Like other UK and Irish bands that are currently driving a post-punk revival – Fontaines D.C., Dry Cleaning, Wet Leg and others – Yard Act use spoken-word delivery as their music’s defining characteristic, be it about mundane observations or allusions to the roots of Brexit Britain. But the Leeds band, one of the scene’s fresher faces, are the sharpest of the bunch so far, with humour and gravity in healthy symbiosis.
On Thursday at Village Underground, they had their playful frontman James Smith to thank for engaging tirelessly with the crowd at the quartet’s biggest headline show to date. Smith’s energy helped bring characters from the band’s 2022 debut album The Overload to life. His between-song assertions, such as “we can change the world with a show”, also helped drum up feelings of a small revolution.
It was a joy to watch multiple fans shout “Graham”, the name of the xenophobic property developer chronicled in Yard Act’s breakthrough 2020 single Fixer Upper. A grin spread across Smith’s face as he realised that fans were a step ahead of him in barking the lyrics back.
Warrington-raised Smith, who wore a Parka-style coat and swigged beer like he was Liam Gallagher, may have been the night’s obvious star performer, but that would do his bandmates a disservice. Bassist Ryan Needham, drummer Jay Russell and guitarist Sam Shjipstone were tight throughout – necessary for the taut mechanics of their whipsmart punk (Witness) and indie disco stompers (Pour Another, Dead Horse).
When the band let loose more, such as for the outros to Tall Poppies and Rich, beefy basslines vibrated rib cages and guitar feedback screeched eardrums, instilling more visceral reactions. Songs featuring all four members singing or spitting slogans (Witness, Rich) sounded best live, adding meat to the band’s typically skeletal bass-and-beats creations.
Some of the slower songs, such as Dark Days EP track Peanuts, trundled along too much. That wasn’t helped by Smith’s invitation for fans to come onstage to recite the song’s poem (about a wife killing her husband via a peanut allergy), resulting in varying degrees of success.
The Overload, which heard Smith rattle off overheard pub ramblings, including boomers criticising younger generations, was the set highlight. Its propulsive pulse, pitch-perfect group singing and knotty guitar hooks dug deep, sparking the biggest reaction, and mosh pit, of the evening.
“Live in the moment,” Smith remarked as the set neared its end, before adding in typically deadpan fashion: “But don’t forget that a bunch of c***s are running the country.” Cheers erupted. Perhaps he was right that live music has the power to incite change. Yard Act are promising agitators.
