The Delightful Gang is a gang no more, after this weekend. The Prince George quartet has been a mainstay of live music in the past few years, and released the album Live At the Pool Hall to ensure their legacy, but this Saturday is their last concert.
This summer sees the four band members scatter to all parts of the globe. David Morgan, the drummer, plans to stay in Prince George to study at UNBC but his brother Sean Morgan on bass is moving with his parents to Kenya while keyboard player Erik Leisinger is heading for the University of Victoria and front man Beni Beattie is moving to the United Kingdom for a year with his parents.
"It is more of an end because we are all going our own ways, but a start of a new era for us all, so a beginning too," Beattie said.
"We are all a little sad in a way but I think that being in this band has taught us a lot about music and ourselves, and definitely a way to the future. We were just starting to finally become a band, write our own material, and it is sad to see it all go away, but we may get together in the future."
Each of the members has a large hand in other music projects in the city, so the loss of three members to other locales will put a dent in more than just The Delightful Gang's activities. Beattie, for example, was also a member of Solar Cubes, Treebeard's Revenge, a duo with Isaac Smele they called Marshmallow Suitcase, and sang with the Freedom Singers gospel choir along with David Morgan.
His parents, Greg and Jo, were driving volunteer forces behind the Prince George Folk Festival and Coldsnap Winter Festival (among many other concert events) so he was steeped in those efforts also.
You could also hear Beattie's voice hosting a regular folk music show on CFIS, the city's community radio station.
The Delightful Gang's final show will be Saturday at 7 p.m. at Art Space. Admission is $10, free cookies will be available, and the opening act is indie rocker Derek Joyce.
