Mersey bands prove best in show for HUB festival

Apr 30 2008 by Philip Key, Liverpool Daily Post

A BMX rider flies high in the air at the HUB Festival at Otterspool (200)

MORE than 140 unsigned bands from across the country competed to perform in HUB, this year’s annual urban youth festival in Liverpool.

Industry professionals were among the judging panel for the Liverpool Culture Company event and they eventually decided on 13 bands.

But only two of them – The Buizniez from Kent and Elevators from Leeds – were from outside the Merseyside area.

Otherwise it was a clean sweep for bands across Merseyside, from Mossley Hill to Walton.

At least one of them, Metro Manila Aide, will be back for the fifth time.

Band member Paul McBride said: “It’s important to have a festival for Liverpool people with the backing of the city.

“HUB always combines music, dance and art in equal proportions and when the sun comes out it is great to rock on the massive stage.”

Event organiser Susan Whitehead said the number of bands applying to play at the sixth HUB festival was phenomenal, “be it indie, funk, rock, soul, hip-hop or metal”.

The band line-up will be the festival’s best ever, she maintained. They will be joined for the free festival, running on May 17 and 18 at Otterspool Park, by headliner Shlomo, a human beatboxer, a man who makes percussive sounds using just his voice and a microphone.

The festival celebrating urban art and entertainment will also feature extreme sports including skateboarding, BMX bikes, in-line skating and breakdancing.