Gig review: Turin Brakes at Leeds City Varieties

For me, Turin Brakes were discovered all be it by accident. Watching MTV one day some many many years ago a track from their ‘Optimist LP’ came on TV and from then on I’ve been absolutely blown away by them. Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian are a formidable force in musicianship. Writing, singing and producing, creativity oozes from their pores and emancipates those that share the pleasure in their sound.

With a new album out, Invisible Storm, the Turin Brakes tour hits City Varieties in Leeds and prepares to embellish their already stellar song sheet.

Their set list is really a back catalogue of cult hits, chart toppers and ambient prodigious tracks, album after album’s worth. Unsure if they’ve played City Varieties before but their style suits the venue ideally. There’s something about a theatre venue that makes a performance much more of a show than just a standard gig, it somehow feels closer and more intimate as if they’ve just pulled up a couple of kitchen chairs and belted out a few numbers in your living room while you’re waiting for the kettle to boil.

Kick starting their set with Would You Be Mine, the four-piece (add Rob Allum on drums and Eddie Myer on bass) and it’s off to 90 minutes of reminiscing across some eight or nine albums’ worth of material. Future Boy is one from their first album and it takes singer Knights to ask if it’s still remembered. With a few theatrical wolf noise attributes from bassist Eddie Myer the tracks keep on coming – with Lost In The Woods, Emergency 72, Fishing for a Dream and chart smash, Pain Killer to name but a few.

Turin Brakes didn’t deliver anything less than expected, great interaction with the crowd, a set list of formidable force and a fantatsic new album to listen to. A few more festival performances for the summer would give any newcomers an ideal opportunity to see a band that will be with them for the rest of their lives.