With a diverse array of acts on offer at Live at Leeds, it goes without saying that you're not going to see everyone you want to. Like any good festival, clashes are inevitable, and with the mad cross-city dash between some of the venues, you might even find yourself missing the end of one band in order to catch the start of another. Such is life however, and whilst there's a plethora of acts on offer, we've put together ten which will be well worth your time checking out.

The Cribs

Having only seen The Cribs live for the first time earlier this year, I was pretty gutted thinking back to how many times I'd passed up the opportunity to see them previously. Not any more. Whilst many of their mid-'00s peers have split, and those who haven't desperately cling to relevance, The Cribs have constantly impressed with each and every record, possessing an urgency that doesn't just transfer over to their live shows, but is increased tenfold by them. You couldn't have asked for a better headliner.

Pinkshinyultrablast

With all the media attention that's on Russia at the moment, it's important to remember the art and culture the country still continues to give us, and Pinkshinyultrablast should serve as the perfect reminder. With nothing in the way of politics in their music, the St Petersberg based quartet offer up pure glacial shoegaze for the escapist in all of us. Their debut album Everything Else Matters was a masterclass in encompassing electronics and ephemeral vocals. I can't wait to see them live.

Slaves

Weirdos of the moment, Slaves, are a duo from Kent, who are both massively noisey and harbour a preoccupation for, erm, biscuits. Having supported Jamie T around the UK last year, and taken the coveted opening spot on this year's NME tour, it seems Slaves are well on their way to becoming household names. And if their irreverent humour and anarchic noise are anything to go by, their live show will be something really special.

Joanna Gruesome

Clattering indie-pop from Cardiff now, Joanna Gruesome certainly aren't as heavy as some of the other bands that make the list, but their syrupy twee isn't without its own, sour bite. Having supported the likes of Los Campesinos! and released splits with Trust Fund and Perfect Pussy, the band's brand of twee is well-suited to a city known for its love of the genre. Expect a energetic set of sugary indie-pop at Leeds Beckett SU.

Eagulls

In what promises to be one of the most punishing yet rewarding sets of the day, home-town heroes Eagulls will be tearing Leeds a new one; their blend of claustrophobic post-punk and untapped hardcore aggression providing a cathartic end to the days antics, should your body need an aural cleansing. An almost masochistic alternative headliner to The Cribs, you can be sure that you'll wake up with a few bruises, should you chose to be part of the carnage.

Menace Beach

Whilst Menace Beach are, by some, considered to be a super-group of sorts, they're more accurately described as the embodiment of Leeds' music scene in its entirety. Though the band features a revolving line-up, it has, in the past, featured the likes of the ubiquitous MJ of Hookworms fame, as well as members of Pulled Apart By Horses and Sky Larkin. With their debut album Ratworld released earlier this year, not to mention their reputation as bastions of the city's scene, you can bet that their already incendiary live shows will be packing an extra punch that weekend.

Dry The River

Emerging around a similar time to the inescapable Mumford and Sons, Dry The River offer up semi-acoustic bucoliscim in the form of impassioned, though often somewhat moribund folk music. Cathartic in its sense of human understanding, but ultimately not the most upbeat folk on offer, expect a set of fraught, tangible emotion, and a brief but albeit welcome change from the frivolity.

Hookworms

Yet another band on home territory, Hookworms promise to pull one of the biggest crowds of the day; their blend of neo-psych and garage rock offering a mind-bending conclusion to the day's festivities. With their third album The Hum allowing the band's popularity to mount late last year, helping them find as much a commercial footing as possible, those who choose to see the evening out in true psychedelic style will be in safe in the knowledge that they'll be doing so with people with as little regard for their cerebellum as themselves.

Forever Cult

One of the more up-and-coming acts on this year's bill, but no less worthy of note. Leeds' Forever Cult are part of the Clue Records family and are set to set the UK on and if their 2014 was anything to go by. Fusing together scuzzy grunge with slight psych and metal tendencies, they're a band who lean to the heaver end of the spectrum without a doubt, unsurprising given their LS postcode. Well worth keeping an eye on the though, and one can assume they'll take to the stage relatively early, allowing you to still catch those bigger names later.

