We just launched a new venue room at Canalside Community Music Space. The first gig was a sold out toy drive!
For The Children became the first gig, raising toys and funds for families in need!
This weekend we opened a brand-new venue inside Canalside Community Music Space, and we did it with a sold-out show. For The Children, headlined by Haywire from Boston, became the first event to take place in the room, and it honestly couldn’t have been a more perfect way to begin.
When we moved into this building earlier this year, the first thing we needed was a new home for Boom, a sweaty, loud, 200-cap room dedicated to punk, hardcore and everything grassroots. This time, we wanted to build it alongside much more: rehearsal rooms, a recording studio and larger venue spaces that can genuinely support the grassroots community.
This new room is the first of those bigger spaces to go live, and the most unbelievable part is that it has been built almost entirely by our community.
Boom Leeds and its home, Canalside Community Music Space, operate as a not-for-profit community interest company. Everything we bring in goes straight back into developing the building, the rooms, and the projects and initiatives that happen inside them. Because we are still so new here, money is incredibly tight. The only paid roles in the whole operation are our bar staff on show nights. Every other person you see helping this place come to life, whether they are unloading gear, painting walls, wiring the PA or fitting lights, is giving up their time for free. People do it because they believe in grassroots music, in community, in education and in the impact that spaces like this can have.
Since August 2025, more than thirty volunteers have helped build this room. The story of how the space even became possible still feels surreal.
At one point we were sat around wondering how we would ever afford a stage. We talked about running benefit gigs, launching new merch, trying to scrape the money together bit by bit. Then something completely unexpected happened.
Music Venue Trust put us in touch with Nottingham Arena / National Ice Centre, who offered to donate their old arena stage decking and frames. It was a huge moment for us, but it immediately raised the next question: how do you get an arena stage across the country when all we have is Lecky’s work van?
That was when Fly By Nite stepped in. They are one of the major logistics companies used on touring productions, and they told us they wanted to support us too. They provided two HGVs at a rate we could actually afford. Nottingham Arena loaded everything using forklifts and their crew, and back in Leeds our volunteers prepared for the unload, helped by members of our venue team who also work on productions locally.
We also had support from Marios at MGS Productions, who handles production for Outbreak and Damnation Festivals, and whose team sorted out the PA install. Luke at Leeds Live Sound stepped in with finishing lights. By the time everything came together, we were standing inside a room that had been built entirely through DIY graft, goodwill and community effort.
Launching this space has been one of the biggest highlights of everything we have done here so far. It shows what can happen when people decide a venue matters enough to build it with their own hands.
Local graphic designer, screen printer and DIY promoter Arran Gordon is responsible for bringing For The Children to the UK. The event began in the hardcore scene in the USA, and this weekend became the first edition to happen outside America. Alongside buying a ticket, every attendee agrees to donate a brand-new toy to the cause. Thanks to everyone who attended, donated, moshed, sang and supported, the event raised thousands of pounds worth of toys for low-income families across Leeds. It also raised over £1,400 for essential hygiene products for children’s residential homes across the city. On Monday afternoon, local organisations Holbeck Together and Child Friendly Leeds visited the venue to pick up the donations.
This is exactly why we do what we do.
As a thank you to everyone who brought a toy, Gee from Bitter Sweet Bakes gave a free cupcake to all attendees and provided a themed cake for the performers, which went down a storm.
We want Canalside Community Music Space to be a place where positive impact is part of the culture. A place where grassroots music, community action and creativity all pull in the same direction.
To everyone who helped build this room, shared skills, donated time, kept spirits up, or simply attended the first gig, bought a ticket and brought a toy, thank you. You have helped create something powerful at Canalside Community Music Space.
A huge shoutout to all the bands who played the first show in the room: Haywire, Imposter, Killing Me Softly, Cannonball, Violent Offence, Bodybag, Warhead 97 and Nuclear Children.
Alongside the army of volunteers, we would like to give a special thank you to the following organisations and companies for making this new venue space possible:
Music Venue Trust
https://www.musicvenuetrust.com
Motorpoint Arena Nottingham / National Ice Centre
https://www.motorpointarenanottingham.com
Fly By Nite
https://www.flybynite.co.uk
Jailhouse Print Co
https://www.instagram.com/jailhouseprintco
MGS Productions
https://www.facebook.com/MGSProductions
Marshall
http://marshall.com
Leeds Live Sound
https://www.leedslivesound.co.uk
Favourite show of 2025