Citizen

Citizen land at Stylus in Leeds on 25 October 2026 with a set that traces their path from emo and post-hardcore roots to a leaner alternative rock approach. Formed in 2009 between Toledo and southeast Michigan, the band laid out its blueprint with Youth (2013), then pushed into darker, more abrasive textures on Everybody Is Going to Heaven (2015). As You Please (2017) opened the sound with slower burns and shoegaze shades, a thread carried into Life in Your Glass World (2021) before the more direct writing of Calling the Dogs (2023).

On stage, Mat Kerekes leads with a clear, lived-in vocal, flanked by Nick Hamm and Mason Mercer on guitars, Eric Hamm on bass and Ben Russin on drums. The live flow shifts from tightly wound riffs to hazier, heavy swells, keeping the emo backbone while leaning into alt-rock clarity. Years on the road with Turnover, The Story So Far, Taking Back Sunday and Movements place Citizen at the crossroads of punk, emo and indie rock, where intensity and melody share the same space.