Legacy. It’s one of those things that we all aspire to create from our labours. For one, those truly beautiful minds behind Wakefield’s Long Division city festival can be proud of their legacy.

We began this final ever (June 2023) Wakefield Long Division event by looking in on a few of the young local bands who have been mentored and supported by the Long Division family. Look no further for legacy; it was etched into the faces of these young musicians; excitement, nerves, achievement and everything in between.

The two acts we saw, The Blinds and Identity Crisis repaid the trust of the organisers in spades. The Blinds gave a punky cover a 1970’s Mott the Hoople pub rock twist (well, we were in a pub too), and also had some very promising originals to share. Identity Crisis did what their name suggest; a genre shifting, and indeed an instrument swapping performance, veering from jazz, and through a really promising indie folk-ish setting, where I admired the ambition in the dual guitar arrangements. I love a bit of freestyle jangle and I got it with Identity Crisis.

By the determined expression on some of those young faces in these bands, 30 years time will see some of these folk describing that moment when they realised they needed a working life in music.

If the beauty of witnessing legacy wasn’t enough on this bittersweet day, we also had top music going on. I was fortunately in the safe hands of a music journo (a proper one, unlike a pretend one like me). They had selected much of the days schedule with me as a last minute passenger for the day, although I did sneak in a couple of extras onto the schedule while they weren’t looking.

In total, I caught 15 artists (the lovely thing about this city festival is that you use hardly any shoe leather hotfooting between venues), and while all deserve a shout out, I will spare you from too many of my mangled words and will speak about just a few.

Our finale for the day came with the lovely Lovely Eggs, a couple I’ve been promising myself to see for far too long. The Lovely Eggs had that perfect mix of honest, fun, and sincerity for the final ever Long Division performance. We witnessed a heartfelt tribute to Long Division and its creator, all mixed up with tunes calling people twats, some “fuk its”, some sweet banter, and much more besides.

The Lovely Eggs felt like the alternative post punk successor to Leeds City Variety Music Hall, it was all in here, feel good, feel tearful, laugh. The Lovely Eggs could perhaps be the modern day Gracie Fields. The duo have been playing for 17 years now and the songs flowed on through – short punky snippets of life.

If you need to be reminded how good it is to be alive, then book yourself into a Lovely Eggs gig. Just beware that lead singer Holly Ross’ leg does some strange things. Shocked I was, dear reader.

Also towards the end of the day, we had a mind clearing refreshing set from Leeds based Thank. If I had imagined my slow steady supply of IPA was going to dull the senses then Thank had other ideas. During the day at Long Division, the cool kids and the insiders were all in on the buzz that Thank were delivering huge live performances, and that tonight would be something to witness. So it proved.

Lead singer Freddie Vinehill-Cliff used to do stand up and he can warm a crowd. Musically, I got a vibe for a post punk musical version of the anarchy and organised madness of Rick Mayall mashed up against prime John Lyden Public Image Limited (without the chip).

The music of Thank felt like my inner brain when on a quick dinner break there’s an elderly couple phaffing around in front of me, having a leisurely debate about choosing their sandwich. Thank are cathartic angels doing the hard work for you.

I know there are folk who feel that what I might sweepingly describe as shouty-boy bands all sound the same, but the variety in these Thank songs presented tonight were striking. All were strident massive behemoths though, and drummer Steve Miles was a total powerhouse keeping the beats of this band in close order. There was about as much spare space in these tunes as Steve has un-inked skin on his torso.

If you want your hair parting from the other side and a night of sheer energy and pressure relief then Thank are definitely your go to people.

As a complete contrast, one of my early doors highlights came with Wakey stalwarts Mi Mye. I first caught the band at last years festival where their sheer charm took my heart unawares, and I was delighted to reacquaint myself to their music.

In a more just world, Mi Mye would be playing at the Etihad and I’d be deciding I didn’t fancy seeing some pompous middle aged blokes calling themselves Coldplay in a pub somewhere. However it was lovely to see Mi Mye in the theatre setting, where once upon a time I saw Frank Skinner doing stand up (I was young, don’t judge me). Mi Mye were special to watch on that large stage, although they too felt it might just be panto season in that grand seated dark.

Mi Mye are just a sweet warm experience like a favourite jumper discovered after a while.

