The Howl & The Hum: York Life headliners on April 3
YORK’S new spring festival weekend will showcase the city’s musicians, performers, comedians and more besides on April 2 and 3.
Organised by Make It York, YorkLife will see more than 30 performers and organisations head to Parliament Street for a free open event from 11am to 9pm each day with no need to book tickets in advance.
The Saturday headliners will be Big Donaghy’s long-running York party band Huge; the Sunday bill will climax with The Howl & The Hum in their biggest home-city performance since gracing York Minster on May 25 2021.
Both bands will play the main YorkLife stage as part of a programme curated by York’s Music Venue Network, presenting such York acts as Bull, Kitty VR, Flatcap Carnival and Hyde Family Jam.
An array of interactive sessions will be held by York organisations, taking in theatre workshops, instrumental workshops, face painting, comedy and dance performances, plus fire performers and circus acts.
The main stage on Parliament Street will have an open viewing area with a 500 capacity, while a covered stretch tent will hold a York Gin bar and seating area for 90 people with a one-in, one-out policy.
YorkLife is supported by City of York Council’s ARG (Additional Restrictions Grant) funding, which aims to boost businesses impacted by Covid-19. The April 2 and 3 programme has been curated with York residents in mind and to support the city’s recovery from Covid.
Big Ian Donaghy: Fronting Huge on the YorkLIfe main stage on April 2
Councillor Darryl Smalley, executive member for culture, leisure and communities, says: “Our cultural sector is the lifeblood of our communities. There is so much talent in York, from musicians to comedians and poets to performers, which makes our city so vibrant and unique.
“YorkLife is an excellent way to celebrate our home-grown musicians and performers, particularly after what has been a challenging few years for us all. I would encourage residents to join the festival and enjoy the best of York’s own talent.”
Sarah Loftus, Make It York’s managing director, says:“YorkLife is a celebration of York talent and culture, from our street musicians to our community groups. We want to really celebrate the sense of community in York and we’re encouraging residents to join the party and see some of the hottest talent York has to offer.”
Chris Sherrington, from the York Music VenueNetwork, says:“It’s wonderful to have this opportunity to showcase some of York’s amazingly talented artists who have developed their careers across the city of York’s many great grassroots music venues.
“As part of YorkLife weekend, we’re looking forward to celebrating the return of live music to the city and enjoying the wonderful variety of music for one and all. This event has been a true cooperative effort of York’s event industry and creatives and we look forward to working on future events.”
To find out more about YorkLife, head to visityork.org/yorklife. The full line-up will be announced later this month.
Bull: Home-city gig for York’s first band to sign to a major label since Shed Seven
Confirmed acts and workshops
Musicians:
The Howl & The Hum; Huge; Bull; Kitty VR; Flatcap Carnival; Hyde Family Jam; Floral Pattern; Bargestra and Wounded Bear.
Workshops:
Mud Pie Arts: Cloud Tales interactive storytelling;
Thunk It Theatre: Build Our City theatre workshop;
Gemma Wood: York Skyline art;
Fantastic Faces: Face painting;
York Mix Radio: Quiz;
York Dance Space: Dance performance;
Burning Duck Comedy Club: Comedy night;
Henry Raby, from Say Owt: Spoken poetry;
Matt Barfoot: Drumming workshop;
Christian Topman: Ukulele workshop;
Polly Bennet: Little Vikings PQA York performing arts workshop;
Innovation Entertainment: Circus workshops.
Nicolette Hobson and Gemma Drury of Mud Pie Arts: Hosting Cloud Tales interactive storytelling workshops at YorkLife
Benjamin Francis Leftwich: Looking to a higher power as a conduit for his songwriting. Picture: Harvey Pearson
NOW living in North London, singer-songwriter Benjamin Francis Leftwich heads back home tomorrow (25/2/2022) to play The Citadel, his second church gig in York after his sold-out Minster concert in 2019.
The 7.30pm show is part of a 26-date tour from February 1 to March 4, showcasing To Carry A Whale, his fourth album for Dirty Hit Records, released last June.
Recorded over four months in his Tottenham home, at Urchin Studios in Hackney, in a hotel room in Niagara and in a Southend studio owned by Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly’s Sam Duckworth, who shared production duties with Adele collaborator Eg White, it was the first record to be made by Ben entirely sober.
