Artists: Centre Stage 2012

Venue: Leeds O2

Review by: Andy Duckworth

THE heats have been intense, the fundraising has been frantic and Tuesday night saw the culmination of a year of hard work in the form of the Centre Stage 2012 competition finals at the O2 Academy in Leeds.

For the last couple of months young people have been competing to win a spot playing at the Leeds and Reading Festivals.

The groups are asked to raise money for Martin House Children’s Hospice and proceeds from the gigs are also donated to the charity.

A headline performance from last year’s winners The Mexanines, from Halifax, was preceded by fierce competition from acts from across West Yorkshire, with some as young as 12.

The final included fearsome metal from the lads in Distorted Sky and Euthemia through to the more soulful, passionate tones of Halifax’s own PaperPlane.

The Calderdale group unfortunately missed out on the festival slot with this year’s honours going to Leeds indie-rockers Glassbody.

Indecisive Crisis pulled a respectable second place.

Heckmondwike lad and competition judge, Mike Heaton, drummer from Brit-pop band Embrace, summed up Centre Stage’s goals saying: “Many schools choose to sideline music because it’s not seen as an academic subject, but it’s such an important life-skill in terms of teamwork and developing ideas and creativity.”

With Leeds and Reading organiser Melvin Benn turning up in person to extend the prize for another three years, any aspiring musicians out there should get in touch about being part of Centre Stage 2013.