Our Favourite Moments from Light Hustle

Firstly our huge respect goes out to our friends at Hockley Hustle and Circle of Light for raising over five and a grand yesterday with their 8 hour telethon-style music festival streamed live to thousands of people on Facebook and Twitch. Plus their tech team for getting it all together to put this on remotely. 

All proceeds raised from the festival will go towards Nottingham-based creatives, performers and freelancers who are now skint because all their events work has been cancelled for the foreseeable. Inspired by other similar fundraisers in Liverpool and Hull, this funding will provide at least fifty-five £100 hardship funds for any artists that cannot work during this time. The first payments will be available on 1 May. If you are a Nottingham-based performer and your income has been decimated by Coronavirus then email [email protected] to apply.

For those of you who didn't tune in you can watch the whole thing back on their Facebook page. However, since even in this downtime you may not have a whole 8-hours to spare, we've picked through some of our favourite bits so you can skip through a little. 

Jamal's mesmerising dancing

We're probably all doing a little bit of dancing at home right now, particularly with things like this on the telly and computer. But not many of us have the godlike moves of flex-dancer Jamal Sterret. Watch back in awe at what he can do.

Skip to: -7:04:50 (on the Facebook timer in the bottom right of the screen - note: this counter goes backwards)

Sheku's living room cello set

If he's good enough to perform at Harry and Megan's wedding, then being able to beam a bit of Sheku Kanneh-Mason straight into your living room should ease a bit of tension while you're stuck indoors. The 2016 BBC Young Musician of the Year also appears later on in the broadcast with his sister on piano. 

Skip to: -6:31:40

Georgie shows off her key work

Singer-songwriter Georgie has recently been on tour with Blossoms, Jack Savoretti and the Lighthouse Family. Usually she plays a guitar, but clearly she's also got some skills on the keyboard as she showcased in this intimate set. 

Skip to: -6:21:20

Bridie premieres The Hunter

Our very own Editor at Large Bridie Squires is also an uber-talented performance poet. She showed off a new piece of work written about her experiences of Coronavirus and recorded over the last two weeks at home. 

Skip to: -5:15:55

Major Labia's Bake Off

With the current craze for home-baking, it seemed apt that Major Labia showed off their Great British Bake Off inspired comedy video. It's hilarious and brilliant. Please note this was all filmed and edited well before the Coronavirus hit, hence the fact that some of it is outside. 

Skip to: -4:56:00

Rob Green plays with his eyes closed

A pivotal member of Nottingham's music and culture scene for most the last decade, Rob Green played an intimate and joyful set at home. During this set there was also a rare glitch from the technical team (who deserve massive applause for pulling this together) where the video, but not the audio, froze. Thus lots of comments appeared on the board such as "He's so talented he can play the whole set with his eyes closed and without touching the guitar." It made us giggle.

Skip to: -4:51:00

Scorzilla Returns

Rapper Scorzayzee was one of the first people we ever interviewed in LeftLion magazine. He's still heavily involved in our local music scene (not least as a mentor for Circle of Light) but it's quite rare that he does a solo set of his own material. Nice to have him back.

Skip to: -2:21:40

Jake plays on his landing

Jake Bugg is the the most sucessful breakthrough musical artist Nottingham has seen in all the time LeftLion has been going. It was great that he got involved. It also led us all at home to wonder why he chose to play the set on his landing? Acoustics maybe?

Skip to: -2:14:00

Petebox shows off his bedroom

Usually only the luckiest groupies get to see the inside of Petebox's bedroom. However, he showed it off to the world as part of this epic set. He also assured us that the banner in the background was put up especially for the occasion and is not something he wakes up to every day. 

Skip to: -0:52:25

The Presenters generally

Mrs Green from Hockley Hustle and Trish and Molly from Circle of Light held it down throughout, introducing each act and providing quality banter. It also enabled us to see some of the weird stuff in their houses such as the Susan Boyle doll and their fishy vases. Will we ever truly understand the story of Mrs Green's tambourine?

Skip to: Throughout the broadcast

Will Robinson's Power Ballad Workout

Although originally scheduled for the broadcast, this video eventually became the start of the after-party for 'technical reasons'. Be warned, your eyes may never recover after this ten hilarious minutes of watching the man behind I'm Not From London disrobe on camera and do all kinds of stretches that leave less to the imagination than one would desire. 

Skip to: The I'm Not From London Facebook page

It doesn't stop there...

If you enjoy what you see when you watch the broadcast back then please consider donating some cash to this worth cause. The fund will remain open for donations for the next few weeks...

Donate to Light Hustle on GoFundMe.com