He has maintained that state since spending 28 days in rehab in January 2018, and it is reflected in the album title. “To Carry A Whale is an observation on what it’s like to be a sober alcoholic addict several years in,” he says. “A whale is heavy to carry. It’s gonna hurt you to carry it, but it’s also beautiful, and it’s a miracle to be able to carry all that at all.”
Carry it he does, but Ben is thriving on his creativity at 32. “I’m very lucky to do this, to write songs. I’ve been given a gift and I’m the custodian of it for now,” he says.
At the time of this interview – pre-tour in January – he was in a West Hampstead studio. “I’m working with Jimmy Hogarth and Bonnie Kemplay, a new artist with Dirty Hit,” he said. “We’re just jamming, writing a bit with Jimmy, who’s a legendary producer who’s also worked with Sam Griffiths [Ben’s fellow York songwriter and frontman of The Howl & The Hum].”
The artwork for Benjamin Francis Leftwich’s fourth album, To carry A Whale, released last June
Ben is now on the road, playing solo around the country. “That’s been a been a big conversation with my managers and label: should I play with musicians or go it alone – and we decided I’d do it totally solo, with just my tour manager James Kellegher and a sound engineer,” he says.
“I kind of like it this way. It gives me freedom with the set list and logistically it’s easier to tour this way. That’s how my bread is buttered. That’s how I started.”
Add the support acts Elanor Moss and Wounded Bear (alias Josh Finn), and “it will be three musicians singing from the heart and hopefully breaking hearts too,” says Ben.
Expect a few piano-based numbers in an acoustic set where all four albums – 2011’s Top 40 debut Last Smoke Before The Storm, when he was Dirty Hit’s first signing, 2016’s After The Rain, 2019’s Gratitude and last year’s To Carry A Whale – will be represented.
“Of course, I want to do songs from the latest record, but I have four to pick from and I’m under no illusion that people aren’t coming to see me for the songs they first loved,” says Ben. “If I play songs they don’t know, then the line between disrespect and a musician’s right to autonomy is a fine one, but it should always be an opportunity to play new songs.”
Whereas actors and dancers must be disciplined team players, always on time for rehearsals and performances, rock musicians tend to be born out of rejecting rules, codes of conduct and 9 to 5 rituals.
“I’m very lucky to do this, to write songs,” says Ben. “I’ve been given a gift and I’m the custodian of it for now”
“It’s funny; I’ve got really into musical theatre – randomly but now I love it – and that’s a world where you train hard, you’re on a contract, whereas the life of a musician…you turn up when you want, you might turn up high, you might be drunk; you might cancel the gig if you don’t feel like playing, but that’s why so many great songs have come out of that madness!” says Ben.
“Artists are very difficult to be around. We’re very prideful; we’re a nightmare to be in a relationship with; we want to be the centre of attention.”
Yet, for all the baggage that goes with the outsider’s role, at the same time he feels a calling, a responsibility even, to create songs. “I believe that the songs are above us, to reach for, and if we limit a higher power, a god, when we can pluck magic out of nothing, then we limit the potential for beauty,” says Ben.
“For me, I have so many situations where songs come together in different ways. I think it’s like, ‘I’m not God, I can’t do this on my own’, but sometimes songs land on my lap, like when I was writing my first album on my own out of necessity.
“But so many wonderful songs come out of collaborations, though it takes a long time to be open hearted enough to entertain the thought that my ideas might not be my best just on their own.
“Allowing someone like Sam Duckworth to be the co-captain of the ship gave To Carry A Whale a cohesive energy that really benefited it.”
Benjamin Francis Leftwich in contemplative mood at York Minster ahead of playing the Nave in April 2019
Artists are sensitive, says Ben, to the point where “sadly it’s no secret that lots of us decide we don’t want to be alive anymore”, as he struggled after his father, University of York politics professor Dr Adrian Leftwich, died from cancer in April 2013.
“It’s hard to explain. Single parents, teachers, are the real rock stars, but we do have things we struggle with, and it’s good to talk about it. There’s a lot of witchcraft around, but the only touchstone to spiritual growth that I’ve experienced is suffering.”
From there, as well as “from above”, come the songs of To Carry A Whale. “It was an honest record; I surrendered to it, I said what I wanted to say, people are discovering it, and I’m really looking forward to playing the songs at The Citadel,” he says.
“I last went there for a religious ceremony when I was at school [he attended Bootham School], so I know it’s a magical place to play.”
