The Leadmill, Sheffield: Miles Kane brings the curtain down on historic Yorkshire venue in raucous fashion
Being a Sheffield native, it’s fair to say there was a lot of emotion as I stepped through the doors of The Leadmill for one last time.
A litany of gig memories from the last 20 years rose to the surface as I perused the hallowed venue, which is set to close after losing its long and bitter battle with its landlord to remain open.
A central part of mine and many others in the city’s formative years, over the last four decades it has played host to countless gigs of significance, including those I was lucky enough to witness (Warpaint, Self Esteem, Richard Hawley, Ruberlaris) and those I’ve heard talked about with awed reflection (Nirvana, Suede, Arcade Fire).
So there was plenty invested in Friday night’s final concert, which saw indie rock supremo Miles Kane handed the honours of sending the crowd into its final frenzy.
And if the raucous reaction was anything to go by, this will go down as a success, albeit one with some tinge of what-could-have-been.
Upon Miles Kane’s announcement as the last act there were inevitable rumours that collaborator and Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner would join him onstage. But it wasn’t to be.
Instead, rather than a The Last Waltz-style gathering for the ages, this was a send off fitting for what The Leadmill has resembled in recent years: a hive for the city’s students, indie wallcrawlers and local rowdier contingent.
Following a stripped back set from support act and fellow Monkeys-affiliate Tom Rowley, the DJ got the crowd in good voices and spirits with tunes from Sheffield favourites Reverend and the Makers and Pulp with a slice of Tina Turner thrown in for good measure.
Flamboyantly dressed in leopard print, Kane and his band took to the stage full of pomp and bravado and launched into a breakneck hour-and-a-bit set of catchy, readymade indie anthems that began with Rearrange.
After a consistent hour of crowd-pleasers, aside from the odd proclamation of what an honour it was, it was easy to forget that this was the last show. The final hurrah. The end of an era.
As the curfew approached there were some murmurings of “where’s the special guest, then?”, but fortunately the barmy chanting of “woah-oh-ohs” after the main set ended with ‘Don’t Forget Who You Are’ drowned out any hint of anti-climax.
The band returned to close their set with ‘Come Closer’, but it will be the mass singalong and outbreak of emotion that greeted Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’ as it played out once the band had left the stage that will be embedded in peoples’ minds as the venue’s full stop for many. That or the distinctive Leadmill-ness of ‘From The Ritz To The Rubble’ that followed. Hats off to the DJ, either way.
As the crowd filtered out past those queueing for the subsequent club night beneath the still-unlit neon Leadmill sign, I couldn’t help feeling there was something amiss. But perhaps that’s inevitable when seeing a once-thriving venue close, like so many others across the country, under such circumstances.
Building owners Electric Group have vowed to reopen the space as a music venue once it has been refurbished, and only time will tell how it pans out.