Papa Nugs' Shamrock Slammer w/ Minus Kendal, LNS: A Review

Papa Nugs returned to Headrow House on the 13th March for his Shamrock Slammer St. Paddy’s day celebration, a suitable addition to a successful string of sold-out events held across Leeds. Alongside Minus Kendal and Late Night Shopper, these boys provided a genre-bending night of garage, house, breaks, electro and afrobeat.

Established in 2018, Papa Nugs (Joe Nugent) wanted to create an event that was scoping across genres, a different avenue to the usual musically-focused events in Leeds. A typical Nugs mix can provide anything from the classics of Booty House, to aggressive breaks and of course, his old-school garage favourites. More importantly for Joe, his aim in starting Papa Nugs was to move away from the seriousness of club nights, creating an environment in which good music could be appreciated without the pressure of intensity and prestige. This has evidently paid off, as since December 2018, Papa Nugs has sold out eight events, collaborated with Yorkshire legends Mac n Jheez and is extending his repertoire to producing tracks.

In celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, Papa Nugs’ Shamrock Slammer boasted a busy queue and load of high energy from the get go. The night was opened with a plentiful supply of Leeds-based selectors, featuring Palette Klenzah (Alfie Whitehead) and a scrumptious b2b from Papa Nugs residents Phil (Fin Nugent) and Green Giant (Kier Howard).

Dimensions Festival and Spiritland resident Minus Kendal followed, turning the night up a gear with his turbo set of genre-bending records. Minus Kendal enjoys a heavy involvement within the music scene in both Leeds and London; from his monthly radio show Party Socks on NTS, in which he digs deep through disco, boogie and psych, to his regular appearances at some of the best clubs across the UK. His set at Papa Nugs exhibited his expansive music taste even further, opening with an Irish Jig and dipping his toes into everything from jungle to breaks.

Papa Nugs took the honors of closing the evening alongside Manchester based Late Night Shopper - a collective who have achieved momentous success since 2018 through their events and podcasts. LNS have become a big name of the north – with multiple appearances on the well-established Limbo Radio - and also down south on Slow Dance Records. This b2b concluded the night in appropriately heavy style, cruising through a smooth selection of breaks, garage, edits and a few school disco bangers. The combination of warming crowd enthusiasm, alongside the ever-vibrant graphics (Laura Palmer) culminated in an atmosphere desired by Papa Nugs from the start of his venture.

Papa Nugs returns to the Leeds in September for a year of continuous toe-tapping, nugget-eating parties that needn't be missed.