Reporter: Phil Barr Photographs and Videos: Jane Barr

“Enjoy Yourself” Wakeylele at the White Rose Centre, Leeds 15th Oct, 2022

The autumn gig season continued with a return to the White Rose Centre and at the end of a febrile week in polititics, the comforting sight of the Wakeylele Band, it is hoped, will have helped to settle the Saturday markets around Tingley at least. 

An early sign that the band meant business was the sight of Joe with banjo at the ready, sporting a jazzy waistcoat to rival that of Mike Hindley’s who was unfortunately unable to attend because of covid.

Indeed proceedings began in earnest well before eleven ( which had nothing to do with David,  Stan and others looking ahead to the England – Samoa Rugby League World Cup opener). The well rehearsed set progressed smoothly except   for a temporary blip when one or two eager people were a  bit ‘previous’ at the beginning of Come Up and See Me but David shrugged this off with a wry grin although he probably felt like saying Come Up and See Me afterwards in my office!

Another minor administrative problem involving much shuffling of song sheets apparently arose concerning someone on the opposite end of the front row to myself but I couldn’t see who it was, ( he said tongue in cheek).

 By now the shopping mall was alive with people – in fact it would be no exaggeration to say that hundreds of shoppers viewed the band as they poured down the escalators and it was noticeable that a majority of approaching faces looked happy on hearing and seeing the wonderful sound/ spectacle. Babies,toddlers, young and older adults alike all kept the cash buckets tinkling for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance coffers whose adjacent stall was doing a roaring trade.

And then a poignant moment when the band struck up the opening chords of Enjoy Yourself for maybe the last time. (David had even asked me a few days earlier if I would like to do a solo but I reluctantly decided against it on the grounds that it would have been too emotional besides which tomatoes may have been thrown in my direction). However, it has to be said that the band rose to the occasion and I believe we received the biggest ovation of the day at the end of the song. 

 After the interval, suitably refreshed despite having to battle our way through the hordes to grab a coffee we settled into a smooth rhythm to perform our second set with  Maxwell’s Silver Hammer again going down well with the onlookers and Mags playing a prominent part with the hammer. A nice contrast soon followed with the performance of The Glory of  Love. The only downside of the venue especially on such a busy day was the constant background buzz from a transient audience which did sometimes make keeping in time a problem but the band coped as well as anybody could and David adapted to the circumstances at half time by making the horseshoe seating plan as tight as possible.

Before we knew it was time for the finale and so the   closing medley was then thrashed out with much joie de vivre ( see video but – necessary spoiler – be prepared for a sudden cut -off very close to the end due to Jane’s phone capacity being full – you will just have to imagine the final roars of appreciation from the crowd! 

 Thanks to everyone involved especially David for  giving up his time once more and to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance volunteers who always make us feel welcome. 

Next up ( tbc) is an outdoor performance at Cannon Hall on 30th November. (The horseshoe seating formation may have to be adapted to replicate a penguin huddle depending on the temperature but David will have it in hand.)