Yeah Yeah Yeah! Walkaway Britpop icons CAST ready to ‘erupt’ in Leeds as UK tour kicks off – buy tickets here
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Walkaway Britpop stars Cast are promising 90s anthems annd songs from latest hit album aeah Yeah Yeah when they kick off their October UK tour in Leeds – where their last tour “erupted”, frontman John Power told Graham Walker in an exclusive chat.
Cast frontman John Power wants to start his band’s October tour with a bang – and reckons Leeds is just the place to light the fuse.
The Liverpool indie favourites kick off their six-date UK tour at Leeds University Stylus on Thursday, October 1, promising a set mixing classics including Walkaway, Alright and Fine Time with songs from their latest Top 10 album, Yeah Yeah Yeah.
Yorkshire has long held a special place in Cast’s story – and Power remembers a previous Leeds show being the night a whole tour suddenly caught fire.
“That is the night the tour erupted,” he recalled. “It was an amazing night. The crowd were great, and from then on, the rest of the tour was just up there.
“The Leeds fans have always backed us, and we appreciate that."
And after more than 30 years, Power believes Cast are on top form.
“The band are playing better than they ever played, and I genuinely mean that,” he said.
“I’m just singing better, and I’m in a very good place where I don’t feel I’ve got to force anything. I’ve just got to let go of it.”
“We are right in the sweet spot at the moment, when it comes to playing, creating, and connecting with the audiences.”
Leeds fans can expect plenty of the hits – but Power is particularly excited about how seamlessly newer songs including Free Love and Poison Vine now sit alongside Cast’s biggest anthems.
“If I played Free Love straight after Walkaway, or Poison Vine after Fine Time, nothing drops,” he said.
“The songs already work very beautifully together, dynamically and sonically.”
Walkaway is probably CAST’s best-known and most enduring song. It reached No. 9 in 1996, spent seven weeks on the UK chart, and was memorably used by the BBC after England’s Euro ’96 semi-final defeat.
It’s also currently their most-streamed track on Spotify, comfortably ahead of Alright.
So why are the songs Cast and their contemporaries made in the 1990s still connecting with fans – including a new generation discovering them three decades later?
“It was classic and it was heartfelt,” said Power. “The 90s was a very special epoch of music. It was quite eclectic.
“It wasn’t just northern lads with guitars, although that was a big part of it. There was a lot going on.
“Melodies and choruses matter.”
And hearing Walkaway unexpectedly coming out of the radio still gives him a buzz.
“Of course it does,” he said, while pointing out Cast are far from simply trading on nostalgia.
Yeah Yeah Yeah reached the UK Top 10 after its January release, with new tracks Poison Vine, Free Love and Calling Out Your Name receiving national radio airplay.
His advice to young musicians dreaming of following Cast’s path is equally simple.
“Whilst you’ve got a dream and while you’re nurturing it, then there’s a chance it can happen.”
Cast enjoyed another huge moment supporting Oasis on their 2025 stadium tour – and Power admits he would love another call when Oasis return to Knebworth in 2027, 31 years after Cast appeared on their historic 1996 bill.
Has that call arrived yet?
“No,” he said. “I think they’re still sorting things. I don’t know. I don’t get involved in these sorts of things.
“But it would be amazing, of course.”
For now, his focus is firmly on Cast – and Leeds.
“I feel Cast are right in the sweet spot at the moment when it comes to playing, creating and connecting with the audiences.
“It feels great, and I feel there’s more to give.”
And there certainly is.
Power revealed Cast will return to the studio with producer Youth in February to make another album, planned for release in 2028.
More than three decades after All Change, he is still chasing the same thing.
“I’m still trying to write that song,” he said.
“The song.”
CAST UK TOUR OCTOBER 2026
Thursday, October 1 – Leeds University Stylus*
Friday, October 2 – Edinburgh, The Queen’s Hall*
*Saturday, October 3 – Manchester, New Century Hall*
Thursday, October 22 – Newcastle University**
Friday, October 23 – London, Electric Ballroom**
Saturday, October 24 – Liverpool Dome**
* Plus special guests Trampolene
** Plus special guests Pastel