Live Music Hall, Cologne, Germany16th October 2026
Levellers - “Levelling The Land XXXV – Europe & UK” - Support: The Meffs
35 years! It’s been 35 years since THE LEVELLERS released their second album, ‘Levelling The Land’, in October 1991. An album that holds a place of honour in the band’s discography, which is almost without exception of a high standard. That’s because on none of their other numerous albums have THE LEVELLERS ever again achieved the density of hits that makes ‘Levelling The Land’ stand out.
It is therefore understandable and logical that the English folk-rock group’s set list has always placed a strong emphasis on songs from this anniversary album. To mark the 35th anniversary of ‘Levelling The Land’, THE LEVELLERS once again tours across Europe and the UK in October and November 2026. This time, to perform the album in its entirety. We were lucky enough to see the band at the tour’s opening gig at Cologne’s Live Music Hall.
The Meffs
Relatively early, at 7 pm, the lights go down on stage. The Live Music Hall isn’t quite as full at this stage as it will be later on when THE LEVELLERS play. It’s Friday. It’s the start of the autumn half-term holidays. There’s a lot going on on the streets of Germany. It’s quite possible that a few fans travelling a bit further to Cologne have to deal with a traffic jam or two. The parking situation in Cologne’s Ehrenfeld district, around the Live Music Hall, is always a bit tight, too.
Never mind - that doesn’t stop THE MEFFS from taking to the stage. THE MEFFS are “just” a duo, consisting of Lily Hopkins (vocals, guitar) and Lewis Copsey (drums). This UK punk duo has previously performed as the support act for The Sex Pistols, The Undertones and even The Damned, and has built up a solid reputation. With their newly released second album ‘Business’ in tow (produced by Frank Turner!), they’re now supporting THE LEVELLERS and giving it their all.
Music & Performance
At no point do you realise that THE MEFFS are just a duo. Their punk rock sounds massive. During the half-hour that THE MEFFS perform as the support act, singer Lily Hopkins switches effortlessly between melodic, catchy passages and furious screams. Meanwhile, drummer Lewis Copsey relentlessly drives the tempo forward. They rock through a few tracks from their latest album. These include ‘Business’, during which the band’s frontwoman proudly announces that, contrary to the music industry’s predictions, THE MEFFS have managed to make a name for themselves as a duo and even to play as support for iconic bands.
She’s absolutely right! Shortly afterwards, before the track ‘Fight’ - which lasts barely half a minute - Lily Hopkins clears a small empty space in the middle of the audience from the stage and invites those keen to dance to mosh wildly there during the brief performance. It’s an invitation that 20 to 30 fans in the audience are keen to take up. ‘Clowns’ rounds off the support act’s set. Here, the singer herself wanders into the audience and lets them give her a proper send-off. A thoroughly cool performance!
The Levellers
It’s 8 pm now. The stage has long been set for THE LEVELLERS’ tour opener. The Live Music Hall is now very well filled. The gig doesn’t seem to be completely sold out, though. But we mustn’t forget that the Live Music Hall in Cologne has (in some cases significantly) more capacity than the last venues where THE LEVELLERS performed in this city.
Music & Performance
The band kick off with ‘One Way’. Blimey. In fact, THE LEVELLERS play their album ‘Levelling The Land’ in its entirety, including the brilliant ‘15 Years’, which only made it onto the album in later pressings. The atmosphere is, of course, at its peak right from the first song and stays that way - which is hardly surprising given bangers like ‘The Game’, ‘15 Years’, ‘Liberty Song’, ‘Sell Out’ and ‘The Riverflow’.
The band performs as if they’re a single, seamless unit. There’s absolutely no sign that they need to find their feet at the start of the tour, or that there’s still a bit of a hitch in the works. On the contrary: THE LEVELLERS run like clockwork when performing live. As usual, Mark Chadwick (vocals, guitar) and Dan Donnelly (guitar, vocals) take their places at the front centre of the stage, joining forces now and then during instrumental sections and bantering with each other with a smile.
The chemistry is spot on. Flanking the two frontmen are Jon Sevink (violin) and Jeremy Cunningham (bass), who occasionally swap places at the sides of the stage. Behind the four musicians, Charlie Heather (drums) and Matt Savage (keyboards) sit at their instruments. What it means for the evening’s dramatic arc when THE LEVELLERS belt out all the tracks from their super-album in the first half of their set becomes clear after a short break.
‘Julie’, ‘World Freak Show’ and ‘Carry Me’ kick off the second half. Whilst the ballad-like ‘Julie’ brings the atmosphere back down to a normal level, THE LEVELLERS take us a little further back in time and, with ‘World Freak Show’ and ‘Carry Me’, perform the first two tracks from their debut album ‘A Weapon Called The World’, once again whipping the emotions in the Live Music Hall up to dizzying heights.
The wonderfully rocking ‘England My Home’ brings the band’s regular set to a close. After a brief spell backstage, however, the English band naturally return and are joined by THE MEFFS, at least for ‘This Garden’. Lily Hopkins takes over most of the vocals for this track. A little later, THE LEVELLERS bring the evening to a close with ‘Beautiful Day’. Ninety intense minutes are now behind us. On my way out of the hall, I see lots of sweaty faces. THE LEVELLERS have clearly put on a great show.
Setlist
01. One Way
02. The Game
03. 15 Years
04. The Boatman
05. Jig
06. Liberty Song
07. Far Frome Home
08. Sell Out
09. Another Man’s Cause
10. The Road
11. The Riverflow
12. Battle Of The Beanfield
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13. Julie
14. World Freak Show
15. Carry Me
16. Dirty Davey
17. Hope Street
18. England My Home
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19. This Garden
20. The Devil Went Down To Georgia
21. Beautiful Day
All pictures by André Wilms
