Ok, so we’ve been meaning to do this for quite a while, but it is still just about in time. Long Division is tomorrow, and we are pretty much certain that it is going to prove to be an incredible day of music. With a line-up which is as much about promoting the best new music in Wakefield and West Yorkshire as it is about the big names, it will prove to be a day full of hidden gems. Here are a few picks from Team PYT. That said, please don’t listen to a word we say – the more of you that listen, the less chance we have of getting into the venues…
There is only one place to start, and that is with the first act of the day. Thankfully the festival opens with one of our favourite people around, as The Passing Fancy get Long Division off to an upbeat, smiling, fun pop start. Wonderful. We can promise that you will walk away from The Hop with a real spring in your step once Paul PF is finished with you.
Then we hit clash central, and by only one o’clock. We will be off to the Town Hall to see our very own Advances in Mathematics, whose shoegazing postrock will settle things down nicely. Across town you could also be watching the second brilliant Wakey band of the day, returning hero Mi Mye. We’ve not seen Mi Mye in far far too long, but still know that they are bloody brilliant.
Next up, dash to The Orangery to do some brilliant, driving indiepop from Fever Dream. Don’t get too settled though, as you’ll want to pop around the corner to the Theatre Royal to see the North East’s finest noisy weird timed popsters Mammal Club. In a theatre. Brilliant.
CLASH TWO – The Twilight Sad v Kid Canaveral. Bugger. NOISE NOISE NOISE v ace pop. Oh bugger. This one is difficult to call. I ADORE Twilight Sad, but really really want to see Kid Canaveral. Shit.
Oh, and once that decision is out of the way, it is a three way clash as PYT favourites This Many Boyfriends blow the socks off folks at The Hop, Withered Hand holds your hand and convinces you that the world is an amazing place at Henry Boons, and the mighty promising Fourth Time Believer hit Velvet.
Right, made a choice there? Now the hardest one of the day. Fanzine v Standard Fare v Runaround Kids v Francois & the Atlas Mountains. Crikey. I definitely want to see all of these bands. I suspect that the chance to see Runaround Kids tearing apart their own city on a massive day for music in Wakefield will win out.
Hang about, Napoleon IIIrd is playing at Theatre Royal? BONEY THIRD IN A THEATRE! This could well be the best thing you’ll see all day. FACT.
AND breathe. Then start again. By 7 o’clock I will hopefully be drunk enough to not notice that I have to choose between two of my favourite bands in the world, and also one of the local bands who I most want to see. Young British Artists are by far and away the most exciting band in the country right now, and have been for the past few years. I can’t miss them. BUT, they are on at the same time as At Brut, the band who convinced me many moons ago that writing a fanzine about music was something I absolutely HAD to do. So, watch YBAs, then run to Art Brut, but potentially don’t see all of them because St. Gregory Orange have recorded one of the best new records of the year, and they are on at Theatre Royal.
Back to Mustangs to see another brilliant Wakefield band as The Spills take on the challenge of playing a sexy cowboy themed bar, and they are bound to whip up a noisy bouncy sweaty brilliant mess. Which is exactly the wrong frame of mind to be in to head back the theatre for the pure beauty of Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat.
Half nine pits The Vaselines directly opposite The Longcut. I guess this is a decision which will have to be made based on condition by this point, noisy jumpy shouty sarcasm or noisy dancey running around the stage dancing.
Our Long Division will finish where it started, at The Hop, watching good friends Dutch Uncles making the kind of pop music which deserves to close this wonderful day of music. Unless of course those rumours of a secret set for the after party prove to have any substance…
As an add on to all this fun on Saturday, we would like to extend an invitation to all the hungover folks of Long Division to join us at The Hepworth Wakefield on Sunday, where an afternoon of acoustic music, stunning architecture, amazing artwork and a bloody brilliant cafe will soothe all your pains away.
ENJOY FOLKS! Oh, and if anyone sees Dean from Rhubarb Bomb without a drink at any point then make sure to put one into his hand – he bloody well deserves to enjoy his day!
