City’s young stars align to record inspirational lockdown anthem

It’s a legendary Leeds-made anthem which brought people across the globe together when it first stormed charts worldwide more than 20 years ago.

Now a group of talented youngsters have teamed up with sports stars and musicians to create a rousing reworking of Chumbawamba’s iconic hit Tubthumping to give the city a much-needed lockdown lift.

Replacing the hit’s famous “I get knocked down but I get up again” lyrics with “Leeds got locked down”, the video is the brainchild of Breeze Leeds and features energetic submissions from young artists and community groups as well as appearances by Leeds Rhinos players and world champion triathlete Jonny Brownlee.

Recorded remotely and mainly from mobile phones, the montage reflects life in lockdown for its enthusiastic cast of young musicians, DJs, dancers, majorettes, aerialists, hula-hoopers, as well as dramatic drone footage of Leeds supplied by Yorkshire Folk Ltd.

Councillor Judith Blake, leader of Leeds City Council, said: “The pandemic has been a massive challenge for residents of all ages, not least our city’s remarkable young people.

“This project is a shining example of the resilience, imagination and creativity they have shown in rising to that challenge and it should act as an inspirational message to the people of Leeds. There is no doubt that these are incredibly tough times, but by working together and looking after each other, we can emerge stronger and more unified than ever before.”

Produced in a short amount of time, the video includes music and visuals created with drums, tabla, dola, sitar, saxophone, guitars and pianos.

It also includes extracts of Apollo Junction’s new single Forever and thousands of voices from the stands at Leeds Rhinos and the Kop at Elland Road, in a rendition of Barry Mason and Les Reed’s anthem Marching On Together.

Breeze is Leeds City Council’s initiative for 0-19 year-olds. Since 2004 the team has delivered a huge programme of summer events in parks in every corner of the city, Friday and Saturday night projects in Armley, Middleton and Pudsey, and more recently The Christmas Experience at Lotherton Hall. 

The arrival of Covid-19 challenges the delivery of the normal free summer activities for young people in Leeds. Along with other providers across the city, the Breeze Team is developing a range of alternative socially-distanced events.

One of these is the annual Breeze Has Talent competition which is set to return but with auditions online. Artists aged between eight and 18 can share their talents by visiting www.breezeleeds.org/breezehastalent and following the instructions.

ENDS