Leeds band Yard Act announce support acts for massive Millennium Square show featuring English Teacher

The group will play in the city centre on Saturday, August 3 to mark the end of the UK leg of their tour in support of their excellent and expansive second album ‘Where’s My Utopia?’.

The group have today (Thursday) announced that support for the celebratory show will come from English Teacher, Fat Dog and Ultimate Thunder.

The event will be the group’s largest headline show to date and the three support acts have been specifically chosen by the band.

First on the bill is Ultimate Thunder, a rock group based in Leeds made up mostly of people with learning disabilities. Funding for the group came to an end earlier this year but a huge campaign to keep them going was supported by a number of notable figures in the music industry, including Yard Act.

Yard Act frontman James Smith told the YEP that he’s been a fan of the band for some time and that they had been on his radar since he worked as a support worker previously. He said that choosing them to open felt like an “exciting and important choice”.

He said: “When their funding got cut everyone got behind them and it raised a lot of money and kept the band afloat which was amazing. It felt like the logical next step was to get them to open the show and get them to share their music - which is great - with a wider audience.

“They’re a band that are dear to our hearts and I implore everyone to make sure they get down early for them.”

Next on the bill is London group Fat Dog, whose brash blend of punk rock and dance has gained them many admirers.

James said that the group were considering having an all-Leeds line-up but “it felt like we could sandwich a London band in between”.

“They opened for us last year and we’ve been following what they’re doing and I just think they’re one of the most exciting new bands around.

“It felt like a no-brainer in that they’ve played with us before and they really get a crowd going - to the point where they might upstage us. But I kind of like the challenge of that.”

Main support will come from fellow Leeds-based group English Teacher, who have made huge waves with their literary and inventive first album ‘This Could Be Texas’.

James said: “They’re friends of ours and we’ve watched them come up. They seem to be following a similar path to us.

“I feel like Lily (Fontaine, singer) in particular is already destined for great things. She’s a brilliant writer and frontperson and their album is flying. The fact that there’s a band from Leeds doing it the way they’re doing it is really exciting for the music scene and we’re honoured to share the bill with them.”

He added that the group had wanted to save the show in Leeds to end the tour to make sure “we’re at the absolute top of our game”.

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He said: “Leeds is always a special one and this is the biggest show we’ve done by a long shot.

“We’re very lucky to have spent our musical years in Leeds within the music scene. We all remain here and I don’t think any of us will move because it’s a city we know and love.

“There’s always an extra weight and excitement and expectation to the hometown shows. We’re excited about the whole thing and it’s going to be a special show. We’re just debating whether or not we’re going to have fireworks.”

Tickets for the show are priced at £33 and are still available online.