In Photos: The Leisure Society (feat. The Heritage Orchestra) + Loney, Dear @ The Barbican, London (08.12.11)

A special show in a special setting brought Londoners to the heart of The City last week. Folk-rock seven-piece The Leisure Society – whose music is ornate enough on its own – were joined on the Barbican stage by the thirty-strong Heritage Orchestra, who added further embellishment to songs from the band's two critically-acclaimed albums. The symphonic pop elements underpinning this summer's Into The Murky Water LP were on full show, Nick Hemming and co. clearly revelling in the venue's pristine acoustics. They even threw in an inspired Erasure cover for good measure towards the end of what was a highly impressive set.

The band already have a string of UK and Irish dates lined up for February and March of next year, full details of which can be found on their website. They've also been getting into the festive spirit of late, contributing a brand new track, 'Christmas Mistakes', to For Folk's Sake's It's Christmas 2011 compilation. All profits from sales of the comp (which only costs a fiver) go towards The Integrated Cancer Centre. You can have a listen to the whole thing on Bandcamp right now before you buy.

Support at The Barbican came from affable Swede Loney, Dear (aka Emil Svanängen) - original opener Micah P. Hinson sadly having had to pull out due to illness. Check out our live gallery of both acts below. We reckon RW snapper Tim Ferguson did a damn fine job of squeezing just about all of The Heritage Orchestra into that last shot!