I Was There ... Leeds Futurama 1979/ 1980
Music. Punk. Post-Punk. Leeds. Futurama. Joy Division. The Fall. The Monochrome Set. Zoo Records.
Here comes the sun, which means the rock festival season is already upon us. Young and old alike are turning up at football stadiums or muddy fields for, er, probably loads of bands I’ve never heard of. And all in the name of ‘fun’. Apparently. Not me, though. No way. And here’s why…
Dexy’s Midnight Runners once sang ‘Lord Have Mercy On Me/ Keep Me Away From Leeds’, in the brilliantly titled Thankfully, Not Living In Yorkshire, It Doesn’t Apply.
And, to be honest, many people would probably agree with Dexy’s, since Leeds certainly fits a lot of folk’s idea of the grim, industrial wastelands of the north of England.
What could be gloomier, in fact, than, say, Leeds on a cold and rainy weekend in September? Maybe watching Joy Division, too? Ah, well …
And so it came to pass … it was 1979, at the age of 17, when I first visited Leeds to attend the Futurama Festival (nothing to do with the cracking telly show) at the Queen’s Hall. Organised by local boy John Keenan, the festival was billed as…
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