Surrounded by 16 year old girls with braces, I know I’m deep into indie pop territory. If there were any more you’d be forgiven for thinking you were at a 5SOS concert. Encircling the mostly female teenage cohort is a scattering of students, clutching drinks as the support artists play their acoustic folk ballads. Finally, at the back of Plug, a mostly student nightclub in Sheffield, stand a few middle aged fans – or more likely, parents of fans.

The first musician, Michael Cassidy, takes centre stage, armed with a guitar and a soft Glaswegian accent, and starts strumming. Songs of love, metaphorical oceans and… more love. It’s very calming, and very much folk. So too are the next supporting act, a two man band called Into The Ark. When I later ask them where they got their name, singer Dane Lloyd concisely explains: ‘two by two’, as he points to co-singer Taylor Jones. Given enough popularity, Lloyd tells me, the pair would love to get a few more band members and move towards more of a soul/reggae vibe. The south Wales duo come across as really genuine guys, and during the performance I’m mesmerised by their use of a loop pedal to create beats over their singing in harmony. If they had a banjo, you could imagine them singing Mumford and Sons songs with ease.

Finally, to raucous screams, London based quintet Eliza and the Bear take the stage. Frontman James Kellegher, with a Shoreditch worthy beard and hipster good looks, swishes his hand through his hair before the band explodes into ‘Lion’s Heart’. Their bouncy, feel good vibe is infectious and floods the room. Without stopping for breath, they seamlessly transition into ‘Light It Up’. Their lyrics are uplifting and metaphorical; “I found myself in the cold but I’m still here/ I found myself growing old but I’m still here” (repeat, three more times); perhaps a little repetitive, and interspersed with a lot of ‘oh’s, but the crowd love it.

After every song, the guitarists (Kellegher, Martin Dukelow and, on bass, Chris Brand) swap their guitars over from the impressively equipped guitar rack at the side of the stage that must contain at least a dozen guitars. Just as I begin to consider that they sound repetitive, the band start playing a song I’ve never heard before. It sounds less The Vamps and more Arcade Fire, and I like it. I can’t put my finger on what makes the song sound more mature, but it certainly does. I hope it’s a sign of things to come when the band release their debut album, ‘It Gets Cold’, on 8th March.

About halfway through the set, the band take a quick break to sing happy birthday to one of the fans at the front. It adds a personal touch to the evening, and everyone joins in. The next song (another I cannot name) has a slower, more solid beat, and quite an impressive guitar solo, and I feel as though we’re heading towards the end of the set – unfortunately. I want to hear more of this sound, but I’ll have to wait. It’s at this point that Kellegher confidently tells us what is to happen next. “Encores are pretentious as fuck”, he explains, going on to tell us that, instead, they would play the next song and walk off; we’d start chanting; and they would come on and play one more. We all know that’s how encores work, but at least we’re on the same page, and their matter of fact approach is refreshing. Someone near the back, in a strong northern accent, starts a chant of “Yorkshire! Yorkshire!” Kellegher looks puzzled and exclaims, “You’re shit?” Coming from London myself, I empathise with the accent barrier.

Exactly what does happen is that they play ‘Make It On My Own’ before leaving the stage, the crowd chant ‘you’re shit’, and the band enthusiastically return. I only hope no one walked in at that moment. Thoughtfully dedicating the final song of the evening to Viola Beach, a band who Kellegher and co have played with in the past, and who were tragically killed in a car crash last week, they end with ‘It Gets Cold’. Phone torches out, arms up, the crowd sing along as the drum beat halves for the final chorus. Perhaps they are a little on the cringey feel-good side, or even a little generic, but as I find myself humming the tune of Light It Up, I can’t help slightly loving Eliza and the Bear.

Seafret, who originate from Bridlington, played an intimate show in Leeds on the 4th February. This was the last date in a series of in-store shows at independent record stores around the country, following the release of their debut album ‘Tell Me It’s Real’, which came out on the 29th January this year. The Leeds leg of the tour took place at Headrow House, and was hosted by independent record store Crash, situated just a few doors down from the venue.

The free gig attracted a decent-sized crowd for the small venue. As people started filling the room, they edged their way forward towards the front of the stage, and sat down to await the arrival of the band. Once they came on stage, everyone immediately took to their feet to welcome them, eager and ready for them to begin their set.

To kick-start the night, they played ‘Atlantis’, setting the tone for the remaining 40 minutes of the set – a tone that was laid back, and made for enjoyable easy-listening. The whole atmosphere was very chilled and relaxed, and although this may have had something to do with the size of the venue, I think that even with a larger audience they would have had the power to create a calm ambience in the air.

With meaningful lyrics and rhythmic guitar chords, Seafret are all set to climb to success. Having already had a taste of what it’s like, supporting some top names like James Bay and Hozier, I can only imagine their hunger for more – and there will be plenty of people on board to see them succeed too. They’re a breath of fresh air that would be a great addition to anyone’s chilled Sunday afternoon playlist.

