Yard Act play new album ‘You’re Gonna Need A Little Music’ in full at intimate surprise London gig

Yard Act debuted forthcoming third album ‘You’re Gonna Need A Little Music’ in full last night (Thursday May 7), playing the just-announced record top to bottom at Tottenham’s Unit 58.

Having announced the album earlier in the day alongside the ominous crash of lead single ‘Redeemer’, the Leeds band took to the stage in the warehouse venue for a special show only announced to fans on their mailing list.

Kicking into the slow-building stream of consciousness of opening track ‘Empty Pledges’ and then the Beck-nodding ‘New Beginnings’, the set already found early fan favourites in the funk-tinged skulk of ‘Fiction’ and the record’s title track: a joyous piano-heavy highlight with touches of Pulp.

‘Cherophobe Rock’ arrived with a propulsive, ‘00s indie spirit before dropping out to a wonky, Blur-like piano outro, while ‘Thrill Of The Chase’ saw frontman James Smith spitting out its crescendo, as close to rap as the band have ever come.

Ahead of ‘Redeemer’, Smith then directed the crowd towards its new video, in which he shares the screen with a crow. “I was lucky enough to get acquainted with a crow and the handler said I had a way with them, which is true cos I’m friends with four crows,” he quipped before pointing out the members of post-punk band Crows in the crowd.

pic.twitter.com/7WZF6yIHdC

— P of the G (@roader71) May 7, 2026

Concluding the album with ‘Talky Talky People’ and ‘Over The Barrel’, the latter replete with a dummy ending that came back in to conclude with a multi-part harmony, Yard Act then declared that “as the gear’s already set up” they would finish the set with a few old songs. The night ended with debut album track ‘Dead Horse’, early single ‘Dark Days’ and, following chants from the crowd, an encore of ‘The Trapper’s Pelts’.

The live debut was befitting of the creation of ‘You’re Gonna Need A Little Music’, which saw the band – completed by bassist Ryan Needham, guitarist Sam Shipstone and drummer Jay Russell – record live in the room together for the first time. “The first two records were both laptop records essentially,” Smith said in a press statement about their previous work – 2022’s Mercury Prize nominated ‘The Overload’ and its 2024 follow-up ‘Where’s My Utopia?’.

Yard Act will release ‘You’re Gonna Need A Little Music’ on July 17 via Island Records.

Conversely, for ‘You’re Gonna Need A Little Music’, the band wrote “40 to 50 songs” in an “uninterrupted five month period” of creativity, then recording the album with Nine Inch Nails bassist Justin Meldal-Johnson between LA and Leeds.

So today it was off to unit 58
To see Yard Act play out their new album in full.
Can’t argue for £5 a ticket and a free tee-shirt, had worse Thursday nights pic.twitter.com/Dsl3Dlwu1w

— P of the G (@roader71) May 7, 2026

Yard Act played:

‘Empty Pledges’
‘New Beginnings’
‘Tall Tales’
‘Fiction’
‘You’re Gonna Need a Little Music’
‘Cherophobe Rock’
‘Thrill of the Chase’
‘Janey Said’
‘Redeemer’
‘Talky Talky People’
‘Over the Barrel’
‘Dead Horse’
‘Dark Days’
Encore:
‘The Trapper’s Pelts’

In addition, Yard Act will be extending their UK 2026 tour with a number of new dates, having previously announced shows in Leeds, Manchester and London.

Now, they’ve added an extra hometown show on November 7, and they’re also due to visit Newcastle (10), Glasgow (11), Leicester (16), Cambridge (18), Bristol (21) and more.

You can get early tickets by pre-ordering the album here by 10am May 12, or waiting for the general pre-sale at 10am May 13. General sale will then commence at 10am on May 15 – you can get your tickets here.