Skids/Au Pairs – Leeds Beckett University 27/3/26

In an age where our rock stars can seem bland, it is so refreshing to have two artists who have something to say about just how difficult the world is in 2026. Lesley Woods from Au Pairs is one of those artists and I was so pleased to have got to see her play live for the first time in a venue that holds some dear memories for me having visited here first some 35 years earlier. Au Pairs last toured even further in the past with the original line up of the band parting ways in the mid 1980’s but you would never have guessed as this Yorkshire crowd greets the band like an old friend!

The 2026 incarnation of Au Pairs is a fine vintage, with Woods joined by Alex Ward/ Jem Doultan (previously seen playing with Thurstan Moore from Sonic Youth’s solo outings) and Estella Adeyeri (Big Joanie/Widget) and I have to say that they sound great. Au Pairs only released two albums previously and we are treated to tracks like I Knew It, Do It Again and Love Song early in the set. A version of the David Bowie track, Repetition, is the first track that Lesley Woods plays showing how music and art can say important things, in this instance highlighting violence against women. Further topics covered include the conflicts in Sudan, Palestine etc (Hell On Earth) and a new track (Wrong Body) about trans Gender rights. As I said at the start of this review, the world in 2026 is in a difficult place and we need artists like Au Pairs to be brave enough to spotlight it.

But the night is in no way all serious, with Lesley informing us of a truly life changing moment that happened to her the last time she played in Leeds which was when she discovered the joy of of chips with curry sauce so if this doesn’t go on to prove that she is a woman of great taste well, nothing will. Au Pairs leave us with three great tracks, Unfinished Business (which surely could describe the joy of the band returning after forty years) and two of my favourites, It’s Obvious and You. I know that I am not the only person in the audience who hopes it will be a short time before Au Pairs return to this city!

And so to our headliners, Scotland’s finest (and original) Punk band,  Skids. Led by one of the great frontmen Richard Jobson, who despite having been in this rock and roll lark for the best part of 50 years, is a ball of energy throughout, looking like a boxer getting ready for a Championship bout. This tour is celebrating their 1980 album The Absolute Game which they are playing in full. The band start with the tracks Happy To Be With You and Out Of Town which shows the more Skids savy members of the audience that they won’t be playing the tracks in order, which is something I appreciate, as it can sometimes take away the excitement of what is coming next. Circus Games comes next and in many ways it is Jobson’s stories about the making of the record that make this concert so special. He is also so respectful of the sorely missed Stuart Adamson who obviously had so much to do with what Skids became. This Leeds crowd on a Friday night is in the mood for a sing a long as they blast out the chorus of both Hurry On Boys and A Woman In Winter.

Throughout the show Richard Jobson tells us stories about the album and takes us back firstly to the Hammersmith Odeon (none of this Apollo nonsense) in 1981, then tells us what it was like to witness not the beautiful women in your audience but fat bald Geordies, as well as revealing what Top Of The Tops was really like back in the day. We get lost tracks from The Absolute Game, that have not been played live since the album’s release (Goodbye Civilian) or the track that both he and Adamson loved playing (Arena).

It is not just songs from The Absolute Game that we get to hear as the band break in to The Saints Are Coming of which Jobson reveals that had U2 and Green Day not recorded the song together, well they would not be here today. Masquerade sounds good, Into The Valley sounds incredible and even I am surprised at the vigour I put in to screaming Albert Tatlock, the Coronation Street character’s name during TV Stars. But for me, of all the stories that Jobson tells tonight I think that when he talks of writing the lyrics to Working For The Yankee Dollar as a 16 year old in Dunfermline Library is my favourite.

Skids will be playing The Punks Against Cancer Charity Show in Derby (2/5), Vive Le Rock’s 16^th Birthday Party (London 30/5) and Rebellion Festival’s 30^th Birthday in August!