Hellooo! A couple of weeks ago I booked a last minute ticket for the Saturday matinee performance of The Band at the Leeds Grand Theatre! I was sat in seat AA 49 (front row) in the balcony which was marked as restricted view but it wasn't too bad! I did feel myself leaning forward here and there if something happened on the front left of the stage which I couldn't quite see but I did enjoy not having any heads in front of me! One thing I'm not keen on at the Grand Theatre is that the seats are pretty uncomfortable and there's not a lot of legroom but I think that's down to it being an old theatre though I have yet to sit in the stalls and they look a little more spread out but I may be wrong. However, the staff are always super nice which gets every theatre trip off to a good start! Oh and the ticket cost £20.50 including a £1.00 delivery charge!
Now I've already seen The Band on tour when it was in Bradford last year and I've already written a review of the show so I'll try not to repeat myself too much! In Bradford I managed to see the debut of Harry (Fabulous) Brown as Yazdan Qafouri was unable to perform which was amazing to see but I was hoping to experience the full cast this time round. I didn't see any signs up anywhere in the theatre so I assumed we had the full cast but when the boys of the band made their first appearance on stage I immediately noticed Harry was on and Yazdan was missing again. I think it's my destiny to just never see Yazdan perform! However, I loved seeing how much the whole cast but particularly Harry had grown since the last time I saw them! In his debut he seemed a bit nervous and made a couple of mistakes but on Saturday he looked completely at home on the stage and you wouldn't have been able to tell he was an understudy if you didn't know!
Again, I loved the sets and the use of projections and how musicians were hidden within the set. The Band has less of an orchestra and more of a pop/rock band for the live music accompanying the show which suits it perfectly. However, I found that at times the music, particularly the bass, was pretty loud and towards the end of the show I felt a headache coming. I'm not sure if this was just due to where I was sat or if the show was just mixed a bit louder that day as I don't remember it being so loud when I saw it in Bradford and that time I was sat on the front row right near the speakers!
The first time I went to see The Band, the only programmes available were the smaller house programmes but a month or so after, they released full size souvenir brochures so I grabbed one of those from Leeds! However, my obsession with programmes made me buy the Leeds house programme too! I was hoping they'd have a deal where you get a discount if you get both programmes like they did when I went to see Evita but unfortunately they didn't and so it cost £10 for the souvenir programme and £4 for the house programme. I do really like the souvenir programme though and I'm glad I bought it, it has cast interviews, pictures from rehearsals and plenty of pretty pictures from the show!
Having seen it twice now, I think The Band gets the balance between tears and laughter pretty spot on. As much as there are some heartbreaking moments in the show, it still retains an uplifting feel and I love the cast! They're all so well suited to their roles and the members of The Band provide a perfect musical backdrop for the show. At times the music does feel a little separated from the main story line as though it is more like background music than part of the show but it also weaves back into the show when the girl are more involved. Overall, I think it works well and I don't know if that really makes any sense but it might do if you've seen it and if you haven't seen it, I'd definitely recommend it!
Thanks for reading!
Sophie
