Wakefield band support Jake Bugg at Leeds Arena

Four-piece band Skinny Living are used to playing gigs with crowds of about 30 people, but at the weekend they got the chance to play in front of 11,000 people at Leeds First Direct Arena.
Skinny Living. Pictures courtesy of Clevershot 2014, www.clevershot.co.uk.Skinny Living. Pictures courtesy of Clevershot 2014, www.clevershot.co.uk.
Skinny Living. Pictures courtesy of Clevershot 2014, www.clevershot.co.uk.

The Wakefield-based outfit were given the chance of being the warm-up act for Jake Bugg, who was at the arena to mark First Direct’s 25th anniversary.

Arena manager Tony Watson said: “Sunday saw one of our Sound of the Month Bands, Skinny Living, being offered the support slot to a sold out audience of more than 11​,000​.

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​“​For an unsigned band to play a sold out arena is a fairly unique occurrence, but they didn’t just do well, they were amazing and won over so many fans.​“​

​Tony and the arena team are now backing the band’s bid to enter the Top 40 Download chart by Sunday.

He added: “​They also launched their brand new single Mother Earth at the gig and we’re supporting them this week in their campaign to get into the top 40. Be part of history, jump onto iTunes and download Mother Earth by Skinny Living and help get an unsigned band into the charts.​”

Lead singer Ryan Johnston, 27, said: “It was amazing to play in front of a crowd that large.

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“We were nervous until about 20 minutes before we went on and then, we seemed to play the best we’ve ever done.

“There was so much feedback from the crowd, it was a really great experience.”

He said they had previously come close to entering the download charts with a previous song but added they now had considerably more fans.

“We did something similar in March with our single, Storybook, which got to number 39 on the Amazon download chart and 77 in the iTunes pop chart and back then we only had about 700 followers on social media.

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“Now, as a result of the gig at Leeds Arena, we have more than 8,500 followers.

“We won’t know until Sunday how we’ve done but we just thought it was worth another go at getting into the charts.”

Pictures courtesy of ©Clevershot 2014, www.clevershot.co.uk