If you want to know where some of their musical influences come from, you just have to look to their East Coast home roots. As you look through the track listing of their album, you notice songs with names like ‘Oceans’, ‘To The Sea’, and of course ‘Atlantis’, which we heard that night. From their lyrics to the band name itself, the sea has naturally found a way to shape the band into who they are and what they produce, and it’s really worked for them.

After playing a few pre-selected tracks from the album, they did an encore of ‘Be There’, which was requested by the audience. This one was slightly more up-tempo, especially during the chorus, and was a definite favourite. It ended the gig on a high, and looking around, I couldn’t see one dissatisfied person in the audience.

With the venue being so small, it gave the band the opportunity to interact with the crowd throughout the gig on a more personal level. Vocalist Jack Sedman mentioned that he recognised a few faces in the audience, which demonstrated their appreciation for their fans. Sedman and his bandmate, guitarist Harry Draper, were also eager to encourage the crowd – faces new and old – to stick around after the performance for a chat while they signed albums.

To finish the gig, not only did the band thank everybody for taking time out of their lives to come and watch them, but they thanked Crash Records for hosting them too. They didn’t lose sight of what the performance was all about though, ensuring that they dropped in a quick light-hearted promotion – reminding people to grab a copy of ‘Tell Me It’s Real’.

Sedman and Draper are both so likeable, and if anyone deserves success I believe they do. It was clear to see how humbled they were to have the support of those who turned up, and of those who had already bought their album. I certainly only have fantastic things to say about them.

The atmosphere of his show at Leeds’ The Library Pub was relatively sombre. It was clear that people had come just to see the infamous YouTuber in person, just to be able to brag about having seen him live at house parties for the foreseeable future. Around 200 people had splashed their cash and dedicated their whole evening just to hearing the 4 minutes and 18 seconds of a live rendition of Donny Soldier, but the excitement was hardly bursting out of the room.

Micky P Kerr, the comedy folk singer from Leeds, was the first to grace us with his presence and was given the hard job of warming up the diverse crowd. He took to the stage, guitar in hand, and instantly gripped the crowd with his slightly offensive yet overwhelmingly hilarious set. His obvious wit combined with his clear talent for folk singing provided the crowd with an ear-pleasing half an hour of singalongs and laughs.

Only a small portion of the crowd knew who Micky P Kerr was before he entered the room, but by the end all eyes were on him and he had every single person shouting his own lyrics back at him. This came as a nice surprise for the unsuspecting members of the crowd who’d assumed they’d be standing around for two hours, impatiently waiting for Devvo’s arrival.

At the end of his set, having displayed a wide range of musical talents, he said a hasty goodbye and then perched at the edge of the stage willingly chatting to his new fans and selling his albums for whatever the poor students in the room were willing to pay. Despite the fact that pursuing music seems to be merely a hobby for Kerr, he has the right attitude and artistic talent to gather fans wherever he goes.

Following Kerr on stage was Jack the Rapper, from Halifax; the final support act before our ears were to be offended by Devvo’s crude rapping. He kicked off straight away with some fast rhymes and tuneful beats, but the crowd was drifting without the humour of Kerr’s set to capture their attention.

Although Yorkshire man Jack the Rapper, with his inviting personality, was arguably the most talented of the night, he just didn’t seem to be able to build a rapport with the audience. A few people in the crowd were sober enough to appreciate the blatant talent that was being spat at us from the stage, but the rest just wanted to get their sing along with Devvo and be out of there.

Despite the lack of enthusiasm from the crowd, Jack the Rapper played on, offering crowd interaction and never faltering in his set. I’ve seen artists of lesser talent throw in the towel as soon as the audience don’t react how they’d like, but Jack was commendable in his continuation of his set, and gave his all until the end. In a different crowd who had a specific interest in rap, Jack the Rapper would have flourished – he’ll go far in his career with his genuine talent.

When Jack exited the stage to make room for Devvo, the crowd urgently bustled in closer. He came bursting onto the stage complete with trackies and his signature Burberry cap. His persona was highly comical and I could have happily watched him do a full blown stand-up comedy set.

In between Devvo’s abusing of the crowd and poor rapping of his two other vaguely well-known songs, the crowd kept chanting lyrics from ‘Donny Soldier’. It was clear to both Devvo and the crowd that no one wanted to hang around and listen to him chant abuse – we could have just watched that on YouTube. We wanted ‘Donny Soldier’, and at what should have just been the first half of his set we got the full four minutes of the song we were after.

As soon as the song ended, he said his swift goodbyes and the crowd raced outside just in time to see him speeding off back to Doncaster in a battered hatchback any boy racer would be proud of.

Despite the set being short and the musical talent being non-existent, the crowd still left the gig pleased. Everyone left the building still chanting the lyrics to ‘Donny Soldier’, a little bit happier with themselves knowing that next weekend they could use the line “I’ve met Devvo y’no” to impress their mates at a party.