Photo Credit: Joe Oates
Earlestown quartet THE K’S made a triumphant return to The Leadmill as part of its final run of shows, putting on not one but two thrilling performances to give one of the UK’s most iconic venues the send off it truly deserves.
In less than a minute, the band sold out the first date, and they quickly added a second gig to meet capacity once more. With only three weeks’ notice given for the shows, the dust had finally settled, and THE K’S made presence truly known. By 9pm, the room was packed, and with just 15 minutes to warm the crowd up, songs such as ‘Red Smoke‘ by The Reytons and ‘Not Nineteen Forever‘ by the Courteeners blasted through the speakers, allowing them to sing their hearts out ahead of the main event. As soon as the room turned to darkness though, the cheers broke out.
The band stepped out from the wing one by one, prepared for a night of both celebration and mourning. The entire venue exploded as ‘Gravestone‘ was unleashed. Already a clear favourite among their fan base, the new opener was the perfect way to get the ball rolling.
‘Icarus‘ followed shortly after and ‘Chancer‘ raised the bar set by the Saturday night crowd. Once ‘Hoping Maybe‘ came around, a sea of people on shoulders filled the venue, while the band couldn’t contain their smiles for what they were witnessing. The crowd sang along to every word with their phone torches lighting up The Leadmill once again. Further fan favourites ‘Glass Towns‘ and ‘Circles‘ kept their audience engaged all the way through to ‘Black and Blue‘. Circling back to their newest material, ‘The Bends (Here We Go Again)‘ has swiftly gained popularity since its release, which the Sheffield crowd wasn’t afraid to display on the night.
Now into the finale portion of the show, ‘Aurora‘ set up the bands’ debut track ‘Sarajevo‘. Once again, the crowd gave it a festival main stage vibe with their boisterous singing and dancing. THE K’S then brought it down to a more solemn level as they concluded with ‘Helen Oh I‘ before departing the iconic Leadmill with huge smiles on their faces, as they have always done with every performance.
Taped Magazine 