Luv, Murder and Glitter: Luvcat celebrates their debut in Leeds

There is no doubt that if you haven’t already heard about Luvcat, you certainly will over the upcoming months. She seems to be a reincarnation of an 80s rock-star girlfriend with a psychotic flare, except this time, she is centre stage. Luvcat’s Cruella DeVille hair makes her hard to forget, and their recent album release show at Brudenell Social Club has definitely left its paw-print all over Leeds. Let me set the scene for you: red lighting, jazz music and glitter amps created a gothic ambiance before the show had even begun, to celebrate their long-awaited debut album: Vicious Delicious (2025). Her fans, affectionately known as her ‘kittens’, arrived dressed in eyeliner, red and leopard print, perfectly matching Luvcat’s aesthetic without even needing a formal dress code. 

The Liverpool-born band released their first single ‘Matador’ back in May last year. At the gig, she commented on how the song is about their “strange nights in Liverpool”, with references to well-known notorious venues such as the Kaz, staying true to their Northern roots despite moving to London to chase the big lights. The lyrics of her first single certainly set the tone for their brand, focusing on a relationship that is stuck between ‘love’ and ‘gore’, composing a song with the likes of romantic ballad – or more accurately – a murder ballad. The rawness and passion behind Luvcat’s vocals remain true to her latest singles, and the murderess undertones run through their debut album. Their eerie and theatrical launch ties together their releases into one deeply self-aware debut album, which is very fittingly set to be released on Halloween. Luvcat seems perfectly timed for the season, and if the Leeds show was any indication, their record will be both irresistible and enticing. 

If ‘Matador’ captures their Liverpool nights, ‘Blushing’ paints the picture for how far they’ve come. This brand-new song was performed at their album release show, where she revealed how it nearly didn’t make the album, but has since become one of her favourite bridges on the new record. “The song started as being just about fancying someone, but became a reflection of our rollercoaster of moving from Liverpool to London” she continued. The band, despite growing a vast amount in popularity over the past year, has continued to be rooted around their journey from their hometown in Liverpool to fame in London. They have proven to be slowly but surely infecting the entirety of the UK with their other-worldy anthems, with their upcoming album tour this winter being sold-out already.

Their setlist at Leeds took the crowd on a journey of romance, rage and revenge, somehow blending the three into a perfect performance of love and sinister destruction. Yet amidst their halloween-esque theatricality, her humour and groundedness kept the listeners engaged. After sharing her iconic story of spilling red wine down her white dress during the second song of a show, she shrugged and added, “It’s kind of punk.” The crowd laughed in a moment that perfectly captured Luvcat’s duality: effortlessly oscillating between chaos and control, elegance and imperfection, all while keeping their audience completely under their musical spell. 

“This song is about feeling like a bit of a misfit” she told the crowd when describing one of the new songs on Vicious Delicious (2025), ‘Alien’. Perhaps one of the reasons for her sudden success is her ability to make her fans feel as though they belong in a room full of people who, despite their differences, have all found belonging in Luvcat’s dark universe. In writing melancholic synths for ‘Alien’, she connects with her “misfits”, encapsulating what it’s like to feel a sense of belonging as an outsider. During the song ‘He’s My Man’, the crowd sang the lyrics of the chorus alongside her, transforming the atmosphere in the room into a collective. She describes it as a self-proclaimed “murder ballad about a bored housewife slowly killing her husband with arsenic”, with lyrics that evoke the dark femininity of 80s icons such as Siouxsie Sioux or Joan Jett, whilst simultaneously bringing this aesthetic back into today’s alternative landscape. Luvcat has perfected a fusion of vintage and venom that feels perfectly in sync with the current moment. 

Before stepping off stage to meet her most devoted fans, Luvcat concluded: “Thank you for making our first Leeds show so special”. And judging by the reaction of the crowd, I am sure they will be back and bigger than ever before.