It’s a legendary Armley-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 Armley rock band 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 Horsofrthworld 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.
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 Marching On Together.
Breeze is Leeds City Council’s initiative for 0-19 year-olds. Since 2004 the team has delivered 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.