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Review: 'Long Division Festival'
'Long Division Festival'   

-  Album: 'Wakefield – 12th and 13th June 2015'
-  Genre: 'Rock'

Our Rating:
Wakefield is hardly the centre of the musical universe by any stretch, but now in its fifth year, Long Division Festival is doing everything to put the town on the map. A small cosmopolitan festival, it benefits from some exceptional venues all within a few hundred yards of one another, making for easy navigation. It turns out the beer’s cheap in Wakefield too, as I discovered on arrival at Unity Works on Friday night. Regional hand-pulled ales at £3.50 a pint was certainly a bonus, while the venue’s first-class sound and lighting provided the perfect platform for British Sea Power to launch the event on the Friday night.

BSP are a band I like the idea of, but have often found somehow lacking, the three previous occasions I’ve seen them leaving me feeling most underwhelmed. Something was different here. Their love of on-stage foliage had exploded to a veritable forest on-stage and they were firing on all cylinders, dispatching a set that balanced the greatest hits and live favourites with their current debut album anniversary. With ‘Remember Me’ and ‘No Lucifer’ sounding particularly full and energetic, they finally convinced me.

Saturday offered an insane wealth of acts and a lineup befitting of a festival punching above its weight and succeeding.

Early doors local and lesser known acts The Spills and Piskie Sits packed out the smaller of the two rooms at Unity Works. Piskie Sits’ singer couldn’t hold a tune in a bucket, but makes no pretence of being a singer, and his yelping, breathless style sits well with their brand of skewed indie reminiscent of Pavement.

CryBabyCry were the first band to grace the main stage at Unity Works: with dal male / female vocals, their standard 80s power-pop / rock was lifted from the realms of Roxette by some hefty drumming, chunky guitars and beefy bass tones.

Welsh visitors Seazoo continued the indie theme on the second stage, siting at the lighter, nerdier end of the spectrum, with some swirly-space-rock synths thrown in for good measure.

Allusondrugs proved to be the first star quality act of the day. Having seen them deliver incendiary performances on smaller stages, I wondered who they’d fare in front of a 400-capacity crowd, and they more than delivered. Their energy and confidence, not to mention a truly massive sound reached every corner of the auditorium, with their screaming angst and squalling guitars. The Nirvana references are undeniable, but they’ve got the songs: ‘Nervous’ is nothing short of an instant classic, while the full-on grunge of ‘Should Have Gone to Uni’ hits like a punch to the solar plexus and Jason Moules is a compelling front man who could take them far.

For a change of pace and a change of atmosphere, The Theatre Royal seemed like a sound choice: The Horn The Hunt, airing material from their recently-released fourth album ‘Wovo’. Dressed rather demurely (rather than in animal skins), the duo played magnificently poised and minimalist renditions of the songs, and movingly dedicated ‘My Face In Your Eyes’ to their bassist who recently passed away. The sound was crystal clear and you could even hear the ice rattle in Clare Carter’s glass when she stops to take a drink.

Keeping things low-key and giving my ears a much-needed rest, I stopped by the magnificent Westgate Chapel for Ryan Spendlove’s set. If seeing him sitting with his guitar and sporting a flat cap behind the communion rail seemed a little incongruous, his reservations about playing a song called ‘Cocaine’ in this venue showed he felt a but awkward in the venue too. Not that you’d know by his performance: his blued-based songs are simple, honest, unpretentious and played with real heart. He also possesses a magnificently soulful voice and received the enthusiastic reception he rightly deserves.

Hopping over to the Hop in need of a pint (and they do decent pints at keen prices, too), I caught We Got Rocket. The J Mascis sticker on the bass of the singer gave a fair indication of their style (rather more so than the waifish guitarist who looks like he should be in a These Animal Men tribute). They’re extremely young, but show definite potential.

Back at The Theatre Royal, Her Name is Calla delivered a career-spanning set filled the impressive and capacious venue with vast layers of sound. The grandeur of the 499-seat Victorian auditorium is befitting of the band’s ambitious sound. The reverence of ‘Pour More Oil’ proved particularly well-suited to the cavernous reverb of the multi-tiered room (and from the balcony it sounded great). Recent addition Tiernan Welch proves to be a rock-solid bassist, and the rendition of ‘New England’ which brings the set to a suitably monumental climax is nothing short of epic, Sophie’s violin bow hanging in shredded curtains by the end. Ten years into their career, they’re looking to be at a new peak.

There’s a woman grabbing at the singer’s crotch as she leans up to the barrier, while security are shitting themselves, because on stage the guitarist is smoking a fag. A real cigarette! Riot rules! And it’s still only the second song. Fat White Family were always going to draw a decent crowd, and packed out the main room at Unity Works. Thankfully, their brand of ramshackle indie folk shoegaze, swathed in ridiculous amounts of reverb is genuinely compelling, proving they’re not just some novelty act. And Lias Saoudi only gets his dick out once.

After such mayhem, The Lovely Eggs seems positively sedate by comparison. Not that the Lancastrian duo ae remotely sedate. Holy Ross’ age is hard to gauge, and she dresses like a demur indie chick – but cranks out some seriously spiky punk tunes and lyrics that veer between the abrasive and the bizarre, while husband drummer David Blackwell kicks out some energetic rhythms.

It seems like a long time ago since I saw Pulled Apart By Horses’ debut album launch at The Brudenell Social Club in Leeds. They’ve lost none of that wild energy, and ‘I Punched A Lion in the Throat’ elicited a suitably frenzied reaction from the front rows of the crowd. The more recent material has heavy hints of Queens of the Stoneage, but they wrap up a whirlwind set with a blistering rendition of their breakthrough his, ‘High Five, Swan Dive, Nosedive’. By now, it’s feeling like the festival’s reaching its summit.

Many punters were there for Ash, and many elected to stick around for Ash at Unity Works instead of braving the inevitable crush for Future of the Left. Fair play: with more singles than The Beatles (well, almost), they’re an ideal festival headliner. But the prospect of Future of the Left in a room with a capacity in the region of maybe 120 wasn’t one to pass on. In context: the last time they played in the region, it was to a sold-out Belgrave Music hall in Leeds, capacity circa 450. Needless to say, the band’s high-octane punk-edged blasts hit with staggering intensity. They have it 100% and as the set raced onwards, the heat soared, the walls melted and he venue blurred… and that’s precisely the way to wrap up an unbeatable weekend of live music.

  author: Christopher Nosnibor

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Long Division Festival - Long Division Festival
Pulled Apart By Horses