‘Buck Rodgers’ and ‘Just a Day’ really took the wind out of its sails as everyone just watched along waiting for the last track to come on. When it did however ‘Just a Day’ got a fantastic response from the crowd and proved just why the track is still considered a classic after all these years. With the last track done the band thanked the crowd for attending and mentioned that tonight was all about looking forward at what the future of the band holds rather living in the past. While the sentiment is one that we should all be happy with unfortunately tonight fell slightly flat with the crowd and there was just too much newer material to balance out the classics. With the precise performance that Feeder were putting in on stage, when the crowd were fully involved the set made for a fantastic watch however struggling to keep that energy made the middle of the set drag slightly. With a little more balance between their new tracks and the older classics tonight could have been a huge triumph for the band however it felt more like a “going through the motions with their new album” kind of show. Definitely not a bad show in any way and I’d be very open to seeing the band again in the future.