Urban Sprawl’s Summer of Love.

Saturday night in the Sixties.

TJS greets us resplendent and exploding with flower power. It instantly soothes yet invigorates us (yup both at the same time-it was that cool) following our lengthy stumble across Woodhouse Lane from Seven Spices -where we grabbed some fuel for the fire pre movin’ and groovin’-and transports us back in time to the Sixties.

One of those delightful occurrences, this Saturday night happened to bring about the reunion of four old Uni friends who happen to like nothing better than to behave in a freeing, exuberantly silly manner in the confines of exuberant atmosphere and excellent music. Urban Sprawl’s Summer of Love embodies all of these, and some.

On our entrance we are overwhelmed by the attention to detail with draping hippy decor and the effort attendees have gone to with their fancy dress! It really does feel like we’ve shimmied into the sixties. On every table are beautifully crafted colourful crepe flowers, faces are painted and clothes are vibrant and groovy!

With such a wonderful set up and stage laid out for the show the music has a lot to live up to. The first act we see are Superset whose tight, enthusiastic and funky performance of popular and iconic covers has loads of bodyshaking on the dance floor, including us. The highlight of their set for me has got to be their brilliant version of Black Dog by Led Zeppelin- seriously impressed.

It all gets a lot more Folky and chilled next though, with a beautiful and thought provoking interlude from the Urban Stage Band. This features the first ever live performance from one of the singers as well which makes their rendition of ‘Fields of Gold’ all the more poignant. It is really lovely to witness the massive sense of community that comes across from the performers in this group. Every song they are smiling at each other and there is a sense of pride behind the sound they create. This encourages me to feel like I really want to find out more about the project and what Urban Sprawl are out to achieve, so if you are similarly inspired please head over to their website. They describe themselves as ‘Yorkshire’s only Homeless Theatre Company who produce two original shows per year, plus numerous fundraiser gigs, all in our effort to engage with people who’ve been there, and with people who haven’t…’ and they really do have the engagement down to a tee from what I’ve witnessed so far.

After a quick refresh at the extremely reasonably priced bar we’re back on the dance floor to witness the unique fusion of styles from the East and West that is Maggie 8.  This band is truly something else- deliciously unusual and very compelling to watch. I’ll be following their progress with interest now.

Delorean Drivers are anything but the end of the road for the evening. They are outstandingly good; with their statement-led static yet electric moves and their fantastic musicality consistent throughout the set. We are completely immersed in their music from the first note, and singing along (well, making up words to the catchy melodies) while we cut some shapes in front of the stage. We will probably be remembered as the lunatics doing robot style dance routines, but we don’t care; Delorean Drivers deserve to be danced to, and most importantly discovered! Get to a live set soon and you will have a ball.

A damn fine night out and all in aid a cause that is clearly really cared about, and supported creatively by a community of which I’m proud to be a part. When is the next one please?

Words: Claire Cameron
Twitter.com/claire_cameron