Family Friendly Gigs in Leeds? Toby Chelms introduces Youth Anthems

Family Friendly Gigs in Leeds? Toby Chelms introduces Youth Anthems …

Whilst I am aware that it is pretty much impossible for the following piece to not be (on some level at least) a plug for an upcoming event I have, I would really like for it to be more of an opportunity for some feedback; a chance to find out if I am currently spending an awful lot of hours on something that is . . . well . . . awful. So please, have a read and let me know your thoughts.

I first started going to gigs when I was about 13/14. These were little D.I.Y punk gigs in a local Watford school hall. They were incredible in spite of the fact that most of the bands were just playing bad Metallica covers (in fact they may have been incredible for this very reason) and knowing no different I assumed that all-ages gigs were just the norm and continued to revel in my naivety until the lure of the seaside, endless ice cream and a good education took me to Brighton whereupon I realised that the big cities don’t really cater for people under 18’s who want to go to gigs. Obviously being 18 I didn’t really think about this for a little while.

Then three years ago I moved to Leeds and continued putting on these little D.I.Y punk gigs myself as I had been for the past fifteen years but then myself and my Wife had a baby eight months ago and I began to remember back to those gigs in Watford and how it was becoming harder for me to get to gigs now but also how there was a generation of young people who weren’t having the fun of all ages punk gigs. So I had a thought and that turned into a plan and now I have a gig booked on August 11th at Wharf Chambers (I told you there would be a plug at some point) at which we have three acts spanning indie, punk and folk (but not all together that would sound horrendous) playing, the gig starts at 1:30pm and is all wrapped up by 4pm; people can bring children of all ages but you are much more than welcome to attend if you don’t have children too. There will be a bar, there will be facilities for baby changing, there will be earplugs available (though you will need to bring your own ear defenders for toddlers/babies) and there will be a quieter area if it all gets a bit much.

The plan is as simple as that but the question is does anyone want a gig like this? Would you take your children to a gig? Would you go to a gig where there are children? Would you go to a gig on a Sunday afternoon? Is there a very good reason why this isn’t already happening? Help me out people! I have a website up now at youthanthems.wordpress.com with more information but I genuinely would like some feedback as if this goes well then hopefully more of these events can happen in future (I have a massive list of local and non-local bands in my head that I think would work). No worries if you think it’s a bad idea, I have a million other projects I should be getting on with but if it’s a good idea and people attend then I will certainly keep it going on a more regular basis (I’m thinking a gig every 3 months or thereabouts). Please leave feedback in the comments section or feel free to tweet me @youth_anthems or fire an email off to [email protected].

Cheerio!

Toby Chelms is …

Male, 31, GSOH, likes coffee, cake and long walks in the . . . sorry wrong introduction. I’m originally from Watford but after living in Brighton for ten years I moved to Horsforth three years ago (my Wife is an actual Northerner) and now work for a charity in Leeds as a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist. For the last 15 years I have also put on a few D.I.Y gigs (mainly of the punk variety), put out zines, co-run a few zine festivals and booked the occasional tour for bands coming to the U.K as well as playing in a few bands myself. I currently play bass in Get Human, put on gigs under the name The New Wave of Cut & Paste and have recently started a new project called Youth Anthems putting on all-ages/family-friendly gigs.