I think it was our good friend William Shakespeare who coined the phrase ‘too much of a good thing’. Well I’m definitely not the only one who’s suffering after a magical sunny day enjoying ‘Live at Leeds’

The main problem is you can’t possibly get enough. 250+ bands spread over 25 venues is enough to send anyone mad just with the decisions involved. For every great band, I was forced to miss countless others. Oh well, such is life.

First off at the university comes Youth Man. A garage rock three-piece who break off chunks of punk energy with ease. At times they sound like Pink fronted by Siouxsie Sioux but don’t let that put you off.

There is a reason why bands such as the Sisters of Mercy never open festivals. They are creatures of the night. So it is a shame that the excellent (The) Witch Hunt are scheduled at 2pm when a band of their genre are crying out for an evening slot. Not that the band are put off by the timetabling calamity. And they draw an impressive crowd to soak up their bespoke pop goth musings. Augmented by a new drummer (but still with plenty of drum machine going on), Louisa’s soaring falsetto is perfectly balanced by Chris’s killer hooks

Next over to the Cockpit for Rupert Stroud, a local singer-songwriter alas he didn’t do it for me.

I went with an open mind to see Little Matador, these guys rock! Muscle vests – check. Leather jackets – check. But it all seemed a little tired and dated.

Next up is Percy. These guys have been going for donkey’s years but after about three songs they were heading for a one word review. Luckily they sort things out with the magnificent ‘Man Up’ followed by some bonkers where they make a lot of monkey noises.

I need something to get my juices flowing again. Curry and chips helps but this next band really do the business. Please welcome the stupidly shambolic and ball-achingly fantastic Kleine Schweine. This bunch sing about eastern European dictators and call the songs ‘You can call me Albania’. Punky as hell. The band have obviously been on it all day. The bass breaks three times and the guitar sounds like a bee farting. But this band play to a rammed Milo’s bar and the crowd love every second of it.

My attempts to see Micky P Kerr are thwarted by sardine can-like conditions. The guy is a bit of a local hero and his brand of John Cooper Clarke-esque comedy and musical witticisms bring a smile to the face of all concerned.

Another local hero Chris Catalyst is playing downstairs. By day he is a member of power rock outfit Eureka Machines. Today he plays stripped down acoustic guitar whilst standing on a box but still manages to belt out some bangers.

Back to the University now for a look at the Sunshine Underground. They can still knock out a mean dance-rock mashup and the tracks from their forthcoming new album sound amazing. It’s been four years in the waiting and the crowd are literally foaming at the mouth in expectation.

My final call is at the town hall where Forward Russia play the numbers game like only they can. The T-shirts are back on (and still fit) and Tom is still trying to strangle himself with the microphone lead whilst screaming blue murder to every corner of the room. I won’t embarrass myself by matching the tunes with the numbers but they were all BIG numbers ok? Big on numbers and big on sound as it turns out, an extra guitarist is drafted in near the end so the mighty ‘Spanish Triangles’ is transformed into a colossal tower of crunchy madness.

I couldn’t call it a day without mentioning a few other bands that I was unable to see. Some, like Pulled Apart by Horses, The Hold Steady , The Amazing Snakeheads, Holy Mountain, Royal Blood and especially The Fat White Family will have to wait till next time. See you at the back. I’m getting on you know.

Review by Geoff Puncheon