Live
SHEAFS
Lending Room, Leeds
April 8 2017
Words/Pictures: Danny Shackleton
Hands up if you’ve ever seen a bad This Feeling line-up? No, I thought not. Once again, the guys at This Feeling come up trumps with a brilliant night at what is one of my favourites in Leeds, the Lending Room. From start to finish, the atmosphere was one of excitement and intrigue for an excellent assortment of bands - Sugarmen, Strange Bones also on bill - all of whom wowed the crowd with powerful sets and engaging antics, on, and off, the stage.
Little Infie were there primarily to catch SHEAFS, winners of Virgin Radio’s Freshfest17, they kicked off proceedings with the first song in an almost entirely new set, as they told us in our recent interview [see here] they had planned. Straight away on 'Sheeba Shake' it was clear to see the energy flowing through each member of this terrific live band, with lead singer Lawrence Feenstra covering every inch of the stage and truly getting the crowd going.
Firing through each song it was clear to see that they’ve left the old, almost Arctic Monkeys sound behind and have developed their own loud, punk-vibe groove which filled the room and had everyone’s attention. Despite the title of one of their older songs 'Nobody’s Watching', everyone absolutely was watching them blitz the stage, mesmerised by their venomous sound. In fact, said song contains an epic bass solo that sounds even more massive live than it does on record.
To further credit the skills of frontman Lawrence and show what he adds to the live experience, at one point during ‘I Wanna Show You What I Mean’ became one half of the drumming unit, picking up a drumstick and crashing the cymbals in time with the song which added another level to the sound which sonically went down a storm from my point of view.
New single ‘Mind Pollution’ showed the creativity and admirable songwriting skills of this band and fitted perfectly in the set and quickly found fan approval. The curtain closed with ‘I Need You’ and left everyone, especially me, wanting more. We almost did when the song was introduced with there being two songs left which got everyone's hopes up, however the mistake was quickly realised when Lawrence sheepishly had to 'fess up to there being just one more before lights off.
Nevertheless, it was clear from the start that SHEAFS have developed into an enthralling live act with a crop of brilliant songs to boot and I for one cannot wait to see how they progress. The next time they come anywhere near Leeds, I will be first in the queue for tickets as I crave the energy these possess - and possess in vast amounts. Get used to this band because you are going to be hearing a lot of them in the very near future.
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