STONE with support from Safe At Any Speed
at The Wardrobe in Leeds, UK
words and photos by Dylan Maggs

The first time I came across Liverpool’s alt-rock/punk icons STONE was at Live at Leeds: In The Park 2022, in which I was covering for SquareOne. Coming across them was merely an accident as I was walking out of Dream Wife’s set.. But it was the best accident that could have happened. Watching their set at the Hill Top stage was the starting point of a never-ending fascination which left me playing their songs on repeat for months.

Almost a year to the day, Stone made their way back to Leeds as part of their spring UK tour which spanned over 9 cities. Walking up to the The Wardrobe, a 400-capacity event space which was about to house a sweaty night, you could tell the fans were excited as no-one could stand still. Conversations of past experiences seeing the band being exchanged between friend groups.

First on stage was North London band Safe At Any Speed - an exciting punk/grunge band consisting of Blake Miller (vocals/guitar), Caspar Courlander (bass), Cormac Lawry (guitar) and Charles Mathias (drums). I had not heard of the band before the show, but fans over-hearing the fans' excitement in the front row told me everything I needed to know.. I was in for a treat. This is a band you’ll have to listen to live if you want to experience how good they actually are as they don’t use Spotify and only have three demo’s on their Soundcloud - but the wait to hear them live is most definitely worth it. You can definitely tell there’s a lot of early punk influences in their music in tracks such as ‘Mr Clean’ and ‘Marathon Man’ as the instrumentals are gritty and distorted with the vocals being punchy along with relatively simple lyrics.. But that’s what makes it great. Safe at Any Speed are a band you NEED to see live.

As the change-over began, fans kept their eyes glued to their phones for the time to tick to 9pm. It was about to get sweaty. The band walks out on stage to an eruption of screams and excitement from the Leeds crowd - It’s time for STONE! - the band consisting of Finley Power (vocals), Elliot Gill (guitar), Sarah Surrage (bass) and Alex Smith (drums).

There was no better track to kick off the setlist than ‘I Let Go’, because the crowd truly did. Mosh Pits galore from the get go and beer chucked over the barrier (hitting me directly, but I expected it). Bringing the energy from the get go with a powerful energetic track before moving onto the older ‘Keep Running’. The next track on the setlist was one that fans were crying out for to be released as it had been continuously played live for over a year, to which we finally got it officially this month. Coming along with its own fun and energetic dance routine, ‘Left Right Forward’.

The Leeds crowd were treated to two new tracks titled ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’ and ‘If You Wanna’ - songs which I am absolutely sure are going to take STONE to that next level. I mean, how can you not love a song which gets Finn doing some sort of leg keyboard dance thing..

Moving onto popular tracks ‘Let’s Dance to the Real Thing’ and ‘Money (Hope Ain’t Gone)’ before ‘Stupid’ and ending the set with ‘Waste’. Unfortunately the set was cut short of the iconic ‘Leave It Out’ due to the unfortunate event of an attendee collapsing requiring medical attention (god bless the NHS) - I hope that person is okay and safe.

Despite having to cut the set short, STONE made sure to put on an incredibly powerful, sweaty and energetic set which won’t be forgotten. Hopefully it doesn’t take me another year to see the band live again. They’ve set their name in stone (pun-intended) on my favourite live-performers list.

STONE: LEEDS, UK

SAFE AT ANY SPEED

STONE