The shuddering bass of Kanye Wests ‘Black Skinhead’ announced Blossoms’ arrival on stage. The energy in the room was contagious, almost as if the crowd could sense they were in for a good time. Without more than a “hello”, Blossoms launched into ‘At Most a Kiss’ and the crowd went wild. Tom Ogden’s stage presence is captivating. He has all the makings of a great frontman: brooding snarl, long hair, snake-hip dance moves and just the right level of crowd interaction. It’s hard to believe he’s only 23; you can’t help but draw comparisons to a young Alex Turner.

The slick set included most of the band’s album tracks. During ‘Getaway’, the crowd-turned-choir sang the whole of the first verse unprompted, much to the band’s delight. Their appreciation was visible, demonstrating that their new found fame hasn’t gone to their heads just yet. ‘Has anyone recently been dumped?’ Ogden asked the crowd, to which a girl called Natalie replied ‘YEEES’. Substituting her name into the song he serenaded the audience with ‘My Favourite Room’ acoustically, without the rest of the band. One lucky crowd member even got a special Blossoms ‘Happy Birthday’.

A Leeds audience is something to be seen. Between each song there were shouts of ‘Yooooorkshire’ and when the band joked that Leeds were a better crowd than Sheffield they began chanting ‘F*ck you Shefieeeeeld!’
Saving the jewel in their shiny crown for last, the crowd erupted when the opening chords of ‘Charlemagne’ were played. Definitely one of the better gigs I’ve been to recently. Blossoms have a feeling of “soon to be a big deal” about them and the bouncer hit the nail on the head when he said, “You’re lucky to have caught them now, they won’t be playing venues this small for much longer”.

Hannah Mason

(Image: IDOL)