Blog

Day Sleeper: An Emerging Leith Band Worth Following

Day Sleeper performed at The Attic in Leeds on Wednesday, supported by Leeds-based Cherry Seraph and Lines of Flight. For my first visit to The Attic in Leeds, this was a thoroughly enjoyable couple of hours to bring a long mid-week day to an end. The opening support act was the soloist Cherry Seraph, and she opened the night with a lovely ethereal atmosphere. I only arrived to see the very end of the set, but this was long enough to get a sense of the interesting sounds they

Music

abyates05

2 days ago3 min read

Commendable New Rover Efforts in the Loss to Rawdon

New Rover 1st XI show great concentration and resilience despite losing at home to Rawdon 1st XI by 136 runs. After winning the toss, Rawdon chose to bat first. In fact, it was the first time I had seen a team elect to bat this season, an indicator of the pleasant June conditions. Clearly this was a good decision, and a strong upper-order batting performance saw Rawdon score 296 runs. This was a big score but there wasn’t anything wrong with New Rover’s bowling or fielding. W

Cricket

abyates05

6 days ago2 min read

Hamilton as a First West End Musical Experience

A hip-hop score to draw anyone in I had heard rave reviews of Hamilton in common discourse but no-one had ever explained why the show is so good. Having now seen the West End production for myself, I now understand the reason for its popularity. The music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda make the show incredibly contemporary and give an intensity beyond more classical balladic musicals. Of course there are many ensemble sections for emphasis and all the vocal range one expect

abyates05

Jun 142 min read

Fabulous French Folk in Farsley

A relaxing evening with Stanley Brinks and Freschard at The Old Woolen This gig was like nothing else in its truly relaxing and intimate atmosphere. Similar to a pub with some live music on, those of us in the audience sat around a pleasant, casual arrangement of tables. Up on stage, Stanley Brinks, très cool in his green bucket hat and round glasses, began on the acoustic guitar. Meanwhile, his musical partner, Freschard was a picture of contentment with gin in hand between

Music

abyates05

Jun 102 min read

Yorkshire's Bowling Attack Builds on Bairstow's Brilliance

Yorkshire beat Lancashire by 106 runs in the T20 Vitality Blast at Headingley Yorkshire started fast in bat, with Adam Lyth hitting 20 runs off 7 balls before being caught in the deep by Ben McDermot off the bowling of Tom Aspinwall. The captain, Johnny Bairstow accelerated to 50 from 32 balls and finished at 73 off 44 balls. Alongside some quick ones and twos, there was of course some big hitting from him. By the 9th over he was playing pretty much everything, hitting two sc

Cricket

abyates05

Jun 72 min read

Leeds fire up in the second half

An entertaining comeback win for the Rhinos against the Saints Despite Leeds scoring the first points with a penalty kick and spending most of the time in the opposition half, it was Saint Helens who came out on top at the end of the first half. Both teams found a try through the middle, but Saints found one on either wing too. The most impressive of these came when Tristan Sailor touched down on a pin point grubber kick from Jack Welsby to the left corner. The biggest prob

Rugby

abyates05

Jun 52 min read

A review of Yellow Days

Almost a great night at The Brudenell Prior to Yellow Days arriving on stage, there was a bizarre but certainly intriguing support set from Brian Nasty and his friend Isadora. They produce some high-quality vocal interactions over pre-recorded music, presumably created by the band they usually perform with. Nasty provided the majority of lyrics through a combination of rap and spoken word, while Isadora held many of the songs together with well-sung backing vocals. Neverthele

abyates05

May 102 min read

The Battle of the Bands Final 2026

A celebration of student music in York. Wednesday 25th March saw weeks of competition culminate in an enjoyable and varied evening in town at The Crescent Community Venue. All four bands remaining in the competition were certainly talented. They all brought something slightly different and gave it their all in their thirty-minute slots. In running order, The Expression was haunting, Wisteria more rock’n’roll, and B**chcraft more moody. Then the winner, A Man Is Scared gave a

Music

abyates05

May 32 min read

A tough afternoon's hockey for Ben Rhydding’s men

Sunday 30th October 2022 Ben Rhydding faced their biggest challenge of their season so far, when they went to play top of the table side Leeds, away at Weetwood. Despite Ben Rhydding’s strong start to the season, it was 2-nil to Leeds within the first 5 minutes and by the end of the first half the score had reached 5-nil. Nevertheless, Ben Rhydding did create a few chances of their own in the first half, notably when striker Charlie Smith came up one-on-one with the Leeds kee

Hockey

abyates05

Oct 30, 20221 min read

Ben Rhydding kick of their campaign in Men’s Conference North with a hard fought win again Wakefield

Sunday 25th September 2022 The Report Ben Rhydding started on the front foot, building momentum from the off. It took only a matter of minutes for number 14 to open the account for the season, after a deflection to the edge of the D. The strike was hard and precise, giving the keeper no chance. One-nil almost became two moments later, but the ball caught a Ben Rhydding foot just before the goal line. Unfortunately, Wakefield then made it level in a fast move that saw the ball

Hockey

abyates05

Sep 26, 20222 min read