Gig review of Cold War Kids + The Mae Shi + Dananananaykroyd + King Creosote + Abe Vigoda + Wintersleep

This was the second date of the travelling Stag and Dagger event, featuring a whole heap of music crammed into a variety of renowned live venues around Leeds. The previous night was held in London and judging by the buzz on the internet, it seemed to be a very good night. For £15 (or £10 if you were eager), the amount of talent on show was well worth the price of entry.

There had been some negative views aired about multiple venue events in Leeds after the major queues seen not so long ago at the "Live at Leeds" event but from what I saw, there were no queues in sight for Stag and Dagger and whilst some venues were undoubtedly crowded, you could always enter and exit freely without being held up in a queue.

Despite the wristbands arriving at the collection point later than scheduled, causing a bit of a fuss, and the highly inevitable and somewhat depressing clashes which were always going to happen, the event ran very smoothly and I for one, was very impressed.

I began my night, along with many others it would seem, in TJ's Woodhouse Club to catch an early set from Wintersleep. It was still light outside but that didn't stop people from packing out TJ's to the brim. Wintersleep were very strong and to my visual pleasure, there were instrument swaps. Oh yes! It was a shame they only had 30 minutes to perform because I was really enjoying their music.

I left TJ's (pint: still in hand) and headed towards The Library Pub where The Manhattan Love Suicides were due to perform at 7pm. A tragedy struck though as when I arrived, I was informed that there was no entry until 7.15pm. There was no time to wait; I had music to listen to! I went back to TJ's to watch Abe Vigoda instead who were very good indeed. It wasn't as busy as it was for Wintersleep, that's for sure, but they played a very strong set and after the applause had died down following their final song, I wandered through Hyde Park and onto the Brudenell Social Club.

On my way, I seemed to pass a lot of people in the guise of fancy dress; a clown, a policewoman, and someone who looked like Vera Duckworth. There was no time to muse on this though as King Creosote was taking stage shortly. Inside the venue it was hot (as always) and the noisy crowd soon hushed to hear the Scottish songwriter perform. A captivating performance ensued and when it was all over, calls for more were banded around. King Creosote made people pay attention and the audience were very appreciative towards him and his band.

Dananananaykroyd were next with their break dancing antics and their friendly round of hugs at the end of their set. There seems to be a lot of hype around this band at the moment but on reflection, did this performance really reflect the hype? I'll let you decide.

A walk through Hyde Park again to a now packed TJ's Woodhouse Club, awaiting the arrival of The Mae Shi. The floor was notably drenched with beer and the crowd were very vocal towards the band. I was however disappointed by them slightly after their arguably fairly average performance. A novelty parachute covering the crowed was a nice bonus feature though.

To wrap up the evening of live music, Cold War Kids appeared on stage and played to a full house. Having not seen them live since 2007, I was slightly surprised to see that their live show had not progressed much since then but still, they were very tight together and were a decent way to round off a night of very good music.

All that remained was to head to the Faversham and enjoy the remaining DJ's for the night. I'll look forward to seeing if this event happens again next year. I personally sure hope so.