Yard Act bring requests and rapid rhymes to Bristol
Words & Photos: Images by Ellis
★★★★★
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Early evening on a Wednesday, a record-shop appearance could easily have felt like another promotional obligation. Instead, Yard Act’s 6pm album-launch show at Rough Trade Bristol became a warm, funny and pleasingly unpredictable hour before a sold-out, 200-strong crowd. The band was seemingly happy to play almost whatever was shouted at them.
Photo: Images by Ellis
With five musicians squeezed onto the small stage. This was the full band in a slightly stripped-back form. There was no conventional drum kit, with Jay Russell using electronic pads and samples instead, while bassist Ryan Needham remained seated. Alongside the magnificently moustachioed Sam Shipstone on guitar, Christopher Duffin added keys and saxophone.
Rather than follow a rigid setlist, frontman James Smith repeatedly invited requests from the room. ‘Tall Tales’ got things underway, followed by ‘Talky Talky People’, before the title track from new album ‘You’re Gonna Need A Little Music’ brought a skippy indie-dance bounce and more than a hint of Pulp.
Smith was warm, talkative and immediately likeable, yet the casual atmosphere disguised the verbal gymnastics involved. His astonishingly fast and lengthy passage during ‘Thrill Of The Chase’ was greeted with cheers, as much for remembering all the words as for delivering them with such precision.
The surprisingly tender ‘Janey Said’ was another highlight, showing how far Yard Act have expanded beyond the clipped post-punk formula of their early records. Its reflective tone was followed by ‘100% Endurance’ and the bright ‘New Beginnings’. A request for the brief and frantic ‘Witness (Can I Get A?)’ also made the cut, taking things into early Fall territory.
The loveliest moment of the early evening came during ‘Redeemer’. Spotting a young boy attending his first gig with his dad at the front, Smith asked his name, dedicated the song to him and promptly christened him “Rory the Rocker”. Rory received one of the biggest cheers of the show.
The funny and sharply observed early favourite ‘Fixer Upper’ followed, before ‘Over The Barrel’, the final track on the new album, brought the set to a close. The band then left the stage, telling the crowd they were heading to their favourite Bristol eatery, Chilli Daddy, to refuel before their second show of the day.
Informal without being under-rehearsed and stripped back without losing its energy, this felt less like a conventional album launch than an enjoyable conversation between Yard Act and their fans. It also showed that beneath the dense wordplay and social commentary lies a band with warmth - and an apparently bottomless memory for lyrics.