Some twenty eight years after the debut single Hand In Glove and two days before the arrival of Complete (a thirty quid eight CD career re-mastering), the Brudenell is celebrating a light that will never go out. That light is of course the music of The Smiths.

As you’ve already guessed The Smyths are a tribute band …the first to appear in the Leeds Scenester. Its easy to be sniffy about tribute bands and impossible to assess them as well as Paul Morley. That said, there’s a mirror by the side of the Brudenell stage and if you look hard you’d swear that this was the real deal. Tonight Graham Sampson is Steven Morrissey: NHS glasses, red cardigan and striking pose after pose with that effete toughness of our hero. At one point in the evening Graham with hand on hip threatens an obnoxious punter with “Do that again and I’ll kick you in the face”. Quite scary and totally in character.

At 9pm sharp the five piece band take the stage to the accompaniment of the theme tune to The Apprenctice (so much more apt than Dance of the Knights) and launch into The Queen Is Dead. It is exciting and fun and ends with some thrilling guitar. Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now follows and the audience are straight into ‘I know all the words sing-a-long mode’ and they do know them even though most were surely born long after The Smith’s demise.

After a stunning start the pace slackens around You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet and Wonderful Woman (the bar gets very busy) but perks up with the glammy Panic and Sheila Take A Bow. Pity that the sublime words of Cemetry Gates and Frankly Mr Shankly get lost in the melee

The Boy With the Thorn In his Side gets a great reception. There is call and response and a tangible connection between band and audience. Shoplifters of the World Unite features lovely guitar breaks reminiscent of stacked Roy Buchanans. The first set ends with Morrissey’s Irish Blood, English Heart and more great guitar playing.

Intermission over, the club has cooled down, camera lenses demisted and Graham emerges resplendent in black cardigan and pearls with Please Please Please. The crowd love it!

Sadly during This Charming Man a minority are getting increasingly boisterous, drunk and frankly irksome throwing stuff both at the band and the audience and spoiling the fun. Graham bares a nipple and that seems to sober them up. Ask merges into the passionate guitar grunge of the rarely performed How Soon Is Now.
Everyday Is Like Sunday and Hand In Glove occasion much male hugging and removal of t-shirts. The band encore with a terrific rendition of what else but There Is A Light That Never Goes Out.

The Smyths are a facsimile who make the suspension of disbelief easy. They recreate and promote with much skill and affection the music of a long lost but not forgotten band. Earlier in the evening Graham reminded the audience that the last time they played Leeds “I was crap and you were tremendous”. Tonight the band were at the top of their game. But these gigs are really about the audience and none would have enjoyed a better Saturday night out than at the Brudenell.

Postscript Confession: prior to tonight not only had I been a little judgemental about tribute bands but I’d also rather dismissed The Smiths. I had never been a fan and only ever heard the Hatful of Hollow compilation. But after two and a half hours and countless songs everything is different now. Job done.

Review by Andrew Lindsay
Photography by Tony Butterworth