Yungblud brings electrifying Idols World Tour to Leeds Arena – review
Words and photos by DAVE LAWRENCE
YUNGBLUD’S highly awaited Idols World Tour made a stop in Leeds on Friday, delivering a captivating show where the Yorkshire-raised performer combined raw emotion with explosive energy for an outstanding evening.
While the headliner himself delivered an excellent performance, both opening acts – The Molotovs and The Warning – delivered impressive sets that made the night truly memorable.
Doncaster-born Yungblud – whose birth name is Dominic Harrison – strode onto the stage to join his band, dressed in low-hanging leather trousers that defied gravity, a waistcoat, and dark sunglasses, and launched into the anthemic Hello Heaven, Hello, immediately getting the crowd moving with his athletic movements, driving beats and passionate singing.
During the performance, several cannons fired white confetti over the audience as Yungblud, arms spread wide in a Christ-like pose, welcomed his fans into his universe.
His acrobatic jumps energised the crowd, and midway through the song he removed his waistcoat and sunglasses before climbing onto the drum platform, splashing himself with water from a bottle and facing the screen behind him, which displayed the enthusiastic audience watching him.
The vocalist maintained his commanding stage presence during The Funeral with rock-star swagger turned all the way up. Unfortunately, the third track, Idols Pt.1, was cut short as Yungblud led the band offstage while staff attended to a medical emergency in the audience.
The group returned twenty minutes later and resumed the concert with Lovesick Lullaby.
The sheer physicality of Yungblud’s stage presence – blending elements of prime Jagger and Iggy Pop (mainly the latter) – was occasionally exhausting to witness, and he likely needed the brief pauses to thank the crowd and express his affection for them to recover his breath.
The collaboration with Aerosmith, My Only Angel, included flame throwers that heated up the already warm audience. As has become customary, during fleabag, an audience member – Charlie from Hartlepool – was brought onstage to play guitar during the song.
The keyboard-driven Black Sabbath ballad Changes, which Yungblud famously covered at the final Sabbath concert at Villa Park last July, provided everyone with a break from the relentless tempo with its melancholic, reflective lyrics.
Ghosts had the vocalist channeling Roger Daltrey with his microphone swinging as he bounded across the stage before Zombie and Suburban Requiem.
Earlier in the evening, Monterrey’s The Warning delivered a hard-rocking performance that perfectly prepared the audience for the headliner. The group, consisting of sisters Daniela, Paulina and Alejandra Villarreal Vélez, were genuinely excellent with Ritual, Kerosene and Disciple standing out as the best tracks. They’ll be headlining venues of this size themselves before long.
The Molotovs, fresh from an energetic set at Stockton Calling earlier this month, opened the show. Teenage siblings Matt and Issey Cartlidge on guitar and bass – with drums from Noah Riley – delivered an exciting blend of mod and punk. They possess strong stage presence, plenty of attitude, and a collection of memorable songs on their debut album, Wasted On Youth. Catch them if you get the opportunity.