{"id":202126,"date":"2025-06-21T08:59:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T08:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/202126\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T08:59:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T08:59:10","slug":"the-soundtrack-to-a-sweaty-heatwave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/202126\/","title":{"rendered":"the soundtrack to a sweaty heatwave"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"OSEES<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Osees)<\/p>\n

Sat 21 June 2025 9:24, UK <\/p>\n

Every summer, we Brits find ourselves unable to deal with the sudden blast of heat that seems to reign down over us for a short period, causing eager bodies to flock to parks, tinnies in hands, while complaints of the sheer humidity and lack of air conditioning never fail to come up in conversation. As someone who gets easily claustrophobic, a packed gig isn\u2019t my preferred place to be when it\u2019s 30 degrees, but when the Osees<\/a> are in your city, you go and see them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Almost two years ago, I was able to see the Californian outfit twice in one week, first at London\u2019s Wide Awake Festival as the sun set over Brockwell Park, then at Brudenell Social Club in Leeds<\/a>, my favourite venue of all time. These two experiences cemented the band as one of the greatest live acts I\u2019d ever witnessed, harnessing a seemingly unlimited supply of stamina. <\/p>\n

Since then, I\u2019ve vowed to see them whenever the opportunity arises, and a heatwave wasn\u2019t going to stop me. I\u2019m not that weak. After one contact lens crisis and a very miserable Uber driver, I arrived at Leeds Irish Centre, which sits slightly unassuming on the side of the A64 coming out of the city centre. I prayed for the air conditioning to be on full blast. <\/p>\n

When my friend and I walked into the gig room, a sea of (predominantly male) bodies lined the room as a sonic assault hit us as intensely as the thick layer of heat that emanated from every crevice and every pore around me. I could smell people\u2019s shampoo and sweat blended together. I could see pieces of hair moulded into ringlets on the back of people\u2019s necks, dancing into swirls and shapes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The support act, an electronic noise act called Container, was the kind of artist I would usually be fascinated by. Yet, if I\u2019m being honest, his incredibly abrasive sound \u2013 like a broken dishwasher clattering through an elaborate sound system \u2013 created an alarmingly overwhelming atmosphere. Intense feels like an understatement; it was overpowering, and paired with the heat, I felt like I\u2019d walked into a surreal nightmare. <\/p>\n

Eventually, we crammed ourselves into the venue for Osees, and people quickly threw their bodies together despite the temperature \u2013 they were more dedicated than me. Instead, I stood by the side, afraid to find myself met with the body odour of strangers that radiated from armpits or the crease of a sweaty neck. Like the previous times I\u2019ve seen the band, Osees began playing with little introduction, launching into their first song 20 minutes before they were scheduled to begin. <\/p>\n

How the band found the stamina in that heat is beyond me, but then again, they can probably withstand heat better than us Brits. Trying to find any pocket of cool air coming from the units above, I soon realised it was futile. I\u2019d have to give in to the heat and surrender to the chaos unfolding around me. <\/p>\n

I watched the lights dance in patterns on the ceiling as the band cycled through their most popular tracks, long jammy numbers, and short shocks of punk-infused noise. Crowd surfers and moshers seemed undeterred by the fact there was a very limited supply of fresh, cool air in there, because when a band as good as Osees delivers you an hour and a half set, you suck it up. There are worse places to be on a Friday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n

The Far Out Music Newsletter<\/p>\n

All the latest music news from the independant voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ Osees) Sat 21 June 2025 9:24, UK Every summer, we Brits find ourselves unable…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,393,4884,1039,1860,45453,81562,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-202126","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-homepage","12":"tag-leeds","13":"tag-live-review","14":"tag-osees","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114720536899215153","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}