Review - John Smith Live
at Leeds City Varieties, Wednesday 12th November 2025
I first heard John Smith play at the Underneath The Stars festival1 about 10 years ago and was immediately impressed - I bought a CD and have bought more since, as well as watching a few more live performances in Sheffield. However, I haven’t seen him live since Covid (we used to go to a lot of gigs before lockdown and have gone to far fewer since) so when I saw he was on in Leeds I booked for his show at the City Varieties theatre.
He has just celebrated 20 years as a professional musician, and his latest recording, Gatherings, is a retrospective of his first ten years (from 2005-2015) featuring ten reworked versions of some of his best songs from that period.
First a word about the venue. Leeds City Varieties is the nation’s longest running music hall, built in 1865 as an adjunct to a pub and refurbished about 15 years ago. I remember it as the venue of the TV show The Good Old Days, which we would watch at home in the 1970s 2. It’s a fabulous historical venue - it was a bit chilly in there but worth going to as the renovations have retained the charm.
John’s support for the evening was Canadian banjo-playing singer-songwriter Kaia Kater, who gave us 30 minutes of faultless, mournful songs accompanied by some fine work on the much maligned instrument! 3 Kaia had flown in from New York the day before and was looking forward to a full English breakfast. Somebody suggested Wetherspoons, but the laughter may tell her that this isn’t the best option, although it may be the cheapest. She is supporting John on 5 dates of his tour and is back over here in January for her own tour. I can see why John invited her - well worth a listen.
After the break John emerged and went straight into Great Lakes, the title track of his 2013 album. It is a terrific song about a break up:
Perhaps I’ll see her around, hair up, top down
And I could watch silently, making no sound
It’s hard to describe the power of John Smith’s voice and it’s ability to convey emotions. Add to that his sublime guitar playing and it’s always a pleasure to listen to. Sometimes it feels like he’s playing more than one instrument at once because of the way he uses the strings in different ways, and the instrument as percussion in the same song.
If you want to pigeonhole him, if you think Ray LaMontagne or John Martyn you’re in the right territory. He did open for John Martyn, which must have been a highlight of his career and from which he must have learned a lot. Most of his songs are self-penned, but he’s also happy to dip into the British folk tradition, which he did in his 2018 album Hummingbird. He is also considered part of Americana, which shows his range across roots music.
The first part of the show consisted of songs from the album, then a brief interlude where he took requests, followed by the rest of the album. His live arrangements are great, sufficiently different to show his versatility but retaining the important elements of the original. I look forward to spending time with the studio versions, with some quality singers supporting him on vocals.
I hadn’t heard some of the early tracks before, but they seemed to fit seamlessly with the Great Lakes tracks that I know well - maybe due to them being reworked to John’s current style. Salty and Sweet is always a crowd favourite, although it’s a bit different to most of John’s songs, and of course we all joined in.
It’s also worth mentioning his relaxed and amusing (sometimes self-deprecating) intros and anecdotes. Justified confidence in his ability to “do the music bit” and hundreds of performances over the years mean that this part of the show, which is really important to build rapport with the audience, seemed equally effortless. My favourite line was I don’t watch singer-songwriters. Who wants to listen to a bloke in a beard sing about his feelings! - hint: we do, John! 4
His encore was Winter, a song I never tire of watching him play as I listen to it. He sits down and plays the guitar on his lap, effortlessly mixing different uses of the strings and percussion to create a magical effect that perfectly matches the lyrics.
In short, a really strong performance by a true craftsman who seems to be getting better. I recommend that you buy the CD but watching him perform live is the real deal.
You can buy Gatherings and John’s other music here - https://john-smith.ochre.store/
See John’s tour dates and get more info here - https://johnsmithjohnsmith.com/home
Kaia Kater’s website is here - https://www.kaiakater.com
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Underneath the Stars is sadly no longer running but we went several years in a row and saw some of our favourite singers and musicians for the first time there. I think we saw John in 2015, a show which would have included a lot of the songs he played tonight.
If you want to know what this was because you are under 50, here’s a YouTube clip. It was a reconstruction of music hall shows, where the audience also wore period clothing.
I don’t mind the banjo - although I do like the joke “What’s the difference between a banjo and an onion? - Nobody cries when you cut a banjo in half”
He should try going to student poetry open mics.