Gig review: Nothing But Thieves at Millennium Square, Leeds

The lead singer of Essex punks Bad Nerves got it right. Supporting Nothing But Thieves, Bobby Nerves asked the sold- out crowd “Are you excited about seeing the best rock band in the UK?” Also, “Are you excited about seeing the best pop band in the UK? Well, aren’t you lucky, as they’re both here tonight in Nothing But Thieves.”

Southend-on-Sea pop rockers Nothing But Thieves have built a huge following – all willing to part with cash at the merchandise stand if this night in Leeds is anything to go by – with their keyboard-heavy, fuzzy guitar sound, lead singer Connor Mason’s vocals ranging all the way up to falsetto.

Set opener Oh No :: He Said What? sets the scene, keyboard and bass heavy, Mason covering all the vocal bases. Is Everybody Going Crazy? was when the blue touch paper was lit, the crowd, which covered pretty much every age demographic, singing every single last word back.

Millennium Square is a perfect live city centre venue bowl, gradually sloping down to the stage, the only drawback being beefier speakers would have been beneficial, whenever the breeze picked up it felt like the gig would be louder in Holbeck than the Square as the sound was blown off course.

Fortunately, Nothing But Thieves are made of meatier stuff, and impressively reproduced their swirling, stocky studio sound on the stage.

Their new album had hit heady heights in the UK chart and lead single Welcome to the DCC maintained the energy before the instrumental interlude produced some of the heaviest rock of the set.

A lacklustre cover of Pixies’ Where Is My Mind aside, the remainder of the tracks powered through to set closer Amsterdam, the band given no option by the now sufficiently on fire crowd to return and complete matters with I’m Not Made By Design and Overcome.

Sat somewhere between the keyboard sounds of Muse and the driving guitars of Royal Blood, Nothing But Thieves were the perfect foil for the upcoming Sounds of the City season, a number of high profile bookings secured for Leeds city centre throughout the coming weeks, ranging from Paloma Faith to a Manic Street Preachers/Suede double headline coup.