Musically there’s the violin played beautifully, trumpet, lots of keys, guitars and just high quality music. Fans of the likes of The Magic Numbers would be very happy in Mi Mye’s company and their quality honest music and flowing melody. I left the venue knowing this was going to be an amazing day, and I suspect most of the other folk in the audience did so too.

A band I’ve been desperate to see for an age was Leeds based Van Houten.

Indeed for this event I sported my Van Houten Moon era T-shirt from back in the day, even though the dark blue jersey was rather too dark and too thick for the sun. We all suffer one way or another for our love of music.

Van Houten looked rather untidy on the stage. Im not meaning by attire but by organisation, a sole guitar player on one side of the large stage, the rest of the band heaped on top of each other on the other side. It made for a frustrating photo attempt. You just know they are the kind of guys who will have untidy bedrooms.

Haha these guys need not heed; stand where you are comfortable, and most importantly, I will never see their bedrooms to test my theory.

It was a treat to see a mix of live Van Houten tunes old and new, and the guys treated us right with that weaving blend of lazy sounding psychedelic melody, the shoegazey vocals of Louis Sadler, and those striking thought provoking lyrics.

There was a time where I might be lying dazed and dopey in a field at 2.00am listening to Van Houten; it has that carefree vibe.

An exciting moment came when Louis tossed those special 3 words out at the audience, new music coming. I’ll be on it.

Another band I’ve been keen to see a while are those Brighton young hipsters Opus Kink, and once again the Brighton six piece outfit exceeded my expectations. Where Van Houten had been slightly reserved onstage, Opus Kink were boisterous and alive but without having a fake jollity.

Opus Kink could be a band who might take themselves completely seriously, with lead singer Angus Rogers being a published poet, and the song lyrics having a dystopian slant, but really I feel they are swinging on stage just to ensure everyone has a great time. From the off with the 2 for one white vest tops, and a sweaty strong punchy performance, it was time to be swallowed up in the Opus Kink spell.

Musically Opus Kink have been described as Filth Funk, and that rather hit the spot. For me I kind of got a vibe for the lovechild of Ian Dury and Joe Strummer mixed up into a Cave post punk mash up. There were keys and sax aplenty and the sheer number of notes and beats flowing out of the room literally took my breath away. I felt full of delicious notes, as I swear I swallowed a lot of them as they passed by.

I can fully understand why this band might attract that kind of crawl-over-hot-coals to see them support. Addictive is the word.

Opus Kink delivered a busy, organised chaos kind of feel live; all a bit mad – but all pretty perfect too. Opus Kink were another band who had me grinning from ear to ear throughout their set.

To once again stress those deep shades of contrast within the breadth of music curated by Long Division, I now turn to another highlight of the day Jellyskin, a Leeds duo much admired by my fellow traveller.

The gig venue for Jellyskin was in the high ceilinged room of Unity Hall, where the audience although numerous seemed fairly reserved. That mix had all of the potential of a school disco with poor sound (because of that tricky space), distracting heat, and an awkward audience. So it says so much for the seasoned Jellyskin to deliver a set packed with contrast and deep sweeping landscapes to hold our interest, and to keep us all in the room with them.

Jellyskin have been together since 2016, but tonight was the chance for them to showcase the nicely burning new album In Brine, which had been out a few scant days at the point of this performance.

Musically, Jellyskin gave me a total diverse mix of vibes – at one point I thought I was hearing shadows of Nico perhaps towards her end with an Ibiza club backdrop, another moment brought me to the lonely desolation of Depeche Mode at their darkest. Another moment brought me to think of a young Marc Almond hanging for life on a club bar with an uncomfortable soundtrack and his Mambas for company.

Jellyskin are dark and unforgivingly hard musically with a deliciously deep electronic backdrop which can veer from silly catchy, to change in a flash to a time where t feels like you know no one in the room, and all you have are those sounds for company. Jellyskin provided a powerful performance, which had me digging in my pocket for the sweet vinyl/t-shirt combo at the end.

So that was my Long Division 2023, if you missed it, then I’m sorry to say there is no plan b.

Long Division felt pretty unique to me, pushing the boundaries, forsaking the crowd pleasers for brain teasers.I hope we see the like again one day. Long Division leave a huge space to fill.

* words and photos by tiggerligger