Glasgow’s Joesef brings his tour to Leeds tonight, playing to a sold out Brudenell Social Club. The Scot’s alternative indie vibe seemed to find new ways to connect with people over the last couple of years. After smashing a sold out gig in the famous King Tut’s in his hometown, before even releasing a song, this tour sees a continuation of his smooth, jazz influenced sound, remaining lyrically introspective but always relevant and engaging.
There’s a chilled vibe throughout the evening, and it’s bang on for the assembled fans. The pre-show singalong to Luther’s Never Too Much, tells you all you need to know about the soulful sensibilities of this crowd.
Opening with his latest offering It’s Been a Little Heavy Lately, the crowd are already singing along, clearly having done their homework, coming prepared for the new as well as the old. It’s a confident move, as most tend to save their new work for the end of the show, but it speaks to the quality of what it still to come.
It’s a well crafted, 14 song set, delivered in just over an hour alongside an engaging patter. The 2021 single, Fire is an early highlight, the lyrics delivering an intensity of experience from a break up that even Joesef struggles to articulate in his softly-spoken Glaswegian tones.
Does It Make You Feel Good shows a more upbeat side to the singer, a tempo that draws from the jazzy undertones that filter through a lot of his work. There’s a groove through these songs that’s reminiscent of some of Maverick Sabre’s more laid back stuff, or the soulfulness of Frank Ocean.
The absolute highlight though came through Comedown. Dropped mid-set, it’s just a beautiful piece of work. Pin-drop silence from the captivated capacity crowd. It’s a magic moment, the kind only live music can provide. The collective hush as we all listened intently, drawn into the artist’s world for 4 minutes. The momentary pause as it came to an end where we processed what had just happened. And then, rightly, the biggest response of the night.
There were other songs. And they were good – a singalong feelgood cover of Sister Sledge’s Thinking of You meant the encore was upbeat and energetic. But nothing came close to Comedown.
As a guy standing next to me was explaining to his friends before Joesef had even taken the stage – “He just makes beautiful music”. Hard to argue with that.
Catch the rest of the tour up and down the UK – Norwich on 11th, then on to London, Brighton, Bristol, Manchester (among others), before finishing up in Glasgow.
Set List:
It’s Been A Little Heavy Lately
I Wonder Why
Think That I Don’t Need Your Love
Play Me Something Nice
East End Coast
Fire
Does It Make You Feel Good?
Kerosene
Comedown
Joe
Limbo
The Sun Is Up Forever
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Thinking of You
Loverboy
