Live Review: Circa Waves @ O2 Academy, Leeds

Photo Credit: Lily Ajaib

Liverpool indie-rock group CIRCA WAVES launched their 2025 with a massive UK tour to commemorate the release of their brand-new album, ‘Death & Love, Pt. 1‘, just two weeks after it was unveiling. Their set included a number of songs from the new album, along with a number of crowd favourites to delight both new and old fans. The line-up has the potential to be among the greatest of 2025 already, especially with two solid support acts that accompanied them.

The Yorkshire city is very familiar with Manchester quartet CORELLA. This was their biggest Leeds show to date, following successful runs at Live at Leeds in the City, a last-minute headline show at The Key Club, and their sold-out show at Stylus in the last two years. The audience was already crammed against the walls and soaking up every second of their performance, which began with ‘Drifting‘. All four of the boys were beaming as the audience joined in on the chorus of ‘Lady Messiah‘, with the crowd illuminated by the lights. Frontman Joel Smith jumped into the mosh pit for the grand finale, with the Leeds crowd showing no prisoners during ‘Barcelona Girl‘. CORELLA are truly back on the map for 2025.

Following a five-year hiatus, PEACE made a triumphant comeback to the live circuit in 2023, and their return to Leeds was met with a very pleasant reaction. The sombre lighting, which opened with ‘Bloodshake‘, was perfect for the band’s moodier sound. However, the band didn’t waste any time in pushing through their set, bowing out to ‘1998 (Delicious)‘ after fan favourites ‘Lovesick‘ and ‘Good Jeans‘ were equally as well received across the room.

CIRCA WAVES came to turn things up a notch after two outstanding opening acts. ‘Do You Wanna Talk‘, a favourite amongst their fans, kicked off the show and everyone joined in immediately, with the stage lighting shining bright, the first track’s energy was unaffected. Tracks from their new album included ‘Lets Leave Together‘ and ‘Like You Did Before‘ came back-to-back early in the set list, with a pair from ‘Sad Happy‘ shortly followed to give lovers of all their material something to shout about.

The Liverpool quartet wasted no time in resuming their incredible performance after expressing gratitude to the capacity crowd for their ongoing support. Before moving into the last portion of their set, two more tracks from their new album were played: ‘We Made It‘ and ‘La Bateu‘. As the performance was coming to a close, the audience grew even more energised for ‘Be Your Drug‘ and the true summertime hit ‘T-Shirt Weather‘ brought CIRCA WAVES‘ triumphant return to Yorkshire to a close.