Lets Rock Leeds 2015 Review: Bigger and better...with added sun!

Lets Rock returned to Leeds, bigger and better than ever on Saturday and even the Yorkshire sun came out to witness the oddest and greatest of the 1980’s to Temple Newsham.

Rick Astley was identified as a clear favourite from early on, his boyish charm clearly not diminished and not lost of the hoardes of now middle aged women who would later castoff their bras in the general direction of Mr Astley.

Tom Bailey however – erstwhile leader of the Thompson Twins – headlined with his new incarnation of the band. This was his first appearance in the city since 1983 ( the Quickstep and Sidekick tour at Leeds Uni fact fans)and the closest thing to a home town gig since for the Halifax born front man. A small but curious crowd initially gathered as the band came on to an instrumental take of We Are Detective – thereby ensuring that this wasn’t going to be one of the few genuine hits in the set tonight. The Thompson Twins never really capitalised on the short run of hits in 1983/4 and although their live shows at that time were spectacular they never won that mass audience appeal, arguably they never craved it. This would explain the long absence, but for those that stayed after the Rick phenomenon and those that slowly crept back, ears pricked by the opening notes of Love On Your Side, this was a rare and interesting treat.

In The Name of Love opened the set, those high pitch notes are irresistible, it’s a classic and as retro is the order of the day it ticks that box magnificently. Minor twins hits, it has to be said, do no transfer well to 2015, Sister of Mercy and Lay Your Hands on Me sound weak and though the performance is faultless, the songs lack any hooklines in the public’s consciousness.  An industrial backdrop to You Take Me Up signals the beginning of the run in that sees Doctor Doctor! revive the crowd, and just in time too. Hold Me Now, remains a true 80’s classic, still sounds relevant today and is one of those rare songs that really did and does still have that mass appeal, the crowd singing almost lovingly over the intro, a true epic, the chorus being sung long after the band finished, long after the band had left, infact, most of the way back to the car park.

Tom was genuinely touched by the reaction of the crowd, milking the applause, rightly so but please Tom, not another 32 years….

The day started in the drizzle at noon with perennial sunshine merchants, Bucks Fizz, well three quarters of anyway, who despite the seemingly unsocial hour attempted get this particular party started with a fair degree of success, a hits laden set, highlight judging by the exaggerated hand movements around us, When We Were Young. Sam Fox channelled 1985 effectively as the male audience members sauntered down. Bless her, I think she thinks it still is 1985 but it’s fun even if the slowed down classic ballad version of Touch Me feels awkward. Thankfully the regular version puts us right.


The Beat – ranking Rodger style – were a revelation, fears that the vocals of Dave Wakeling (himself touring as The English Beat) would be missed too much were greatly misplaced, Rodger, ably accompanied by Roger jnr put on a wicked show that got the whole crowd dancing, in recognition the sun broke out too, there can be no greater accolade. A nod also to slipping Rock the Casbah into the set.. 
Heaven 17, having very seldom played live back in the day have found that (fascist) Groove (thang) now, always a polished set, Temptation the obvious pull but for me the nearly not quite first hit Let Me Go is sublime (especially as Temptation is performed lending more from the 1992 Brothers in Rhythm mix


Jive Bunny, what can you say – my 15 month old son loved them, well the big bunny anyway as he had his noise cancelling headphones on. Sonia wins the award for shortest dress of the day and most knicker flashes since Susanna Reids first days on Good Morning Britain…. That’s to take nothing away from the pint sized pop princess who supplements her own back catalogue with some solid gold hits, Betty Boos set is short but sweet, and perfect to watch and listen to while queuing for a wood fired pizza I find. Where Are You Baby is a perfect example of late 80’s (well actually 1990) girl pop rap that was so successful.




T’pau have never really stopped, since those heady days of 87/88 Carol has toured the band in one form or another and as she told us in our recent interview with her, she still loves performing those songs, seeing the crowd sing them back. Another faultless, though all too brief performance crowned with a mass China In Your Hands singalong. Check out their new album if you ever had any love at all for the band, classic T’pau for 2015. Five Star are always a big draw whenever they play up here in the North as it seems to happen so infrequently. A huge hit catalogue, slick dance routines, whats not to love, Rain Or Shine, Cant Wait Another Minute, The Slightest Touch, Systematic, it never dropped and this was another set that just needed another 10 minutes or so.

I never get the impression Midge Ure enjoys these kind of things, I always get the impression he would rather be playing obscure Slik b-sides with oodly guitar bits rather than Loves Great Adventure, Hymn or even indeed the sublime Fade To Grey (which he wrote for / as part of Visage). That said, the consummate pro, just lacking that bit of 80’s fun, go on smile Midge…  Here’s a quick question for you, has there ever been an 80’s festival at which Go west haven’t played, are the contractually obliged to appear everywhere. Has to be said I have become ambivalent to them and their cover of Sex on Fire. I appreciate they have a legion of fans who let the record show, enjoyed it.

And so we are back to Rick Astley, the common consensus around me was that he should have been headlining, I guess scarcity value saw Tom get that gig, not that Rick will have been bothered, a more self-depreciating pop star cannot exist. He knows how to entertain and if that’s at his expense he doesn’t care. Add in a healthy sized swag bag of solid gold hits and its winning formula. Anyone who has seen Rick over the last few years will know he has a habit of dropping current or out of character songs into his set, so previously we have had The Smiths and Pharell covers, today, Uptown Funk and a bit of Clean Bandit, the latter proving difficult to sing as Rick swiped his IPad too quickly and lost the lyrics… It has to be said at this point the stage was looking like something from an Ann Summers clearance stall with bras of all shapes landed on the stage. Feigning embarrassment he whimpered “I’m a married man! Before declaring whilst holding one particular item that there “are some big girls in Leeds”. Of course the money shot was Never Gonna Give You Up although Together Forever and Cry For Help were almost equally as well received.

As we left it was confirmed Lets Rock Leeds will return for 2016, we see it as a very welcome addition to Leeds’s rich and varied music landscape and we hope to work with them next year to bring you more interviews, features and deals ahead of showtime. Til then keep an eye on Lets Rock and subscribe to this blog to ensure you don’t miss a thing

Thanks to Steve Haywood for all his assistance.