With a plethora of excellent tunes and humorous comments, The Leisure Society put on a great show at The Joiners.
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Celebrating the release of their newest album, Arrivals and Depatures, and also their 10 year anniversary of playing together, The Leisure Society put on an enjoyable show at The Joiners, where they combined their catchy tunes with their humble (and humorous) natures.
Opening with ‘You’ve Got the Universe’, we were introduced to the wonderful live dynamics of this band, as it was so clear how much they enjoyed each other’s company and playing music live together. They maintained an ideal level of crowd interaction in between their songs, without taking away from the focus on the music. Their humorous comments on the seemingly manic drone lights and their confident attitude towards some awkward silences which occurred in the interlude between songs made for a warm, light-hearted feel amongst the band and the crowd.
Alongside these humorous comments, the audience were also given small backstories to some of the songs they performed – I feel these contextual comments about the music that a band plays is so important for a gig, in order for the crowd to fully immerse themselves in the music through knowing the context of the music.
The first aspect I noticed about the crowd was the age range, and the fact that I was probably one of the youngest members of the audience there. I believe this shows how, as a band, they have garnered some loyal fans over their 10-year span, and perhaps have maintained a strong fanbase from Nick Hemming’s previous musical career in the 90s.
A memorable aspect of seeing The Leisure Society live for me was the talented musicianship I was able to witness. With drums, a violin, guitars and the keys, a multitude of wonderful sounds was created and I was in awe with the beautiful harmonies created amongst these instruments and the vocals. A particular favourite of mine was the violin; it’s not often nowadays that you see a band which places much importance on the violin, and it certainly stood out to me as creating the most beautiful sounds which perfectly complemented the rest of the music. This was mostly evident in ‘We Were Wasted’, where the build-up of guitar, drums and strings was so powerful on stage, and the strings had a hauntingly beautiful aspect to them.
A favourite song for me in this gig was ‘A Bird a Bee Humanity’, which had most people in the crowd moving and some singing along. This song is already great on the record, however live there is much more energy and the vocals were certainly more powerful.
The Leisure Society are definitely a band to catch if you have not already, as their talented musicianship and dynamics as a band are truly something special to witness.
Check out the video below for a taste of what to expect at a The Leisure Society gig.
