Martha Wainwright in Leeds

On the first of June Sam and I had tickets to see Martha Wainwright in Leeds. We absolutely love her and have seen her a number of times over the years, although we couldn't remember exactly the last time we had seen her. It was the 20th anniversary of her debut album, because we are all old as fuck these days, so she was playing the album in its entirety. We bought tickets back in November and it felt like forever away, but now it's June which just seems crackers, we're nearly halfway through the year!

Sam and I decided to meet at Zaap to eat first. It's a Thai restaurant at the bottom of the Grand Arcade and I've been past it a hundred times but have never been in. I know that Sam had been before though and she said it was good. I drove to Leeds and parked just down from Zaap because I know it's a decent car park and would be fine late on too. I was a bit early so I walked up and got us a table in Zaap. Sam arrived not too long afterwards. 

I had a frozen lemonade which was slushy and delicious. To start with we shared vegetable spring rolls and deep fried tofu with chilli sauce. They were both nice but the tofu needed a bit of seasoning on it as it was a bit dull. Then I had tofu paneang curry with rice which was spicy and delicious. So good! I really liked it.

We then walked up to the City Varieties Hall where Martha was playing. It wasn't quite open as we were early, so we went in the pub next door. Then we also had a drink in the theatre itself before we took our seats. Martha came on just after 7.30 and played about half of the album in an hour or so. She always has interesting stories to tell. Her band were good and included her cousin Lily Lanken. After an hour there was an interval. I popped to the loo but we didn't move otherwise. 

Martha came back on by herself at first. She played a new song, which was great, and a cover of a Rufus Wainwright song (her brother, if you didn't know) which was good. Then she played the rest of the album and finished off with Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole (a song about her dad, Loudon Wainwright III). She finished at 9.30 so it was still light when we left the theatre! I was home by 10.10pm which was perfect! 

It was a good night, I enjoyed myself.

Starters

And my amazing curry

And the stage before Martha and her band came on. It was more like a theatre show than a gig because you couldn't really take photos while she was on. We were on the third row, right in the middle, so had a brilliant view