SCHOOL'S OUT

British rockers Massive Wagons return to Lancaster for a hometown throwdown by playing a show for kids as well as advocating for anti-bullying and mental health campaigns.

- Polly Glass

It's 10am at The Great Hall, and about four hundred children are lining up outside with their schoolbags.

They process in pairs, holding hands, ushered inside with military precision by teachers. Gasps of “wow!” are heard as they take in the auditorium’s high ceilings, bright lights and enormous stage. Two girls are headbanging already. Another murmurs “I’ve never seen anything like it...”

At the door, Massive Wagons’ manager (and frontman Baz Mills’ partner) Terri Chapman waves kindly at the kids filing in, liaising with venue and school staff in between. Over the last year she’s negotiated the considerable red tape involved with putting on a rock show for under-14s. Eight local primary schools have classes of children here today, the vast majority of them aged between eight and ten.

“Yeah, I think it’s all under control,” Chapman smiles, a little nervously as seats are filled in blocks of uniformed colour, kids bouncing in their seats, sitting quietly or playing clapping games. Some have ear defenders. Most of them don’t.

"We approached the idea years ago,” Mills tells us, down-to-earth but buzzing offstage. “We thought, wouldn’t it be amazing? It would do something different, playing a show for some kids. But it was difficult to organise.”

Their chosen location didn’t make things easier, even if the motive was equally worthwhile. Nestled in the grey-paved campus of Lancaster University (somewhat isolated, outside the city centre) Lancaster Great Hall is chiefly used for exams and classical recitals these days. There’s no in-house PA. The air feels sedate, all academia, noticeboards and thick foyer carpets. It hasn’t rocked in a long time.