Turning Oporto Upside Down – Night of the Nightswimmers

Nightswimmers are a really exciting band in the current Leeds indie scene. After a strong debut in 2025 with a sold-out headline show at Belgrave Music Hall and a huge reception on singles like ‘Gone Is Yesterday’ and ‘The Grave’ with the latter already at over 150,000 streams to date, they’ve had a successful first year together. In 2026, they are bringing more momentum and moved from one iconic stage to the other as they played to a sold-out crowd under the disco lights of the beloved Oporto. 

Support came from the other corners of Yorkshire with the “Steel City Son” Majick Moth and the scintillating Feral Family hailing from Bridlington. Majick Moth opened proceedings with a solo acoustic set. He brought a calming, relaxed energy to the room as he seamlessly played the harmonica and guitar simultaneously and utilised quick chord changes to bring an interesting end to his tracks. Looking at the crowd around me, I could see many were tapping their feet along to the groovy guitar lines and whilst he may have brought a different atmosphere, he worked well to entertain the crowd. His cover of ‘Angeles’ by Elliott Smith really suited his vocal style and blended effortlessly with the rest of his original tracks. He closed out with his track ‘Applecore’,  a catchy track featuring an exciting bridge where his vocals flick up with the refrain “taking too long now”.

Feral Family lived up to their wildness with a completely opposite set. With commanding vocals from Jamie Lowe, lengthy build-ups and raw guitars from Oscar Woods, they were a chaotic storm that followed Majick Moth’s calm. Whilst only being a trio, they created huge walls of sound as the vocals led the charge for the instruments, gliding throughout the room. Often, out of nowhere, they would crank the grit and determination to the max. They riled up the crowd saying, “let’s have ya”. Rapid drum beats from Regan Grimson brought a cinematic feel to their tracks whilst blending with this chaotic feral energy. Their set ended with an urgency in their final track but with a feeling the band were in control as they built tension with slower cymbals and bass inspired bridge before a final rapid chorus.

Now it was time for the night to return to The Nightswimmers, who swaggered through the crowd to the stage in stylish attire and bright guitars. Being a relatively new band means being treated to a lot of unreleased music. Their opener, ‘Purchase’ had aggressive vocals from frontman Jamie Longthorne and swooping guitar riffs. In the spirit of well-chosen covers, they played a great cover of ‘When We Were Young’ by The Killers which merged well with the band’s classic anthemic pop rock sound. You can tell The Killers is a big influence on their sound. Nightswimmers treated the crowd to amazing tracks, many of which I hope they release soon! One of those treats being a beautiful duet where they invited fellow musician Molly Rymer to sing ‘Déjà Vu’. Their vocals intertwined so well whilst remaining distinct personalities. The emotion of ‘Déjà Vu’ lent itself well to ‘Run Away’, one of the few which has been released. Whilst having groovy guitar riffs, the more sensitive vocals and keyboards from Will complimented the lyrical content that tackled life challenges. 

After a swift recovery of a technical issue, Nightswimmers kept up with their smooth well-structured performance with the third cover of the night, ‘Dakota’ by Stereophonics.  It can be daunting to cover famous tracks, but this was no trouble for Nightswimmers. After ‘Dakota’, the crowd were treated to some more unreleased tracks, and to my surprise, some fans already knew the words! ‘In Dreams’ and ‘Do It Alone’ will be released later on this year, two brilliant singles so keep an eye out! ‘In Dreams’ featured upbeat melodies, a fun guitar solo and a very classic rock distorted guitar outro. ‘Do It Alone’ featured an amazing anthemic chorus and funky basslines as fans danced about and sang in each other’s faces. 

Of course, they couldn’t close out the set any other way than with fan favourite ‘The Grave’. The guitar riffs are addictive, emulating the chorus melodies but at higher pitches. With commanding drums, gritty vocals and dancing guitar chords, this felt like Nightswimmers telling everyone exactly why they had such a successful first year together – something that won’t be slowing up anytime soon. Nightswimmers will be a band people wished they saw in smaller venues. It was a special set to be remembered.

Words by Ruby Macklin