In light of recent events, a Friday night gig under The Leadmill’s luminous signage is likely something to be cherished for posterity, so it felt fitting that last Friday (1 March), a stacked lineup of Sheffield bands fulfilled their rite of passage and stomped around the 30-odd-year-old Leadmill boards for the evening (yes, the boards have probably been replaced once or twice in that time, but you take the point).
With apologies to Flat Stanley, who I arrived too late for (although I have it on good authority that they were great!), it was heartening to witness a crowd in The Leadmill go mental to some of Sheffield’s finest current crop of guitar-based, high-energy merchants.
Headlined by Femur, the sold-out night in the small room was put together by the band themselves and local promoter Jarred Up and showcased other local faves Django Jones and the Mystery Men and Any Old Iron.
As I arrive, Django Jones’ Will Tomlinson flexes and prowls the stage before eventually abandoning it all together to join the crowd and stoke the barely contained mosh pit’s early embers. With the fuse lit, Any Old Iron simply need to strike a few chords to reignite it.
I’ve seen Any Old Iron a coupla times before and, while I’ve rated previous shows at Yellow Arch, for me, tonight sees them seriously take it up a notch.
Blasting out more songs than their bass player could fit under his little cowboy hat, Any Old Iron’s shaggy-haired, moustachioed frontman commands the crowd with a mix of aloofness and jerky energy that I don’t remember seeing at previous shows. It’s good stuff! An excellent entrée.
I always seem to bump into Femur’s lead singer and all-round top human, Felix Renshaw, before a Femur show, and they always give off a barely contained nervous energy in these chats.
Still, they assure me they’re looking forward to the gig and, interestingly, to playing some new tracks – though they’re a little worried about forgetting the words, given the whole thing is being filmed. It’s also their birthday, which I didn’t realise at the time, so happy 27th, Felix!
As it turns out, Felix needn’t have harboured any nerves, and they, in particular, are on sparkling form this evening, swinging from the rafters and trust-falling into the crowd like they’re on an anarchist corporate away day!
It’s been a little while since I last caught Femur live, and I’d almost forgotten just how special they are. They are, in my humble opinion, the best in the city at what they do – and that’s no shade on other bands of similar ilk, or even those on tonight’s bill – it’s just a very high bar they’re setting.
You feel in safe hands with Femur. There’s trust established there. They’re going to drag you along for the ride, which musically, tends to be the long way round.
Within the same song, you’ll face moments of doomy metal drone that suddenly explode into monster dance beats, as drummer Danny Cox flings open his hi-hat. Catchy 4/4, almost indie choruses collapse into mesmerising, snake charmer-esque, Balkan-inflected riffs. It’s a trip, man! And whether Felix likes it or not, it’s groovy music!
Big tunes, like ‘I Don’t Like’ (above) and ‘Comeback Kid’, rightly get the crowd response they deserve, but the new stuff is met with the same enthusiasm. All stage-managed by Felix (at one point, they even coax the majority of the crowd, including me and my weathered knees, to squat down), a good portion of the near-300-strong crowd spend the entire evening in the pit that fans out nearly as far as the sound desk.
Whether it’s the knowledge that this might never happen quite like this again or the irrepressible magic of Femur, this has been a bloody good time.