Looking to the future, Ben already has a producer lined up for his next album. “It’s half written, but whether it’s a year or ten, it will be finished when it is,” he says. “I’ll colour it in as it goes along.”
Benjamin Francis Leftwich plays The Citadel, Gillygate, York, tomorrow (25/2/2022), supported by Elanor Moss and Wounded Bear, at 7.30pm. Box office: thecrescentyork.com. Also playing The Foundry, Sheffield, tonight; The Parish, Huddersfield, Saturday.
YORK singer-songwriter Rachel Croft will perform at Forty Five Vinyl Café, Micklegate, York, on July 31.
The 7.30pm gig will showcase the July 23 release of Reap What You Sow, a cinematic, moody taster for her four-track EP of the same name on September 9. Exploring a more potent, bluesy style throughout, further tracks will be second single Time Waits For No Man, Roots and Chasing Time.
Since Step 3 lockdown easing, Rachel has played the opening night of the second season of socially distanced Songs Under Skies acoustic concerts in York, sharing the June 1 double bill with Wounded Bear in the National Centre for Early Music churchyard garden at St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate.
On July 8, she opened for Leeds band The Dunwells at the second sold-out Primrose Wood Acoustics open-air concert organised by Pocklington Arts Centre.
Rachel will be supported at her Live At Forty Five YouTube Session concert byKell Chambers and Evie Barrand. Tickets cost £10 via fortyfiveuk.com/whatson.
The poster for Rachel Croft’s July 31 concert at Forty Five Vinyl Cafe, York
Minster Men: The Howl & The Hum to play livestreamed concert at York Minster on Tuesday
THE Indian Variant may be dampening down hopes for June 21, but Charles Hutchinson’s diary is still filled with hope, concerts, festivals, exhibitions and a Minster livestreaming.
Livestreaming of the week ahead: The Howl & The Hum, Live At York Minster, Tuesday, 8pm to 9.30pm
YORK rock band The Howl & The Hum are performing a one-off streamed concert in the Nave of York Minster on Tuesday, with tickets available via Brudenell.ticketco.events/.
The 8.15pm setlist will be built around last year’s debut album, Human Contact, whose prescient title chimed with pandemic times as such contact became more restricted, even barred. New material may well feature too. “I reckon it will,” says frontman Sam Griffiths.
Rachel Croft: York singer-songwriter to perform on Songs Under Skies acoustic double bill with Wounded Bear at the NCEM. Picture: Amy D’Agorne
A fistful of outdoor gigs: Songs Under Skies, National Centre for Early Music, York, in June
SONGS Under Skies will return to the NCEM’s churchyard gardens at St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York, next month.
Five outdoor acoustic double bills from 6.30pm to 8.30pm will comprise Wounded Bear and Rachel Croft on June 1; Kell Chambers and Nadedja, June 2; Katie Spencer and Joshua Burnell, June 14; Zak Ford and Alice Simmons, June 15, and Epilogues and Sunflower Thieves, June 16.
As with last September’s debut series, the socially distanced, Covid-safe season two will be presented in association with The Crescent community venue, The Fulford Arms and the Music Venues Alliance. Box office: at tickets.ncem.co.uk.
Hope Is The New Hero, by Jake T, from Rawcliffe and Clifton Without, for the Hope display at the According To McGee gallery in York
Children’s art show of the week in York: Hope projections, According To McGee, York, tonight, tomorrow, then Wednesday to Friday for the next two weeks, 6pm to 9pm nightly
HOPE springs nocturnal in a collaboration between primary school artists from York and around the world at York gallery According To McGee.
Under the title of Hope, the artwork will be on display in light projections in the window of the Tower Street gallery in a creative response to the pandemic.
Digital artists Nick Walters is overseeing evenings featuring projections of 350 artworks selected from 3,000 images from cities in 33 countries.
York artist Sue Clayton, second from right, with NHS York Vaccination Centre site manager Will McEvoy, Nimbuscare director of quality and patient experience Michelle Phillips and Pocklington Arts Centre director Janet Farmer at the unveiling – but not unmasking! – of the 21 exhibition at Askham Bar
Jab in the arm for art: Sue Clayton’s 21 exhibition, NHS York Vaccination Centre, Askham Bar, York, until June 13
WHAT a captive audience for Sue Clayton’s portrait exhibition of children and young adults with Down Syndrome, presented in association with Pocklington Arts Centre (PAC).