The Orielles

Local but not quite home-grown, Halifax indie-poppers The Orielles channel the spirit of '60s girl-groups and C86 indie in an amalgamation of sugary pop harmonies and twee-pop jangles. It's familiar stuff, but that makes it no less impressive. In fact, what makes the band all the more impressive is the relatively young ages of the trio, who's collective age probably isn't far from forty. Another band who'll probably grace their stage early on, be sure to check them out before those later acts.

Still yet to release their debut album Wolf Alice are currently doing the rounds on their biggest tour to date, that said the album is pencilled in for release in the not so distant future. So our expectations are rather high for this evening's encounter, yet there’s a healthy support roster too.

We arrive in time to catch Brighton’s newest exports The Magic Gang, with a debut single produced by of-the-moment producer MJ of Hookworms and as such expectations are automatically raised; the reality is however, they lack a little excitement yet they go down impressively well with tonight’s interesting demographic.

For us its all been heard, seen and done before, though we’re certain that they shall soon penetrate the cultural zeitgeist. We may be wishing that we could take these words back, but for now we'll stick to our guns and prepare for this evening's exciting headliners.

The lights dim and the smoke bellowing out filling the venue, they waste no time in laying into opener 'Fluffy'. An ironic name many may say as Ellie serenades the heaving crowd; the excitement gearing up when comparing this to the last time they graced a Newcastle stage: the band are packing even more firepower now.

Their set has obviously widened and they’ve honed their sound, it's now tighter than ever, as Joff bounds around the stage like an over excited puppy yet fails to miss a note. In my mind they need to be careful that their on stage theatrics don’t overshadow their utterly brilliant music.

Early on they play 'Your Love’s Whore' and it is a particular favourite, its monolithic sound and heavily reverbed vocals fill the room. Ellie delivers it perfectly its an epic rock song, a corker to have in your arsenal, that is a constant theme throughout the set tonight. The band's sound has really filled out, yes it's polished but it has really brought the bands best side out.

'Soapy Water' sees the band showing a slightly different side, the spiky guitars are reduced allowing an entirely different sound to break free. One that is very welcomed in what is otherwise a phenomenal onslaught of guitar driven rock music. As the set closes out 'You’re a Germ' sounds unbelievable and is arguably the best track of tonight, its power and wall of guitar is crazy yet they hold it together so well.

The band are welcomed back to rapturous applause, the crowd only have one track on their minds at this point and Wolf Alice don’t disappoint with a rabble rousing roof raising version of 'Moaning LisSmile'. There couldn’t have been a better way for these guys to close out tonight's set. As they leave the stage we know this is one to savour as it’ll not be long before these guys are playing much larger venues.

The Convergence Festival returned this year with yet another mind-boggling roster of electronic talent, live gigs and talks around music and technology, and for the closing night Convergence hosts a night of electronic genius in a converted cinema in London’s East End. As well as seminal Skull Disco founder Shackleton and electronic Warp-trio, Darkstar, the night features a performance from everybody’s favourite German tech-cum-house-cum-ambient-cum-classical producer, Hendrik Weber - Pantha Du Prince.

Weber has made a career out of bridging the gap between electronic and classical music, producer turned composer back to producer, and just like Reich, Glass and all, Weber sits in the middle of that dance/classical Venn diagram, deftly displaying the simple fact that as dance music is not just thrown together by anyone with a mac, so classical composition shouldn’t be seen as a genre, but rather a mode of making music.

