Saturday 18th March saw Long Division kick start their festival season with a #YoungTeam fundraiser event.
Having recently attended one of Long Division’s Workshops at Wakefield College I was invited to come along to the fundraiser gig at St Annes Hall, Wrenthorpe to see what young talent was out there in our community. Being one of my first local gigs I was eager to see what was out there.
All acts on the night were local artists from West Yorkshire who have been supported by Long Division via their education and mentoring workshops, these have provided all the artists with a platform for their music and the opportunity to record and share their music via Spotify and Long Division’s own website.
First up was Ben Thorpe who played a great selection of covers with strong vocals and impressive guitar skills. Ben started his set with the Steppenwolf classic “Born to be Wild” and followed with “Sunshine of your love” by Cream. I was particularly impressed by Ben’s cover of “Pride and Joy” by Stevie Ray Vaughan, as a big SRV fan It took me by surprise hearing it and how well Ben was able to play with such confidence. Ben finally finished his set on with the Weezer classic Buddy Holly, overall, a confident performance from a clearly capable musician.
Next came Daisy who has previously recorded her own material with the help, support and mentoring of Long Division. Daisy’s set was fully acoustic and featured covers along with her own original material. Daisy’s classy and simple performance gave the hushed crowd goosebumps with her beautiful haunting voice and guitar playing to provide a great performance. I have to mention Daisy’s brilliant choice of cover songs too, such as Porcelain by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, again one of my favourites. Daisy is certainly another artist to look out for in the future.
Next up on stage was the third act of the night, Sooner Or Later a 3 piece band from Huddersfield and these were probably my favourite act of the night. The band exploded into their set with the classic “’Wild Thing” and continued with some original music and covers. They showed some great stage presence and genuine rapport between themselves and the crowd. They belted out some real classic covers such Guns N Roses, “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B Goode” which really got the crowd going not to mention the band’s great musicianship with guitarist George playing the solo holding his guitar behind his back in true Marty Mcfly style, these guys are definitely one to watch.
The final act of the night went to La Sorda who delivered an energetic performance and ended the night with an explosion of epic indie anthems from The Arctic Monkeys and The Killers. All were very impressive musicians who ended the night with crescendo of drums and guitar.
Overall, the gig was a massive success, raising £400 for Long Division and providing a stage for four aspiring artists. I’m certainly looking forward to seeing what is available at the next gig and would recommend anyone looking for new musical talent to get a ticket booked for the Long Division Festival held on 10th June 2023 in Wakefield
Joe Hill