With a 16 year history as a gig venue, the Cockpit in Leeds has seen plenty of top bands grace its stage. The Killers, White Stripes and Fall Out Boy, have all played in the club under the railway bridge, and it is supposedly the place that the Kaiser Chiefs all met each other for the first time. But tonight everyone was there for one band, Hurts. Hailing from Manchester, the synthpop duo have collabarated with Kylie Minogue and already had a top 5 album in the UK with 'Happiness', despite only having thier first live gig earlier this year. They have also been one of the first bands to fully utilise Spotify to advertise their music in a new and exicting way, with an interactive audio novel soundtracked with songs from their album, just try searching 'A5M4' on Spotify.
The support came from Clare Maguire. Backed with a full band, her powerful voice and catchy songs, were a great opener for the night. I don't like reviewers who compare one band to another but if I had to, I'd say she was a cross between Marina Diamandis and Florence Welch. Check her out here.
The crowd were here for Hurts though and as the lights went dark for the second time of the night, you could feel the excitement in the air. As Theo and Adam took to the stage, omnimous music played, setting the dark and almost eeire tone for the night, before they opened with their first song 'Unspoken'. With no guitars, the band are backed by just one other keyboard player and one other vocalist who I think definatly deserves a mention. He stood statuesque throughout the entire gig, calling for one member of the audience to ask Theo: "Is that fella behind you a robot?". When it was his turn to shine however, he proved he was all human, as his booming voice filled the room, which was one of the highlights of the gig as he sang the main part to the hidden album track 'Verona', getting a round of applause before the song had even finished. It was so good he managed to silence the audience. I have never heard it so quiet in the Cockpit as when he finished singing, everyone was in awe of him. Theo didn't do too badly either, with his voice sounding exactly like it does on the album, faultless and beautiful, and even haunting at some points, accompying the music brilliantly. It's a strange thing to say but it was one of the first times I have been at a gig and realised that I was enjoying the music just as much as the singing.
Theo was visibily pleased at how much the crowd were reacting and singing the songs back to him, although only stopping on a few occasions to talk to the audience, at one point reminiscing last time he played at Leeds in a church and how someone was stood on a pew dancing "God wouldn't have been happy" he quipped. Adam on the other hand sat in silence, letting the music speak for itself. Playing through their entire album, as well as a few extra tracks, the band couldn't be faulted, and as they burst into one of my favourites from the album, one of the more 'danicer', is that a word?, tracks, 'Better Than Love', the crowd, including me, went wild. As it finished and they walked off stage the crys of "We want more" were ringing throughout the venue. The bad thing about seeing such a new band is that they didn't have anymore songs and so wasn't able to do an encore, however as the old showbusiness saying goes: Always leave them wanting more.
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