As many as 3,000 people a day are attending the Askham Bar vaccination centre to receive a jab in the “Tent Of Hope”, where biodegradable prints of Sue’s paintings are in place.
The theme of 21 symbolises the extra 21st chromosome that people with Down Syndrome have, Sue’s energetic son James among them.
Manic Street Preachers: New tour, new album…oh, and a new single called…Orwellian
Gig announcement of the week in York: Manic Street Preachers, York Barbican, October 4
WELSH rock band Manic Street Preachers’ 14-date autumn itinerary will showcase the September 3 release of their 14th studio album, The Ultra Vivid Lament, on Columbia/Sony.
In a departure from 2018’s Resistance Is Futile, the new record is the first Manics’ studio set to be conceived initially on piano rather than guitar.
James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire and Sean Moore last played York Barbican in May 2019. Their support will be The Anchoress, the Welsh-born multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and author Catherine Anne Davies. Tickets sales go live tomorrow (21/5/2021) at 10am at yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Mad about the Boy: Boy George and Culture Club perennial members Roy Hay and Mikey Craig are off to the Yorkshire seaside
Gig announcement of the week outside York: Culture Club, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, August 14
EIGHTIES’ icon Boy George and Culture Club are off to the Yorkshire seaside in a new addition to the packed Scarborough Open Air Theatre programme.
Bexleyheath-born frontman and fashion innovator George O’Dowd, who turns 60 on June 14, will perform alongside original band members Roy Hay and Mikey Craig in a “stunning live band”. Tickets go on sale for the 8,000-capacity show via scarboroughopenairtheatre.com tomorrow (21/5/2021) at 9am.
Rachel Podger: The Violinist Speaks concert at York Early Music Festival 2021. Picture: Theresa Pewal
Festival launch of the week: York Early Music Festival 2021, July 12 to 16
PRESENTED by the National Centre of Early Music, the classical York Early Music Festival 2021 will have the theme of Encounters, most vitally between audience and artists after lockdown loosening.
Among the guest artists will be violinist Rachel Podger; lutenist Jacob Heringman; bass Matthew Brook; the Monteverdi String Band; harpsichordist Steven Devine; The Society Of Strange & Ancient Instruments; La Vaghezza and Ensemble Clement Janequin.
Taking part too will be vocal ensemble Stile Antico and Spanish Baroque ensemble L’Apothéose. Tickets are on sale at ncem.co.uk. Upcoming too will be YEMF 21 Online, from July 15 to 18, featuring festival concerts and commissioned highlights.
Bull in a field: York alt.rock band booked for Deer Shed: Base Camp Plus festival
No Deer Shed 11 festival, but here comes Deer Shed: Base Camp Plus, Baldersby Park, Topcliffe, Thirsk, July 30 to August 1
AFTER last summer’s Base Camp, Deer Shed Festival co-directors Oliver Jones and Kate Webster have created Base Camp Plus with a female-headlined main stage, live music, DJ sets, comedy and shows. As with last year’s event, each camping pitch will contain its own Portaloo and washing facilities.
Jane Weaver, Dream Wife and Porridge Radio are the headliners; York bands Bull and New York Brass Band will be playing too; John Shuttleworth, Mark Watson and Angelos Epithemiou lead the comedy.
The organisers will adhere to the Step 3 restrictions in place since Monday, limiting the capacity, with social distancing and face coverings in covered areas. For tickets, go to: deershedfestival.com/basecampplus.
And what about?
Brief encounter: York drag diva Velma Celli in Love Is Love: A Brief History Of Drag at York Theatre Royal
Velma Celli in Love Is Love: A Brief History Of Drag, York Theatre Royal, May 29,8pm
YORK drag diva deluxe Velma Celli’s fabulous contribution to York Theatre Royal’s reopening Love Season will be one of Velma’s regular cabaret shows, re-titled Love Is Love: A Brief Of History Of Drag specially to meet the love brief.
Joining Velma – the creation of York musical actor Ian Stroughair – will be two guest acts, Jordan Fox, Ian’s co-star in Jack And The Beanstalk, and Jessica Steel, together with backing singers Kimberley Ensor and Grace Lancaster, musical director Ben Papworth, drummer Clark Howard and guitarist Al Morrison.
Ian last appeared on the Theatre Royal in Kes at the age of 14, all of 24 years ago.
