First Light Promotions Bring Major Artists to Barnsley
In 2006 Dawn Waddington was on the brink of becoming a social worker then her life dramatically changed course. After moving to Sheffield she started getting involved in her brother’s band Durban and then her son, who is also a musician, introduced her to a local promoter. Through this initial contact Dawn started promoting band nights at Sheffield’s Under the Boardwalk.
In a different City, James Carr established Stage Pass Promotions and hit upon the idea of rolling out a National Battle of the Bands. Using the traditional format of bands in a venue and a public voting system, coupled with tracks loaded up to MySpace, the competition ran in 20 cities across the UK. The finals in Manchester drew a celebrity panel including Andy Rourke from The Smiths, Bez and Paul Ryder from the Happy Mondays and Oasis Producer, Owen Morris to name but a few. James’ concept registered on the “Sky” radar and they commissioned him to film the nights, but pulled out at the last minute. Not one to be put off James went out and filmed the 18 shows anyway. Suddenly Sky was interested again and in 2008 the company picked it up and ran “Stage Pass Best of the Band” on their 195 channel, Propeller TV. So how did Dawn and James get together? Dawn explained: As an independent music promotion company they decided to specialise in hosting shows with major artists as well as promoting unsigned up and coming talent. Based in one of Barnsley Enterprise Hubs in the Civic and supported by Angela Pedley from the Barnsley Development Agency James and Dawn have moved quickly to develop the business. Their first two gigs with Twisted Wheel and Sunshine Underground were sell out shows. On the back of these successes they decided book the controversial rock star Pete Doherty, to play the Walkabout Bar in the centre of Barnsley. Pete Doherty is better known to many people through his relationship with Kate Moss and as a cultural youth icon, however he is known to the music community through his legendary bands, The Libertines (which he recently reformed for the festival season) and Babyshambles. For the gig James and Dawn kept true to their word when lining up Pete’s support bands, booking the up and coming Lipstick Melodies, Where's Strutter? and The Kavaliers from Doncaster, the night was a huge success. The next event at the Metrodome on July 24th will feature old Punk favourites The Buzzcocks and Sham 69. But looking towards the future James and Dawn are aiming high with their sights set on a major event at Barnsley Football Club – so watch this space! For more information visit: www.firstlightpromotions.com
“Our paths first crossed in 2007 in a dimly lit, Sheffield nightclub, Under the Boardwalk which was hosting one of James national battle of the bands competitions. But it wasn’t until two years later in the September of 2009 when we met up again that First Light Promotions really launched into full swing.”