Written by Hollie Ross
Photography by Georgia Lay
Whilst some from LSTV headed to the mighty Leeds Festival over the August bank holiday, myself and Georgia Lay stayed that extra mile closer to home for ‘This Must Be The Place’ festival hosted at Belgrave and Headrow House.
Perhaps we didn’t get as many steps in as we might’ve walking from the Main Stage to the Festival Republic stage at Leeds but we sure did our fair share hopping across from each venue to catch as many acts as we could throughout the all day festival. 18 bands, 2 locations and a slice of dough boys pizza each meant for a blast of a day for the both of us. Here’s some band highlights accompanied by some of Georgia’s cracking photography to give you a flavour of the event.
The first act I caught performing on the Headrow stage was Bug Teeth, a 6-piece band, led by female vocals, and topped with the sweetest little green frog crochet hat – no doubt an exhibit of high indie fashion. Very sweet, dreamy, bedroom pop kinda vibes with an injection of eerie suspense as their music played around with long introductions and long guitar bends.
For fans of Arlo Parks, The Backsteet Lovers
Over to the Belgrave stage now we were met with quite frankly the most indescribable performance of the day. Funny. Folky. Cool. Somehow mixing folk, surf rock, indie and even a smidge of classical as the lead singer’s range of vocals lead the crowd to a long-taken-a-back-silence during a song that included some mad falsetto. An all-round feel-good set, with plenty of good crack from the frontman and a whole variety of surprises including a sax, bandmates playing switcheroo with their instruments and songs sang entirely in Welsh.
For fans of the weird and wacky realms of music that I'm not all that well acquainted with and…idk the welsh?!
Laid back, soft rock and low slung. The intimate low ceiling, fairy light-laden band room at Headrow perfectly accompanied the soft-synthy-rock feel of Honey Guide. A name which I felt was suitably apt given the sweet viscosity of their psychedelic melodies. A band I’d definitely be keen to see again and would implore others to scope out their Spotify in the meantime. If you’re into the kind of wholesome music, you can listen to whilst in the kitchen cheffing up then this might just be your new favourite band.
For fans of Cigarettes after Sex,, ‘Two Ghosts’ by Harry Styles
‘Like an umbrella but you know small’. The sweetest, most dreamy, most ethereal acoustic set you could ever hope for. Tiny Umbrellas is comprised of a solo female artist and her ukulele - singing about everything from the friendzone to the how tough life is from the perspective of a bug. Lol indeed. For the sad soft girls out there who are more likely to crack a joke about their pain than actually vocalize it.
For fans of Beebadoobee, Amy May Ellis or Sunflower Thieves
Oozing cool, feel good and let loose energy, Willie J Healey’s music was in keeping with the soft indie vibe of the day with an added 70s soul low slung edge. A definite confident performer who took to the Belgrave stage like water. I’ve also been informed he’ll be coming back to Leeds in November supporting Florence + the machine on her arena tour!
For fans of Gengahr, Aaron Taylor, Isaac Waddington
A rare unicorn in the indie realm. Unlike any other band known to me with their experimental synth sounds and psychedelic disco tracks that keep you guessing with constant tempo changes. As a listener you find yourself bobbing your head increasingly faster until you have no choice but to really dance. Despite a few technical issues, a quick change of bass (theirs broke!) The Orielles troopered on as the perfect final act in a long line of fresh new indie artists.
For fans of Sunflower Bean, Wet Leg, Bad sounds
