2025 in gigs and things

For years we haven't been out to much in the way of live music and shows—just a few things here and there. But as the boys have grown up a bit and life has calmed down at least a little, we started to make up for it this year.

• Cory Wong, 15th Feb, Manchester Academy. It's Cory Wong. He's one of my favourite musicians and his band is the toppest of notch. Great night all round.
• Hamilton, 1st March, Alhambra Theatre, Bradford. I've wanted to see Hamilton for years. We'd planned to see it in London for my 40th, but that was 2020 and, well, y'know. This was the UK & Ireland tour, and it didn't disappoint.
• Illuminated Orchestra, 12th March, Leeds Minster. Selections from movie scores, in a big church, with fancy lighting.
• Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds, 3rd April, Leeds Arena. When I was a kid a I would lie on my back under the table at the back of our living room with headphones on listening to my Dad's double-LP. I loved it then, and I love it now. Seeing the live show really highlighted the cheesiness of the whole affair, in such a good way. Still conducted by Jeff Wayne; his conducting seemed to mostly involve him having a wee bop around in front of the strings, doing his thing with aplomb. Go, Jeff.
• Six, 12th April, Alhambra Theatre, Bradford. Not a show that I had on my list to see. Some friends suggested we grab cheap seats, and I'm glad they did. It's great.
• ArtForms Showcase, 1st July, Leeds Arena. Younger son joined the Leeds Youth Jazz Rock Orchestra this year, in time to be included in the biannual arena gig to show off all the ArtForms groups. (ArtForms is one of the organisations that delivers music and arts work in Leeds. I think there's some association with the city council.) The whole evening was joyous. The standard of performance was really high, but you can't not love hundreds of kids (from about 8 years old to 18) having a ball performing in the arena.
• Jazz Junction, 6th July, Old Woollen, Leeds. Another LYJRO gig, in a much more intimate venue. There were a couple of other acts on, too. Good fun.
• Eilidh Patterson, 26th July, Seven Arts, Leeds. Acoustic folk from an old friend of my wife. Nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
• Stranger Things: The First Shadow, 5th August, Phoenix Theatre, London. We're all Stranger Things fans in this house, but younger son especially. This was a trip down to London for his birthday. The show was so much better than I expected. I wasn't sure going in how interested I would be in the prequel aspect, but it worked really well. The play itself was engrossing, the whole production was super, and while it's not essential viewing for the main storyline it fed nicely into season 5 of the TV show.
• To Kill a Mockingbird, 20th September, Leeds Playhouse. A last-minute trip out the two of us. This was Aaron Sorkin's 2018 adaptation. If this tours anywhere near you, I highly recommend it.
• Cardinal Black, 17th October, Stylus, Leeds. Fairly traditional blues rock. I'm not a big fan of their records—they're not bad, just alright to me—but they put on a great show live. The guitar player, Chris Buck, has a fairly prominent YouTube channel, and he's very good. So are the rest of the band, though.
• Counting Crows, 26th October, O2 Academy, Leeds. Well. I've been listening to Counting Crows since I was a teenager, and I've seen them live a lot, but this is the first time in quite a few years. A nice mix of old favourites and tunes from the most recent album. As we were leaving I overheard some moaning about them getting old and not being up to it anymore. I didn't think that was fair; the whole show did have an air of a few more miles on the clock, but it still worked for me.
• Brian Houston, 1st November, Seven Arts, Leeds. Someone else I've been listening to since I was in my teens. Brian Houston is one of the artists I always come back to. The afternoon flew by, with a nice wee chat by the merch table afterwards. And the venue's just round the corner from us, so altogether winning.
• Hans Zimmer Live, 23rd November, Leeds Arena. Younger son aspires to being the next Hans Zimmer. Of course we went to this. And it was incredible. The music and the musicianship, as you'd expect, but the whole production was mesmerising.
• Winter Voices, 1st December, Pudsey Civic Centre, Leeds. Another ArtForms gig, with a Christmas flavour. This one was mainly school choirs, plus LYJRO again. I do enjoy these.
• A Christmas Carol, 19th December, Leeds Playhouse. I've mixed about this. The show was enjoyable, but I'm not that much of a fan of the story. Still, a good night out with friends.