Larkins live at Brudenell Social Club review – emotional night of summer pop

Artist	Larkins
Venue	Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Date	12 August 2021
Opener	Are We Having Any Fun Yet?
Closer	TV Dream
Highlight	Hit and Run
Undertone rating	3/5

At the start of their post-lockdown UK tour, Manchester band Larkins were at times overcome with emotion, yet still proved that yes, everything does sound better live.

A long line of fashionable-looking young adults snaked between the picnic tables and parasols outside Hyde Park’s Brudenell Social Club, enjoying a mild and sunny August evening. It was only 7:30 and the atmosphere was already building thanks to the combined scent of perfume and freshly cooked pizzas from the food stall further up the car park. The unassuming yet notorious local social club is hardly one of the north’s greatest venues and the shiny tickets emblazoned with the word LARKINS cost barely more than a tenner (the band is yet to release their first album), but there was a palpable sense that this was an event well worth dressing up for. It came to be a clear theme for the evening – the occasion far outgrowing the band itself. Like all touring artists at the moment, Larkins were about to have their big moment: the first gig since you-know-what.

For me too, it was much more about the spectacle of four men living their dream once again, rather than the music. I had been aware of a few good singles from the band’s earlier days, but I found little in their more recent faux-The 1975 work to fire me up, with mopey autotune-laden recent single if + when providing especially little to get excited about. In the long three hours between leaving home and seeing frontman Josh Noble sheepishly hop onto stage (spent in the great company of my friend Izzy in a car, train and taxi and another lengthy wait at the venue) I often found myself wondering if spending all this time and money on a band that I didn’t love would be worth it. I ended up buying a t-shirt both as a memento of the big occasion and as an attempt to properly find that excited feeling of my more genuinely Larkins-loving fellow concertgoers, whose sense of anticipation was something I was instinctively keen not to miss out on. Also they said I could draw on the wall in glow-in-the-dark pen if I bought something.

Yet, as the pulsating stage strip lights began to illuminate my fresh £25-worth of Larkins apparel, something changed. I was reminded of how much a concert at an intimate venue like the Brudenell was about so much more than music. The smell of the smoke machine, glorious singing of the crowd around me and the giddy smile on the face of Noble all accompanied the chugging synth chords and gritty snare hits on well-chosen opener Are We Having Any Fun Yet?. It’s not an overly ambitious track beyond the vocalised chorus, but was a great singing warm up for a crowd that was clearly just as desperate as me for the full concert experience once again.

Something Beautiful was good enough to raise a small forest of iPhone cameras and get pockets of the crowd leaping

For the most part Noble was able to match that feeling that something special was taking place. He could have perhaps chosen more profound first words than “what the fuck, Leeds?!”, but given the circumstances, I think it was justified. He continued to spend much of the night in a mostly unsuccessful attempt to make sense of it all, often just standing in awe at the adoring 400-strong sellout crowd in front of him. Drummer Matt Williams – who put in one of the night’s standout performances on the climax of Pieces – also seemed to take a few moments during his breaks to stand up and simply look at the crowd, hands behind his head in disbelief. It got to a point where the band’s shy feelings of being overwhelmed slightly overshadowed the performance, with Noble at one point insisting that he keep any talk about the big night to a minimum and instead let it be “all about the music”. Sure, the music was fine, but it wasn’t really what I’d come for.

Perhaps inevitably given all the pent-up energy in the room, it was the band’s more danceable numbers that proved the biggest hits. Not Enough Love and Something Beautiful – the latter placed surprisingly early in the set list – were good enough to raise a small forest of iPhone cameras and get pockets of the crowd leaping to the twinkly keyboard riffs and hooky choruses. However, it wasn’t until romping Hit and Run clattered into gear that all of Hyde Park seemed to become airborne, chanting the primal “oh oh” riff like some frenetic indie pop cult. It’s the band’s best song as far as I’m concerned, and an extended instrumental section was more than welcome.

I’d forgotten the feeling of jumping in sync with a few hundred others so that it feels like it’s the world that’s bouncing and we’re just floating

The slower, drumless songs often seemed to lack the commitment to really make an impact. A few non-descript ballads faded in and out of view and if + when would have been even less memorable than the studio recording had Noble not confidently stepped away from the mic at one point only to find there wasn’t really anyone singing along. It wasn’t that the slower sections didn’t have potential, but they did end up feeling a little rushed. Perhaps understandably Larkins were keen to get back to their modest collection of sure-fire crowd-pleasers on a night of celebration.

The big limiter of the night was the set length. Just an hour after starting the band made a prompt exit with little warning, having blasted out their hit single TV Dream. One second Noble was discussing the band’s new clothing line, the next he was blowing air kisses and heading off at 10 so as not to miss his bedtime. The crowd stood for a minute or two wondering “is this it?” before the overhead lights clicked on and we all slightly disappointedly shuffled back out to the car park. Sure, the band is still relatively new and October’s upcoming album will likely lengthen the set list, but on the night it felt like more could have been done to pad things out and make space for at least a one song encore. Even a few well-chosen covers would have been much preferable to the unremarkable and distinctly underwhelming finish at the Brudenell.

Even if my night was to finish with a long wait for the train home, the whole experience was worth it to prove the theory that music just sounds better live. More accurately, it feels better live – I’d forgotten the feeling of finding some stranger rubbing their arms against my back as they leap to the sound of the big choruses, or the feeling of jumping in sync with a few hundred others so that it feels like it’s the world that’s bouncing and we’re just floating. For such a new band on such a high pressure occasion, Larkins put in a great shift and – for the most part – gave the eager crowd a night to remember. It’s just a shame about the merch pricing.

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