Live Review: The Night Cafe - The Wardrobe, Leeds 01/10/2018

Having sold out The Wardrobe, it is clear that The Night Café have certainly earned a following over their time, with a queue of young fans reaching the end of the road eagerly awaiting doors to open.

As first support, Plaza came out ready to put on a show. With not one but two stage dives during their set, lead vocalist Bradley Lennard was an explosion of energy on stage. With plenty of hair flips and guitar swings, their high energy stage presence leaked into the crowd forming mosh pits. Its no wonder that Plaza have been invited back after supporting The Night Café on their January 2018 tour, with their huge ability to warm up a crowd from the off.

Chappaqua Wrestling were next up with much softer melodies and emotive lyrics. An interesting combination as the band regularly interchanged between acoustic and electric guitars showing their versatility at playing different styles of music which all tied together well as their own unique sound.

The Night Café stormed through their set with a quiet confidence that showed that their support tour experience with bands such as The Wombats has certainly paid off. Regularly engaging with the audience was drummer Carl Dillon teased in his deep scouse accent ‘Wow you guys might be the rowdiest crowd so far this tour!’

Within their set the band took the audience through fast pace songs such as ‘Mixed Signals’, which found the crowd dancing and head banging, then slowing it right down for ‘Addicted’. This dreamy expanse of lyrics invited the crowd to sway along and take a moment to appreciate those around them. With hints of an album appearing next year, the band showcased some new songs, full of the same infectious guitar infused melodies that The Night Café are notoriously known for. These songs were very well received amongst the audience, with an array of phone torches lighting up the room, proving that The Night Café don’t need an arena tour to create a huge atmosphere at their shows, although it surely will not be long before larger venues become a reality.

Words and Photography by Rebecca Cribb