Living these songs: Lovejoy at Leadmill

There’s a phrase in football that goes: “Can they do it on a night in Stoke?” Maybe a similar question should be asked of indie rock bands: “Can they do it on a Sunday night in Sheffield?”

Lovejoy are probably the biggest band you’ve never heard of: 1,574,00 monthly listeners on Spotify, almost as many as Blossoms or Wolf Alice. But this is their first tour, straight into the second room at Leadmill, selling out in minutes.

So, can they do it on a Sunday night in Sheffield? Walking into the venue, you sense the answer is probably ‘yes’. The excitement is infectious, with the crowd singing and cheering at anyone who walks onstage. Then Lovejoy start and the energy lifts. Cheers get louder, turning to singing as the first song starts. And then...

“We will need some bass.” Yes, there were a few problems – no bass, guitar strings breaking. But it doesn’t break their stride. It just brings the crowd more on-side, and I’m just thinking ‘they’ve got it’. During ‘One Day’, Wilbur stops singing. The crowd shout: “Isn’t life so fucking inconsistent?”, and they’re shouting back with meaning. All our lives are fucking inconsistent. People aren’t just listening to these songs, they’re living these songs.

Not everyone that should be listening to Lovejoy is listening to Lovejoy. The crowd is young – this is their band. But Lovejoy can be shared. If you grew up on indie music – on Two Door Cinema Club, on The Vaccines, on the Arctics – listen to Lovejoy. You won’t regret it. Can they do it on a Sunday night in Sheffield? Obviously. My prediction: Lovejoy will only get bigger, probably by tearing up summer festivals. Next October? They’ll sell out the main stage at Leadmill in minutes. Listen to them now, before everyone else does.