Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan, Seven Arts. 13th March 2026

I’m trying to behave this year and stick to Manchester venues. There are going to be exceptions though and one such is the wonderfully named Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan who are playing the equally wonderful Seven Arts in Leeds tonight. This my first time here and I’m greeted with a very warm and welcoming multi-use space, a very inviting bar leading to a cosy theatre. Banked seating, hardwood floors and black curtains, it’s rather nice. I’ve managed to squeeze on the end of a row right near the front too. The front being occupied by a small bank of electronics and an unassuming man named Gordon Chapman-Fox, who pleasantly explains the evening before we begin. Two sets, one ambient, one “more upbeat”, with a very civilised intermission. Cue a warm wash of synth bass gently sweeping the room, as dark yet hopefully ominous tones permeate the space. It’s all very cinematic. Helped perhaps by the archive footage of everyday life playing out silently on the large screen behind him. This is the important aesthetic component, the urban dystopia. Post war Britain, council housing and municipal buildings, clean lines of concrete and car free streets, its brutalist porn. There’s a machined randomness to it, both on and off screen, but where the visuals offer a time capsule to the British mundanity of yesteryear, the music is timeless. Albeit with a cap doffed to 70s synth pioneers like Vangelis. The video although seemingly simple, is edited deftly to tell a story of culture and society captured with a degree of hope at a modernising future. One now soundtracked by Chapman-Fox. It’s clear that amongst all the intricacy, he loves a big grand statement, sweeping his spare arm in the air and lifting his head back in admiration at the power of the clean sound and a driving progression. The first 45 minutes fly by remarkably fast and I’m rocked back to the present as the house lights glow and the room jostles to life. A beverage procured, it’s time to settle in again for something “a bit louder”. Honestly, part one really wasn’t too shabby on the gloriously soaring front, what does he have in store for us? Instantly we hit a more industrial note, not NIN levels but the mood is there. Harder beats, more blips and harsher pads. The visuals too have moved on. The clean suburbia replaced with some weathered grit. Children playing with tyres, grass verges dying. The video keeps you anchored giving the evening a more passive experience, but really if we were stood up I’d be moving as much as Gordon. My feet are tapping and my head is bobbing, but he’s feeling and reacting to every beat, every drop. Is it a gig or is it art, the answer obviously is both and it’s very effective. On record this sound is perfect to get lost in or let drift in the background. Live with the visuals though, it’s much more arresting and impossible to separate the two mediums. You don’t have to see Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan live to get it, but having witness this, I think it helps. It’s the concept brought to life and it’s amazing.