Star date: 22nd September 2012

KIDS SCREAM AND DANCE AS HATTY KEANE, HEIDI ANNE AND FTW WOW THE LOWRY

With a lot of the gigs at this weekend's Salford Music Festival taking place in pubs, organisers put together a Kids Special last night as up and coming pop stars took over the Studio at The Lowry.

With a top line up of Julie E Gordon, Heidi Anne, FTW, Girl Peculiar and Hatty Keane the kids were soon dancing and screaming – and getting on the mics themselves.

Full story here…

Warming up the Kids Special no end was Julie E Gordon accompanied by a double bass, guitar and two backing singers. Julie, who has toured with Shaun Ryder and his various bands, performed a range of souly, gospely songs that held the young audience captive through the sheer presence of her powerful, mellifluous voice. A great start.

Next up was Heidi Anne, whose new single, When The Sun Comes Up, features T-Pain, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross and Glasses Malone. She left the rappers at home but still wowed the kids, singing to backing tracks and performing some none rappy tunes, along with a couple of boy dancers.

The feel good pop feel continued with upcoming boy band, FTW, who implored the kids to scream – and they didn't disappoint. The lads performed some covers plus their own stuff, as the heat in the Studio rose a few notches…

Things simmered down with Salford Star fave, Girl Peculiar, with her usual ace array of acoustic songs about stars, favourite colours and lurve…And then, it was the kids turn to take over the stage while Hatty Keane was delayed in traffic.

There were no shortage of takers as kids of all ages showed their own talent, lining up to do special Salford covers of chart hits. And some of them would walk any open mic contest around…

Hatty Keane was once the Salford wannabe who won an open mic contest and now the 17 year old is tipped to be a total chart star within the next few months with the release of her single No One Love You. On stage, with her own fan club waving a `We love Hatty' placard, Hatty soon had the kids dancing, waving their arms about and storming the stage at the end for autographs and photos.

This was one of those Salford nights, with a special free ad hoc Salford Music Festival gig to include our young people, and the young people taking the stage while waiting for the stars. Inclusive and infectious, hats off to Hatty Keane – but also, hats off to the Salford Music Festival!

For links to all the acts and videos etc see previous preview of the gig - click here

Photos by Anya K and Mikey K, age 9 and 12.