Last night I was lucky enough to be invited to the First Direct Arena in Leeds for an evening of live music to celebrate the 25th anniversary of First Direct, and also to mark the first birthday of the arena building itself. The arena is a pretty exciting new addition to the city of Leeds, and before last night I hadn't had a chance to visit and check out the new stage and see a performance, so it was a pretty amazing thing for me to be invited along to. The live music acts who we were set to see perform last night included Skinny Living and Hudson Taylor, who were the warm-up acts for the one and only Jake Bugg.
I met my friend Kate at the Merrion Centre and we headed over to the arena; I didn't actually realise how centrally located it was until we got there! Pretty ideal really - and we headed for the newly-designed First Direct Bar. It was all brand new and swish; designed by interior design graduate, Kyle Minnock. Once inside we helped ourselves to a glass or two of champagne and a few foodie nibbles and had a good look around inside the bar.
Then once we'd had a couple of drinks. we were treated to an exclusive live performance from Skinny Living right then and there in the bar area! They came down and gave us a sneak preview of what was to come later onstage. The first I'd heard of Skinny Living was actually on Look North early last week and after hearing them perform on the news I was pretty impressed that we would be seeing them live!
After the sneak preview performance we listened to a quick speech from Tracy Garrad, the chief executive from First Direct. The speech gave us a brief insight into the nature of the company and how First Direct strives, above all, for excellent customer service. A good fact to know was that 80% of the customers who signed up 25 years ago are still actually banking with them - if that's not a sign of good customer service then I'm not sure what is!
We then headed up to our suites and took our places for the live show. I've never been to a gig and sat in a suite before so this was pretty cool! We grabbed a drink and sat down ready for Skinny Living's performance.
This was when I'd wished I'd taken my super zoomy lens because I'd have loved to have gotten some better quality photos of the bands when they were on stage! So I do apologise for the shaky quality but to be honest - I was half singing along when I took the photos anyway...
...I promise there are bands onstage in those photos, honest! The arena itself is a perfect size - wherever you're stood or seated you'd get a brilliant view of the stage and the performing acts. I said to Kate that it would be perfect for seeing a stand-up comedian, as it is just small enough to feel quite intimate but big enough to feel like a proper event... If that makes sense!
Whilst Hudson Taylor were performing, we had a cheeky visit from Skinny Living themselves right to our suite! I took the opportunity to snap some photos and obviously couldn't resist getting in there for some as well!
Look at us all starstruck and that... N'aww. The lads were really lovely and it was great to have the chance to meet them as well! Between Skinny Living and Hudson Taylor, both Kate and I agreed that we were more into the style of music Skinny Living were playing - so we left with a new band we could fangirl over!
Then it was time for Jake Bugg's performance to begin - the crowd were all obviously mega fans because as soon as he started it was like they'd blown the roof off the arena. I took a few snaps and we listened and sang along.
About halfway through the gig, we got taken right down to the side of the stage for a closer view and to get some better photos! Or at least, I would have got some better photos if I was about ten inches taller and had a much steadier hand!! I'm no good at taking photos in low-light situations, clearly!!
This guy below with the mega long arms sitting in front of our suite was having a hell of a good time and making us giggle!
Jake finished off with Lightning Bolt - probably the most recognisable of all his songs and to say the crowd went a bit crazy when this song started would be a bit of an understatement! We sang along to the last song, I took a couple more photos and then before we knew it the lights were all up and it was home time!
We both had a really good night and all the performances were brilliant; although I kind of feel like Skinny Living stole the show for me... And not just because I got a photo with them! Tut! I've actually been wandering around work today humming along to myself then realising it's a Skinny Living song and thinking how cool I am now. If you haven't checked them out yet then here's a link to their new song called Mother Earth - which is pretty damn awesome.
I'd to say an absolutely massive thank you to everyone at Aberfield PR (especially Becky who stalks me reads my blog regularly) and everyone at First Direct for the hospitality and for letting us take over a suite for the evening and for introducing us to such amazing bands. I'm not going to lie, it's pretty cool getting opportunities like this coming my way because of blogging - I love blogging anyway but getting the chance to spend a Sunday evening as a VIP at a live music gig is a pretty amazing thing. I'm so grateful for every little thing that happens as a result of blogging anyway, but nights like last night really brought it all home that I'm really quite lucky!