27 May: Duffy Live@ The Leadmill, Sheffield

Tonight Duffy was live at the Leadmill in Sheffield! AND I WAS THERE TO SEE IT! Wow it was my first Duffy gig and she didn't disappoint - Duffy is excellent live!

My husband and I arrived at 6:35PM on Leadmill Road in the centre of Sheffield city. It was only 12 miles away from our home and we found some free parking around the corner, although there was plenty of paid car parks in the area and even a limited amount parking on Leadmill Road itself. When we arrived there was already a queue of about 30 or 40 people. ALL ages were there - 15 year olds with their parents, students, middle aged and even older were in attendance. There was one much older guy we spotted (complete with zimmer frame that folded onto a highish seat).It just shows Duffy's wide appeal...

The doors opened just after 7pm and we all filed in... the place was obviously empty and we got a good view of the room and stage. Not very big, it lived up to its classic club reputation. The place looked dingey frankly, but for a small place tucked away on the back streets of Sheffield city (in a very studenty area) I guess it is what we expected! My mother said that she went to the Leadmill in the 80s and looking at it I doubted whether it had changed much since then. The total capacity (and it no doubt reached full capacity by later on) was probably only a few hundred - 300-400 is my estimate. I have seen school-hall larger and school stages higher!
We queued at a bar and perched on the retro springy tables and stools (not retro style, more like retro - I have a feeling they were genuine vintage from the 80s LOL).

Anyway, at 7:10pm we went back to the stage and there was already a couple of rows of people standing there just bleakly staring at the stage! Naturally, we joined them, picking a place in the centre, and continued to stand there for the next TWO HOURS until Duffy the band came on stage. It was really quite boring and tiring... Very loud music was continually thudding so you had to scream in each other's ears to be heard so we just stood there while the place slowly got fuller and fuller and we got more and more squished together LOL. I could have done with that guy's zimmer which converted to a seat, and I'm only 26 LOL. At about 8:45PM 3 kids with drinks came and shoved infront of the middle aged woman beside me. She tapped them on the shoulder and told them to buzz off and get to the back and they did... She too had been standing there for 2 hours and it was enough to bring out the 'school teacher' in her apparently.

Then at about 9:10PM Duffy and the band came out and played the following set, which took 60 minutes.

FULL SETLIST:
Syrup&Honey
Rockferry
Serious
Breaking My Own Heart (Duffy stopped this part way through)
Please Stay (Cryin' Shames cover)
Oh Boy
Warwick Avenue
Delayed Devotion
Stepping Stone
Hanging on Too Long
Put it in Perspective
Tomorrow
Mercy
(They then disappeared for a couple of mins before returning for the encore.)
ENCORE:
I'm Scared
Distant Dreamer


Duffy's voice was abolutely superb - very loud, it just filled the entire space. Her voice was just like on her record. When they recorded Rockferry there was obviously no 'tweaking' or messing about and you just know that when you hear her live.

But because of her very wide appeal I think some arena concerts (where the punters actually get a seat and don't have to stand for 3 and a half hours solid) will be well-received.



I managed to take a camera to the gig...
I have a couple of pics (not many as the camera was a bit dogdy compared to what I am used to -I didn't take my trusty 350D DSLR because I figured it would be too bulky... and also the 350D has no video.)

So like I say I borrowed this camera (Fuji 100) and, once I realised how load it was in there, I was expecting the video to be all crackly and no good (like many youtube vids turn out). This was the first time I had used the camera and if I'd have realised how good the vids came out then I would have concentrated a bit more on them and maybe filmed a bit more than I did....

EVERYTHING I filmed is below. Please forgive me for being such an amateur (I've never filmed anything before to be honest and only got the camera to practise with a couple of hours before we set of for the gig). Trying not to annoy people, I turned off the back screen and so didn't have an easy view of what I was filming exactly - sometimes you are lucky that Duffy is in the shot at all LOL!

So here goes... the first one is a snippet of Syrup&Honey - sorry I cut this short but it was the first song and I was more bothered about watching the show, taking photos (which I was doing with the same piece of equipment as the filming) and working out how to use the video function in the dark LOL.
I find it quite annoying when all the youtube vids cut the songs short LOL but since I didn't catch the start anyway.... gives you an idea anyway. ;-)

'Breaking My Own Heart' was the next one I attempted to record and this time it wasn't my fault that it was cut short... Duffy stopped this part way through saying she wasn't having any fun: She said 'Please Stay' was on her mind so she couldn't continue, saying 'It's like sleeping with a man whilst thinking about someone else'. LOL
I don't know whether she dislikes the song, feels she is having key problems or what but she did the exact same thing at Coachella last month. EDIT: Replying to the message - yes there were sound problems at Coachella at first, when she re-started the opening song Rockferry, but BMOH was totally unrelated - it was later in the set and she stopped the band saying the same words, that she 'wasn't having any fun'. Download the MP3 of the Coachella gig from the left hand box.

After stopping 'Breaking My Own Heart' part way through, Duffy started talking and I realised that it was going to be the song that not many folks had heard her sing before (she performed it at Cardiff so I heard, but no where else yet as far as I know) so I managed to find the video button in the dark yet again and managed to get the whole song! This was the best vid I think.... all downhill from there LOL
So here it is below - Please Stay (Cryin' Shames cover, which she and Butler recently recorded for the soundtrack of the new Joe Meek movie, "Telstar").

Oh Boy (Rockferry B side) is below:

Delayed Devotion is below. Sorry about the vid being all over the place! Everyone was jumping up and down at this song and I was getting jostled, but I kept it going for the audio...

Put it in Perspective is the next one I attempted to film. Having never heard Duffy live I was enjoying the show and filming one-handed but at least the audio is pretty good considering... I tried to film the songs that we haven't seen much of to be honest and since this one was only released on Monday I figured this one counted! ;-)

Tomorrow is my favourite Duffy song I think... I was hoping they would play it live and they did! Duffy said, "This one is one for the boys... Boys with their toys... The guys with the guitars kind of like this one so I put it in for them. I like singing it aswell... but it's about you not me..." LOL
The video is below - again I was dancing (along with everyone else)and we were so squished there was really much choice about the dancing LOL and with no back screen on it was a little hopeless so I had just about given up at this stage LOL I'm surprised I didn't just leave it swinging round my neck as it might just have ended up with a better video LOL. Still, since it's Duffy it's worth it just for the audio, right?

And to the encore... Duffy and the band came back out and played 'I'm Scared'. The lights changed so it was really dark with a green tinge and they even pumped stage smoke out onto the stage which soon envelopped us in the front few rows... I heard people saying "I'm Scared, are you scared?!" in mock horror LOL. So 'I'm Scared' is below. Sorry about the jiggling, we were all so squished together at this point I couldn't keep it still and then when you get the view of the ceiling LOL that is when there was some kind of incident over on my left. I didn't see what it was,but everyone was distracted a little (even Duffy looked over) as ALL the security guys at the front dived over there... and then quickly returned. Don't know what happened, whether it was false alarm or what. I realised at the time the video would be rubbish but I kept it going fort he audio as I know a couple of folks over on the Americanfo rum who claim "I'm Scared" as their favourite on the album and I don't think weh ave seen/heard it live, have we?

A tiny snippet of the final song Distant dreamer is below. I only filmed a few seconds and then someone behind was bugging me to stop, so since it was the last song and I had already filmed a couple of songs I did as they requested....

Well that's it on the videos - hope you like them. ;-)

I also took a few photos and I have put them all below: