Kaiser Chiefs welcomed special guests at a special place last Saturday when Razorlight, The Cribs, The Coral, We Are Scientists, HotWax and Ellur joined them on home turf.
Celebrating 20 years of Kaiser Chiefs’ multi award-winning debut album Employment, it is also 20 years since they last played here.
The show wasn’t just a celebration of the band – Kaiser Chiefs’ music is undeniably intertwined with northern culture and football, and this was felt the entire way through the performance.
Coming on stage in a striped jacket and admittedly causing a riot, Ricky Wilson kicked the hour and 40 minute set off at full pelt with anthems Everyday I Love You Less and Less, I Predict a Riot and Modern Way.
The energy in the crowd was electric – I got as close to the front as possible to experience the full impact of the 25,000 people who had flocked to celebrate along with the band.
The crowd was dotted with Leeds United fans in yellow bucket hats, and as the band sailed through their nostalgic soundtrack, LUFC striker Patrick Bamford joined the Leeds Legends with a guitar and the championship trophy.
The day was perfect from start to finish and felt like a mini-festival, with support from some great acts.
Ellur started the day at 1:50. I have followed Ellur for some time now and she really is going from strength to strength – it’s amazing to see a local artist diving head first into the industry.
With a strong social media presence and a plethora of brutally honest songs, Ellur has hit the ground running in 2025 with the release of her EP ‘God Help Me Now’ which is such a good festival anthem.
Ellur is touring this year with her band – definitely grab tickets if you can.
Following Ellur were trio HotWax, who released their new album earlier this year.
They have toured over 150 shows in two years, including Reading & Leeds Festival and supporting
Frank Carter and Royal Blood.
HotWax played cohesively on stage and brought chaos and noise with their wiry-guitar riffs.
Whilst a lot of people opted to sit down around the space in anticipation of the acts that were due to perform the rest of the day, HotWax’s sound really isn’t one to sit down to, and they drew in a lively crowd.
We Are Scientists returned to Temple Newsam just a week after Live at Leeds in the Park. They brought even more energy this time, perhaps having warmed up!
The band joked with the crowd, saying that they had “backloaded the set so you have to sit and listen to all these back-tracks”.
I think the New York band are super underappreciated – having released 8 studio albums, EPs and numerous singles, We Are Scientists also have a number of upcoming shows through to July this year.
Next up were The Coral – blending psychedelic rock, folk, indie, surf rock, and pop, often infused with a nostalgic 1960s feel.
They’re frequently compared to bands like The Zombies, The Byrds, and even early Pink Floyd, but they never feel like copycats—rather, they reinterpret vintage sounds with a fresh and sometimes eerie edge.
My favourite songs were Jacqueline, and finishers In the Morning and Holy Revelation.
Next on stage were The Cribs, who definitely set the tone for Razorlight and Kaiser Chiefs.
The Wakefield trio have kept their nostalgic early 2000 sound, and played mainly new songs, which the crowd sang along to.
The last time The Cribs played live was at Temple Newsam last year, Ryan Jarman joking that the band are hard to catch these days.
I saw a huge variety of people in the crowd, from early-day fans to young kids with their Wakefield scarves. This was a full-circle moment for me – Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever was one of the first CDs I ever bought, and whilst I would’ve loved to have heard some of their older songs, it was refreshing to see that the band have retained a solid fanbase and are still releasing new music.
They also mentioned that they supported Kaiser Chiefs 20 years ago, and that if anyone had told them they’d still be supporting Kaiser Chiefs 20 years later, they’d be “psyched”.
They kept their energy on stage, with drummer Ross Jarman standing up on the drums and frontmen intertwining during their songs in what looked like a wrestling match, they finished the set with ‘Men’s Needs’ which was the perfect end to an amazing setlist.
The penultimate act of the day was Razorlight, who played a mixture of old and new songs and demonstrated their timeless sound.
They finished with ‘America’ which went down a treat, and it was a lovely end to their set as the crowd sang along with them.
The band mentioned that they don’t have any backing tracks and that everything you hear on stage is
their own performance, which is pretty impressive – although Johnny Borrell did mention that they have on occasion gone wrong and messed up, but it’s all part and parcel of the beauty of live performance.
Temple Newsam really is the perfect music venue – it’s not too big and it’s a great day out, whether you’re with family or friends.
On this occasion, Temple Newsam Park was witness not only to nostalgia, enthusiasm and affection for local artists, but also the welcome the huge crowd gave to those from further afield.
When Leeds and Wakefield music fans appreciate your talent, you know they mean it!
Organisers Futuresound, this time with SJM Concerts, certainly know how to please fans and artists alike, setting the stage for precious memories time after time.
Photography by Jazz Jennings and Millie Stephens. Main image by Jazz Jennings.
