Wakefield’s Long Division Festival have announced the full weekend programme for their annual festival, with diverse and exciting new events to take place on the Friday and Sunday either side of the main day of programming on Saturday 25th September.
Starting on Friday 24th September with longtime Long Division favourites The Wave Pictures making their return to Wakefield after many years away, bringing an intimate fringe show to Balne Lane Working Men’s Club. The London-based indie-pop trio will be joined by promising new Leeds outfit English Teacher who recently signed to Nice Swan Records (Sports Team, Pip Blom, FEET), with tickets on sale now.
Scheduled Saturday performers The Anchoress and Beardyman have now moved to Long Division 2022 due to ongoing individual health concerns, while CUD have been added to the bill. Chosen by the LD audience as the winners of the Long Division Festival World Cup last year, the Leeds legends make a welcome return to Wakefield along with local up-and-comers The Golden Age of TV, another new addition to the lineup. Meanwhile, the full list of festival venues have also been announced, with programming taking place on Saturday 25th September at WX (former Market hall), Mechanics Theatre, Wakefield Town Hall, Vortex, Velvet, Westgate Chapel, The Establishment, The Hop, and Jolly Boys.
Alongside the full programme, Long Division have shared more information of their innovative partnership with new Wakefield residents Tileyard North. A huge regeneration project for the region, Tileyard North is creating a vibrant destination for creative and collaborative partnerships that will encompass all of the inclusivity and creative empowerment that Tileyard have become known for at their groundbreaking Kings Cross site. For the festival on September 25th, Tileyard North and Long Division have partnered to present a Tileyard North stage at Mechanics’ Theatre, featuring a brilliant lineup of artists including post-punk and shoegaze from Hull’s acclaimed artists Low Hummer and BDRMM, Hebden Bridge’s The Lounge Society, local Wakefield garage-rock heroes Knuckle, and many more. Also joining them will be the talented Georgia Meek, a Tileyard Education student success story who was awarded a Spitfire Audio Scholarshipand and has gone on to perform at huge events such as Radio One’s Big Weekend.
Sunday at Long Division is presented by Wakefield BID, Arts Council England and Wakefield Council, and will take place at WX (former Market Hall) on 26th September. A joint effort aiming to help revitalise the city centre and offer accessible culture to local residents, the stage will host performances from renowned tribute acts Weetwood Mac and Green Haze along with Shades Collective, Transcend, and a special set from 2021 The Voice contestant Chanel Yates. Originally from Wakefield, Chanel’s musical history is interconnected to Long Division’s, having played her first ever gig at Long Division back in 2013 through one of the festival’s local outreach programmes. With festival partners and Huddersfield craft brewing stalwarts Magic Rock providing the bar in the venue, the Food Hall next door will be hosting a wide range of workshops and activities for families and young people, along with an additional stage of live music from #YoungTeam (LD’s education department), whose mission is to use music to inspire and educate young people, empowering them to find their voices and create their own culture.
Free for all to attend, capacity for the stage is limited so the public will be encouraged to sign up for tickets, with a one-in one-out policy in place once the venue is full. Wakefield BID hope the event will also help to encourage and drive local footfall to support businesses in the area following an understandably difficult time for retail and hospitality venues over the past 18 months.
Long Division are also pleased to welcome three new team members this month thanks to the support of Youth Music’s incubator fund. Creating music industry jobs for young people has long been a goal of Long Division and they are pleased to welcome Eva Davies, Eve Creighton and Megan Holden to the team. These talented young event professionals join the team at a crucial moment in the delivery of this year’s event and show there is a bright future ahead for music careers in Wakefield and West Yorkshire.
The full Saturday schedule can be found here
Full Covid guidance is available here
