Yard Act at Rough Trade East Review

Confidence is growing for Leeds-based band Yard Act, and in a welcome way. Not like the protagonist in their song Tall Poppies, which closes out their album playthrough show at Rough Trade East, but you can hear a change from album to album. Their growth as a band is clear, and you can hear it from The Overload to Where’s My Utopia?, just a two-year gap between releases. Another two years pass, and as confident as the band sounded on their second album, the work James Smith and the band offer on You’re Gonna Need a Little Music is another incredible next step. It’s quite unlike anything they’ve done before, yet it feels inherently Yard Act. Hearing the ban run-through their new album in full is a delight. It’s a performance that just happens to fall on the fiftieth anniversary of Rough Trade. There’s no better celebration of what music can do and what Rough Trade has done than to hear Yard Act tell us that we do, indeed, need a little music.  

We do, and that title track is a stellar example of the band’s growth. They’re sounding keen to reflect on works from the past in the context of a new musical structure. Even the upbeat bash at gentrification on Fixer Upper is changed a tad. Post-album song performances make the contrast and change not just a welcome next step for the band, but clear. How they got to these points, the heavier, punk-tinged style of Redeemer or the lighter, hopeful sense that comes from the second album single, New Beginnings. Whatever the case, there’s hope within the work Yard Act provides, a constant that has stuck with them and developed well across this three-album stretch. Smith has honed his writing to feature not just the social etiquette lost in fear but the effect this is now having on those both trying to get by and wanting to make a difference.  

Revisions to previous songs and revivals of different sounds for both A Vineyard for the North and Tall Poppies don’t change the work itself, but the tone and effect. If Bob Dylan can do it, why not Yard Act? They’re even toying with the sound of their newly released material too, a few grunts, groans, and instrumental flurries to change up the most minor of parts, it’s the sound of a band with a beating, roaring heart. Hearty work is what you get from Empty Pledges, Thrill of the Chase, and Over the Barrell. Yard Act maintains some of their catchiest songs with their coolest perspectives. They’re a band that contains multitudes and aren’t willing to hide the social contract that’s falling to pieces around them. Catchy riffs and credible, exciting instrumentals are backed by the opportunity to hear the crumbling around us.  

But Yard Act isn’t all doom and gloom. Their third album is a fine balance of title track escapism, the beauty of a band growing together, and responsible, necessary commentaries on what’s going wrong. There’s enough to choose from after all. What made Yard Act such a great listen around the time of their first album is they sounded as aggrieved as their audience. They still do, and they’ve emotionally fleshed out all these tracks, not just their latest album but the work that came before, to serve a purpose in a purpose-free moment in time. Yard Act’s late show at Rough Trade East is an outstanding example of the band’s abilities, this incredible ability to look at the world around them and make sense of it. Few can do that, and fewer can do it with as much style as Yard Act has done across their three studio albums. This gig felt like a celebration of that, but specifically, a brilliant showcase of You’re Gonna Need a Little Music.