Everyone knows the story: the Sex Pistols played Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall and future members of the Buzzcocks, Joy Division, The Smiths, The Fall (as well as TV presenter and soon-to-become Factory Records boss Tony Wilson) have their minds blown and set out changing the musical landscape. Manchester’s self-promotion and self-aggrandising has been shameless ever since.
Just 40 miles away, on the other side of the Yorkshire Moors, another musical awakening, arguably as influential, was taking place. The Sex Pistols played Leeds Poly in late 1976 and, as in Manchester, some of the audience went on to form influential bands like Gang Of Four and Delta 5.
