The vast main room of Canal Mills was a great size and felt super slick for hosting Bondax & Friends on Friday night.

The smoking area was adorned with fairy lights and bunting, creating a setting incongruously cute compared with the industrial Holbeck surroundings. It was a shame that the stage was a good four metres from the crowd, as it gave a bit of an ‘us and them’ vibe. On the other hand, the air-conditioning levels were on point, meaning it wasn’t obnoxiously hot like every other club that I’ve visited as a wee fresher.

Karma Kid set a high standard for the night, with his track ‘Man of the Year’ proving popular with the enthusiastic crowd of glittery students.

Bondax altered their usual sound of mid-tempo house infused pop and light tropical garage, and instead played an eclectic mix of genres. The set started with versions of their own songs ‘Love Me Blind,’ and ‘Giving It All’ both of which were well received. After the tropical feels, Bondax successfully took on bits of indie rock such as ‘Night Swimmers’ by Foals. This song was a stroke of genius after that the unimaginative garage tracks failed to keep people interested, meaning the room became noticeably less buzzing and a change of tone was needed. A bit of old school 60s successfully spiced up the end of their set before they finished with their track ‘Baby I Got That’ which, despite being a tune, wasn’t as much of a big finish as you’d expect.

Both Karma Kid and Bondax introduced my fresher ears to a lot of stuff I’d never heard before, or mixed songs I had in an original way, which was a welcome departure from the mainstream music I’d been force fed in previous weeks.

Emma Dutton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX6_i8Yl1a8

(Image: Justin Gardner Photography)