Celebrating 25 years of The Wardrobe

A year of parties, gigs, giveaways and much more are planned to mark the grassroots venue’s 25th anniversary. Among the most eye-catching are two gigs in one day this week by The Libertines, a band more used to headlining festivals than playing in rooms with a capacity of only 400.

Andy Smith, the venue’s director, says they have sought to improve The Wardrobe “on the quiet” since Futuresound took it over eight years ago. “We don’t shout about ourselves much compared to other venues in Leeds, but it’s in a good place at the moment,” he reckons.

Situated opposite Leeds Conservatoire and the BBC Leeds studios, with Leeds Playhouse and Northern Ballet also a stone’s throw away, The Wardrobe is very much part of the city’s thriving Arts Quarter. While the jazz, funk and soul links remain, Smith says they’ve endeavoured to broaden the venue’s musical scope and also added regular comedy events. “Originally it was renowned for jazz, soul and funk back in the day and we still do have an element of that, we’ve got Last Time Out Festival, we still have a lot of jazz musicians coming through from Leeds Conservatoire, but at the same time Futuresound are promoters apart from being venue operators, so we still book a lot of stuff in ourselves. There’s a lot of indie, rock and pop, then we also work with other promoters. We have Seed Talks and a lot of comedy. There’s a real melting pot of different things going on these days.”

The venue has also built up a strong relationship with indie record store Crash Records, which regularly stages ‘out-store’ events there – this week they include Declan McKenna and The Libertines. Owner Scott Gamble says that since putting on post-punk band Idles at The Wardrobe in September 2018, they have staged “50-plus” shows there.

Among the most memorable was a short set by a soon-to-be massively successful Lewis Capaldi. “It was a very stripped-back event, it was only two or three songs, but he was such a comedian, you’d go in there just to hear him speak, and unlike any event we’ve done since, we actually did a meet-and-greet afterwards,” Gamble recalls. “So instead of it just being a signing and someone sat behind a counter, we’d paid for a photographer to come in, we had lots of branding up. Basically people stepped in, shook his hand, he signed the CD and they got a photo with him which we posted the next day. He was such a generous guy and genuine. For most stars, meeting 400 or 500 people in an evening, it’s hard work and you see them afterwards and the facade drops almost and you think ‘well done, you’ve got through that’, but Lewis was smiling from the first one to the last, and I think all the fans were very appreciative of it. They brought him sunglasses, which was a bit of a thing at the time, so he had loads of them which he’d acquired through the course of the evening.”

Matt Bowman, frontman of Leeds band The Pigeon Detectives, has fond memories of The Wardrobe both as a musician and as a punter. “I’ve always enjoyed playing The Wardrobe, but I’ve always enjoyed going to gigs there as well, so I think it works both ways,” he says. “I don’t think I can really put my finger on (why) otherwise it would something other venues could replicate. To an extent, I think a building just has a certain soul about it that makes for a good place to have a rock ’n’ roll gig. One of my favourite things about the venue is the juxtaposition between the downstairs and the upstairs. Downstairs is very low-lit, you’ve got black floors, black walls, black ceiling, you’ve got quite a small, intimate stage and almost like an amphitheatre-esque vibe where you have layers to the dancefloor and people on the dancefloor are slightly lower than the people on the outside, so it’s quite a strange venue from that respect, but then you go upstairs and you’ve got a yuppie-type cocktail bar. It’s probably one of the only venues in the country where you can have a warm can of Fosters sat backstage waiting to go on and then swan upstairs have have an espresso martini once you’ve played.”

For promoter Jodie Story, from South Yorkshire, who staged her first gig, Queercore: Night of the Living at The Wardrobe while studying for a degree in International Business and Marketing, the venue proved ideal choice. As a wheelchair user, she particularly praises its accessibility and found its staff very supportive. “It’s close to the bus and the train station. Location is often a barrier for people to get to a gig, but it’s not there,” she says. “They’re so embedded in the local music scene and have international artists coming over, so I just think it’s so important and I’m so happy for them to be celebrating 25 years.”

She says she would happily put another gig on there after she graduates. “I loved putting the gig on there, everything was really smooth, the communication was great, the staff were really helpful, so I will definitely go there again to promote a gig.”

For details on events at The Wardrobe visit: https://www.thewardrobe.co.uk/