The Undertones – Live in Leeds 2026 – “energy, teenage dreams and banging tunes”

Project House, Leeds 16^th October 2026

Thirty-one songs in under an hour and a half – nearly as relentless as The Ramones’ ‘It’s Alive’ early live set and with even more tunes. An Undertones gig is a warm and good natured run through of being sixteen, seen through the eyes of grey-haired folks. Packed with songs about chocolate and girls, we are celebrating the simple joys of energy, teenage dreams and banging tunes. The riffs pile up furiously and most songs are hammered out faster than the originals. In fact, the punky star has been in the ascendant for the band for years; favouring the first two albums, with their unified ethos.

This band grew and changed fast, growing into a gorgeously sweet abstruseness with the third album then a soul-influenced set that undeservedly put an end to the band’s popularity. Reformed in the new century, with a new singer, two albums appeared in 2003 and 2007. As a live proposition, we discard the new: ‘Thrill Me’ is the only song from the fifth album: ‘Love Parade’, the only from the fourth, and while we get the whole of the first album, we only get seven from the second. I can see why – ‘Love Parade’ lacks the necessary refinement and songs like ‘Julie Ocean’ don’t reward leaping energy and riffing. On that song, they comment; “we’re often asked why we don’t play this one, so tonight we will”. I see why; I love the album but this is an evening for jigging about, not swooning. And that’s jigging, not pogoing – us old folks don’t have the stamina or knees for moshing.

Michael Bradley looks out at the flat and characterless space of Project House and tells us “I love this room; it reminds me of school. Except I won’t get my head held down the toilet”. That aside, he and Paul McLoone keep the banter and cracks going. “I thought that went well”, Michael smiles after ‘I Know A Girl’, “I’m biased”.

Most of the crowd are singing along much of the time, soaking up the happy energy. Smiles beam throughout as big tune follows big tune, with the occasional switch to a non-oldie not distracting from the flow. So the old-but-never-recorded ‘Bad Loser’ is dropped in (“we made that one up last week” fibs Michael), as are ‘Time Is Terminal’, ‘Johnny C’mon’, and ‘Lost Connection’. It’s a major treat for a band of this vintage to add something to the repertoire. The latter sees Damien O’Neill get some of his tasty but infrequent soloing in.

Songs like ‘Boys Will Be Boys’ shift from a punchy paced pop piece to a Ramones-ish punk race. Paul McLoone does a great job on vocals, with a light warble and a great deal of flamboyant showboating. He rolls his eyes to the ceiling when asked to over-emote, spins and gesticulates. ‘Wednesday Week’ gets a slower pace and a bit more space, being a much-loved highlight to the evening. ‘It’s Going To Happen’ is super-fast, in contrast to the record and is churning rather than chiming. Similarly, ‘When Saturday Comes’ is a drum and riff onslaught. ‘Get Over You’ is a huge singalong and sums up the evening’s set before a five song encore opening with another new song, 2026’s ‘Johnny C’mon’.

With a fistful of new material, I wonder if we might squeeze one more album out of The Undertones. It’d be a great late-career flourish to add to the regular live gigs that show a continued love of celebrating this terrific songbook.