It’s time to say goodbye to the first month of 2024, and say hello to a new one with open arms.
Well, I think we can all agree thatJanuary was a bit of a slog, wasn’t it?
Now that February is gracing us with its presence though, Leeds' social calendar is really starting to become packed full of a wide range of events and activities you can be getting up to over the coming weeks.
Here’s some of our recommendations.
January offers
All week | Around the city
Image: The Hoot Leeds
Don't panic, but there's only 3 more days to tuck into some discounted food across the city centre and beyond. Take a look here and see what you fancy.
Vue Cinemas Comedies
All week | Various locations
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Vue Cinemas across the UK are screening loads of beloved comedy films to make people smile during this time of year.
The cinema says it’s aiming to “spread some joy and laughter” by bringing back some of the nation’s favourite comedies and feel-good musicals and sticking them up on the big screen to help alleviate those so-called January blues. This means that, each week for the next four weeks, you can catch iconic flicks such as Mrs Doubtfire, The Devil Wears Prada, Mamma Mia!, and more.
Mug Shot Pop-up
Saturday 3 February 2024 | Briggate, between H Samuels and the former Debenhams
Image: Supplied
Get ready for a real ‘mmm moment’ as Mug Shot is bringing its ‘instant hot snack brigade’ to Briggate this Saturday.
From 10am - 6pm, you can warm up with a free hot sample and whilst you’re there, give the Mug Shot Wheel of Fortune a spin for your chance to win a whole range of tasty goodies.
Knife Angel
Thursday 1 February 2024 | Royal Armouries
Image: Leeds City Council
The touring Knife Angel sculpture is coming to Leeds this February, to send a powerful message and spark conversations about knife crime in the city.
The Knife Angel, standing tall at 27ft and made from over 100,000 seized blades, was created by the British Ironwork Centre to highlight the negative effects of violent behaviour and the need for change.
The poignant sculpture will be placed outside the Royal Armouries Museum as part of an intensification month on knife crime which launches on Thursday 1 February 2024.
Brotherhood Re-opening
Friday 2 February 2024 | New Briggate
Image: Supplied
Celebrating its 10th year trading, The Brotherhood sports bar has reinvented its New Briggate venue with a massive makeover and new menu.
With the help of AXI Interior Design, the two-floor venue has been transformed into a warm and inviting space that channels a vintage gentleman’s club, with plenty of retro sporting nods throughout.
The Brotherhood is set to reopen on Friday 2 February which perfectly coincides with the Euros, the Six Nations, Fury Vs Usyk and the Super Bowl all heading to Brotherhood’s screens over the coming months.
Leeds
Loyle Carner at Kirkstall Abbey – the perfect match of artist and venue
One of Britain's best performed to a pack-out crowd at Leeds' historic Kirkstall Abbey.
If there was ever a venue designed to make you feel like you've accidentally wandered into the coolest history lesson of your life, it's Kirkstall Abbey.
Ancient ruins, blazing sunshine, pints in plastic cups and thousands of people flocking for the one and only Loyle Carner? Not a bad way to spend a Saturday we think.
And it wasn't just Loyle who we were treated to either, the entire day as part of Above All Else Festival saw a bill of groove-fuelled acts take to the stage.
Bricknasty, Kofi Stone, Kokoroko and Jordan Rakei delivered fabulous sets and warmed us up very nicely indeed for the man himself.
Fresh from the release of Hopefully!, Carner arrived to deafening cheers, wasting little time before settling into the laid-back confidence that has become his trademark.
And he didn't waste time getting into his catalogue of hits either as he seamlessly transitioned from one banger to the next.
It really felt like a celebration of his work, and he himself welled up at the sea of people singing his songs back to him over and over again.
Of course, highlights included Loose Ends and Ottolenghi but dedicating Hate to Nigel Farage was nothing short of iconic.
This is a rapper that has executed the delivery between syncopation and rhythm perfectly, but it's his lyrics that keep you going back for more.
Of course Kirkstall Abbey itself deserves plenty of credit, as the sun went down the abbey was lit up and created probably the most cinematic backdrop for a gig you can imagine.
What stood out most, though, was the atmosphere. There was a proper sense of community throughout the evening, with strangers dancing together and friends rapping every word arm in arm.
Loyle Carner has long been regarded as one of Britain's most thoughtful voices in hip-hop, but nights like this show why his appeal stretches far beyond the genre.
What's next for Loyle Carner? We're not sure, but we feel very lucky to have shared this moment with him, and you could tell he did too.
The Maccabees at Kirkstall Abbey – musical reunion of the decade?
Daisy Jackson
When bands reunite, it's usually pretty easy to guess what the motive is. A looming tax bill, an incoming divorce, a tanking solo career, for example.
But with The Maccabees, those scenarios feel a long way removed.
This is a band that called it a day at the top of their game - and then have returned even stronger, and seemingly because they just missed being on stage together.
Addressing the near-decade apart while on stage at Kirkstall Abbey, The Maccabees frontman Orlando Weeks sums it up simply: "For a long time we were a band, and then we weren't a band for a bit, and now we're a band again."
He's as softly-spoken a frontman as they come, but then The Maccabees never have leaned entirely on their frontman for their live energy - not when he's flanked by the White brothers.
Felix White spends half the gig sporting an ear-splitting grin, and the other half screaming words of encouragement at the audience like a crazed Top of the Pops presenter. The organised-fun patter might grate if he weren't so phenomenal the moment the music starts again.
Then brother Hugo is a brooding, powerful figure, usually standing with his legs so wide apart I'm surprised he doesn't split his trousers. His stage presence is so cool, so confident, it's hard to take your eyes off him.
Orlando's otherworldly voice is really allowed to shine through with songs like Spit It Out, when the stage reduces to a single spotlight and the other band members actually squat down to minimise the distractions.
The tempo shifts of Marks to Prove It, the urgency of X-Ray and the layered beauty of Wall of Arms all underline just how tightly the band play together.
There will be new music on the way, eventually, and they give us a glimpse into that with The Ballad of So Long, a swooping epic that suggests they still have somewhere new to go.
It's hard to complain that they don't have much more to show us yet - not when the alternative is a greatest hits, belt-every-word live show.
By the end of the night, as The Maccabees wrap up their show at Kirkstall Abbey, there's a quiet confidence about them. They know this comeback works, and we'll be lapping it up for as long as they'll stick around.
Judging by the reaction inside Kirkstall Abbey, everyone else does too.
Clementine Hall -
29th January 2024 
