{"id":29067,"date":"2026-09-23T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=29067"},"modified":"2026-09-22T11:17:41","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T10:17:41","slug":"the-molotovs-leeds-beckett-su-leeds-17th-september-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=29067","title":{"rendered":"The Molotovs \u2013 Leeds Beckett SU, Leeds \u2013 17th September 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
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What a difference 9 months makes. Back in January, I caught these young upstarts, The Molotovs, up the road at The Lending Room, it has a capacity of 200. They hadn\u2019t even released an album yet. Now, the London-based trio are in the midst of a (mostly sold-out) UK tour promoting their debut album \u2018Wasted On Youth\u2019. This venue is an upgrade from The Wardrobe due to demand; it holds around 1000. The Molotovs are blowing up, and for good reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Siblings Mathew & Issey Cartlidge have been gigging hard for a few years now and deliver a ferocious Mod-tinged racket that\u2019s part Weller, part Gallagher. The debut album is choc-a-bloc with tunes and the follow-up \u2018Welcome To Urbia\u2019 is already in the bag.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The room is packed by the time they walk on and blast into \u2018Johnny Don\u2019t Be Scared\u2019. It\u2019s an older song, and not even on the debut, that\u2019s how confident they are. Dressed sharp, with a bleached buzz cut, singer\/guitarist Mathew may still be a teenager, but his vitriolic vocals and ringing power chords are those of a seasoned punk rock pro. The years of constant gigging have paid off in spades. Stage left, his older sister Issey is a haze of blonde hair and flailing limbs as she pulls perfect rock n\u2019 roll chic poses, the sort only years of bedroom mirror action can create. Behind them, drummer Noah Riley bashes like the bastard son of Keith Moon. It’s all going exceedingly well, The Molotovs are mesmerising to watch, and a photographer’s dream to shoot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anthemic single \u2018Rhythm Of Yourself\u2019 follows, proving these upstarts have the teenage kicks needed to thrill the youth of today. If only the Leeds crowd could return the energy the band put out. I know a Leeds audience is notoriously hard to win over, but it seems somewhere along the way, we have lost the ability to lose ourselves at a gig and actually have fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Molotovs have made the transition from small stage to large with ease. The trio look comfortable up there, they play tight and have buckets of energy. They look like they\u2019ve been doing it for years. The hour-long set covers most of the debut and a selection of future hits from the upcoming album. Brit Pop-tinged rockers like \u2018Daydreaming\u2019 and \u2018More More More\u2019 thrill, and the more emotive \u2018Geraldine\u2019 with its quirky backing vocals is a set highlight. Recent single \u2018Urbia\u2019 might not have the instant feel of past singles, but it bodes well for what is to come. Its B-side \u2018Down At The Caf\u00e9\u2019 also gets a live airing, it may be a better song, sounds like early Antmusic to me.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Modern radio-friendly anthem \u2018Today\u2019s Gonna Be Our Day\u2019 and the punked-up energy of \u2018Get A Life\u2019 wake the Leeds massive, and \u2018Wasted On Youth\u2019 builds to become a massive beast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main set closes with the obligatory raw and punky take on \u2018Suffragette City\u2019 before they return with newbie No Time To Talk\u2019 and closer \u2018Come On Now\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Molotovs are an exciting proposition. A band who have the songs, the energy and the aura of a real rock n\u2019 roll band. Mathew\u2019s ability as a writer to blend vintage Mod sounds with Britpop and deliver it with a punk energy makes most of his contemporaries look beige as fuck. If The Molotovs’ upcoming second album lives up to expectations, then they are destined to be one of the bands of 2027 and beyond. Remember where you heard the name first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author: Ben Hughes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What a difference 9 months makes. Back in January, I caught these young upstarts, The Molotovs, up the road at The Lending Room, it has a capacity of 200. They hadn\u2019t even released an album yet. Now, the London-based trio are in the midst of a (mostly sold-out) UK tour promoting their debut album \u2018Wasted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29071,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[726,1787,1818,1710,1681,8986],"class_list":["post-29067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-review","tag-ben-hughes","tag-its-a-revolution","tag-new-album","tag-rpm-online","tag-rpmnews1","tag-the-molotovs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29067"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29074,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29067\/revisions\/29074"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}