Weber’s set mostly comprises songs from 2010’s Black Noise, his first album on Rough Trade and to all intents, the ‘crossover’ album for Pantha Du Prince (featuring collaborations with longtime remix buddy, Noah Lennox). Black Noise was born out of of field recordings from Weber’s sojourns in the Swiss Alps, and one could be forgiven for thinking the material might sound out of place in a dark venue at 2am. However it quickly becomes clear that any fears are unfounded - quite apart from the fact that Black Noise is Weber’s most dance-orientated release (strange and beautiful as 2014’s Bell Laboratory experiment was, carillons and marimbas aren’t really built to get you fistpumping and standing on chairs), tracks from Black Noise open up sonic soundscapes that reach far beyond the sticky floors of the venue. Wreathed in shadow, Weber adjusts the music live, pirouetting around his audience - beat-focused minimalism seguing gently into the sonic abstraction of his more ambient work.

And it is this sonic abstraction that really forms the backbone of PDP - the slow-build of the bounce on the clubbier material is increased tenfold, as Weber moves seamlessly into the kind of late night frost of the more shall we say ‘chime-orientated’ work. From the tapping of a woodblock to footsteps in the snow, from the glockenspiel to glistening bells, as Hendrik Weber stands up on a stage, bathed in the glow and mixing up noises right there in front of you, it’s easy to close your eyes and forget quite where you are.

For many, the Tony Hawks Pro Skater soundtrack was their first real taste of alternative music, and whilst I was personally raised on the likes of Deep Purple and Alice Cooper from an early age, the light and breezy ska-punk of Goldfinger's 'Superman' or the brooding bassy rumbles of 'Police Truck' by Dead Kennedys appealed to me in such a way that punk, in all its guises, rapidly became my favourite genre. A little more than a year later, the second game in the series came out, and with it a host of new tracks, amongst them, 'May 16^th' by Lagwagon. It was a band I'd never heard of, but immediately loved fell in love with, restarting the game until it cycled through the tracks, and still to this day play the album it's taken from on the eponymous date in May.

It's with all that in mind, then, that I approach tonight's show with a kind of nostalgic giddiness brought about trough a cocktail of anticipation and Chinese lager. Before Lagwagon however, there's The Flatliners to attend to, a band who in no uncertain terms could easily pull a crowd at Club Academy themselves. As it stands the venue isn't full, but nor is the crowd fledgling and many, if t-shirts were an indicator of alliance, do seem to have turned out for the support. Whilst the sound is somewhat muddy, the energy and aggression with which the band conduct themselves is impressive, and it's easy to see why the band seem to inspire such dedication in their fans; many of which are front and centre, yelling back every lyric like it's their last. It's a set that's over all too soon, but despite their second-on-the-bill status (the opening slot falling to Western Addiction) they tear through their songs as if they were headlining, setting the bar high for Lagwagon shortly after by ending with fan-favourite 'Eulogy'.

A little sooner than anticipated actually, and it soon becomes apparent why. With a set list that takes in tracks from each of the band's eight albums, plus a light smattering of miscellany, the band know they obviously have a lot of catching up to do (2014's Hang being their first record in nine years), and though the aforementioned does make up the bulk of the set, the classics are thrown in with expert timing, and though the riff-laden newer inclusions fit perfectly with the more established tracks, it's the older favourites such as 'Violins' and 'Coffee and Cigarettes' which get the crowd of not quite ageing punks going.

Then it happens, the opening notes of 'May 16^th' ring out and the crowd lose its collective shit. Obviously it isn't just me that can base their entire taste of music on the soundtrack to a video game franchise. Had it been an awful rendition of the track, it wouldn't have nattered, but fortunately it's one of the evening's strongest tracks, made even more impressive given the fact that their hiatus shows no signs of having slowed them down.

With an encore comprised of 'Mr. Coffee', 'Sleep' and 'Razor Burn' they're quite clearly a band who refuse to be summed up by one track, and though all three songs provide a more than ample conclusion, personally I'd have been happy even without an encore, having finally heard live the track which opened up further doors, turning me on to a whole host of other skate punk bands in turn. As it happens though the three track encore proves perfect, and the buzz felt as the house lights flick on and we file towards the doors is one which doesn't subside until a couple of days after.