The Levellers Turn Venue Cymru Into a Folk-Punk Riot of Noise, Fiddles and Pumping Fists
Venue Cymru, North Wales – 30th October 2026
IMAGES / WORDS DESH KAPUR
The Levellers with Ned’s Atomic Dustbin and The Meffs
It's funny how a band can spend 35 years making records, touring the country and soundtracking the lives of thousands of people, yet somehow pass you by. The Levellers were one of those bands for me. I knew the songs, recognised the anthems, but had never really paid them the attention they deserved. That changed on Friday night at Venue Cymru. By the time they'd finished, I was wondering why the hell I'd waited so long.
But first, a word about the support.
Unfortunately, catching The Meffs proved beyond me, and finding parking in Llandudno on a Friday night is an understatement of biblical proportions. Apologies to the band. By the time I'd negotiated the local parking lottery, collected my passes and got myself inside, the evening was already underway.
Next up were Stourbridge indie veterans Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, a band who clearly haven't spent the last three decades sitting around polishing their memories. Best remembered by many for Kill Your Television, the five-piece arrived with two bass players, a serious amount of attitude and absolutely no intention of easing anyone into the evening.
They were fast, furious and gloriously uncompromising. Frontman John Penney seemed determined to cover every available inch of the stage, while the band's twin-bass assault delivered that wonderfully heavy, funk-infused rumble that has always set them apart. There was a real physicality to the sound, guitars slicing through the low-end thunder, everything driven along at a frankly ridiculous pace.
And this wasn't simply a room waiting for the headline act. Ned’s had their own fiercely loyal following, and the response was immediate. There was a warmth between band and audience that made it clear these songs still mean an awful lot to people. Thirty-odd years on, they haven't lost their bite.
Then came The Levellers.
If you've ever wondered what happens when The Clash collide with The Waterboys after a particularly spirited night in the pub, you could do considerably worse than spend an evening with this lot.
Punk, indie and folk, all wrapped up in a distinctly Celtic-flavoured musical assault. But forget any notion of gentle acoustic folk or sandal-wearing nostalgia. The Levellers attack their music. They attack it with enthusiasm, with conviction and with the sort of infectious energy that makes standing still feel like a criminal offence.
From the moment the house lights dropped and the opening notes rang out, Venue Cymru began transforming into one enormous, bouncing, singing mass of humanity.
Thirty-five years together might suggest a band comfortable with their legacy, but there was nothing remotely comfortable about this performance. Mark Chadwick, bassist Jez Cunningham and drummer Charlie Heather were relentless, charging through the set with the sort of energy you'd expect from a band half their age. Chadwick prowled the stage, delivering his vocals with an earthy, passionate conviction, while Cunningham and Heather provided the engine room, driving everything forward with barely a moment to catch breath.
And then there's Jon Sevink.
His fiddle playing remains one of the band's defining weapons, cutting through the guitars and basslines with melodies that give The Levellers their unmistakable identity. Acoustic guitars, mandolins, violin and heavy basslines shouldn't necessarily work together with such force, but somehow they create a huge, gloriously unruly wall of sound.
It's a curious combination. There's the aggression and urgency of punk rock, the melodic sensibility of folk and the sort of choruses that seem almost genetically engineered for a thousand people to sing together.
And sing they did.
One Way, Liberty and 15 Years landed with the force of old friends arriving at exactly the right moment. The audience didn't simply recognise the songs; they owned them. Every chorus came roaring back from the floor, the crowd becoming an additional member of the band, occasionally threatening to drown out the stage altogether.
The Boatman was another glorious moment, while Beautiful Day brought another enormous response. There was a good-natured chaos developing in front of the stage, smiling faces, bouncing bodies and the occasional enthusiastic mosh pit. It felt less like a conventional concert and more like a travelling punk-rock knees-up where absolutely everybody had been invited.
What struck me most was just how sharp the band sounded. There was no going through the motions, no tired recreation of songs from another era. These musicians were utterly invested in what they were doing, playing with the conviction that every song still mattered. Chadwick's voice was perfectly suited to the material, carrying that unmistakable Englishness, somewhere between defiance, celebration and a good old-fashioned refusal to be told what to do.
The Levellers have always occupied an interesting place in British music. Too punk for the folk purists, too folky for the punk purists, and probably never particularly bothered about either opinion. Their music has always belonged to the people standing in front of them, and judging by the response in Llandudno, that relationship remains as strong as ever.
I went into Venue Cymru knowing a handful of songs and expecting a decent evening's entertainment. I came out considerably more impressed than I expected to be.
There's something rather wonderful about watching a band who are utterly loving every second of being onstage, and an audience who are returning that affection tenfold.
And here's the embarrassing admission: having never really spent much time listening to The Levellers, I think I might just have to go out and buy a record.
That's probably the best review I can give them.
Sometimes the best gigs are the ones that make you discover a band all over again.
SET LIST
One Way
The Game
Fifteen Years
The Boatman / Boatman Jig
Liberty Song
Far From Home
Sell Out
Another Man's Cause
The Road
The Riverflow
Battle of the Beanfield
Julie
Hope St.
World Freak Show
Carry Me
Dirty Davey
(McDermott’s 2 Hours cover)
The Cholera Well
ENCORE
This Garden
(With The Meffs)
The Devil Went Down to Georgia
(The Charlie Daniels Band cover)
Beautiful Day
FOLLOW THE LEVELLERS
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