elbow @ piece hall Halifax 30th june 19

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 4 days of  music saw the mighty Elbow bring proceedings to a close on Sunday night amongst the newly renovated surroundings of The Piece Hall in Halifax. 

Originally built in 1779, this grade 1 listed building provided the perfect setting for a set from Elbow to a capacity crowd on a warm summers evening. Thankfully the rain stayed away and we were treated to a run through of some of their finest tunes to date, as well as a couple of new tracks which indicated that this band is still in fine form. 

Formed back in 1997, their seven albums have seen them receive deserved critical acclaim, numerous awards including Mercury and Brit awards, with their most recent Ivor Novello award from 2018 for ‘Magnificent (She Says).

In frontman Guy Garvey, they have one of the most natural and endearing frontmen you could hope to see. He has a real knack of engaging with crowds of any size and his warm and witty banter tonight was on form. 

Opening track ‘Fly Boy Blue/Lunette’ set the tone for the evening, the band sounded as good as ever and the sound within the confines of the Piece Hall was nigh on perfect.

It’s always clear when you see a band simply going through the motions, but I’m pleased to say that this certainly wasn’t the case with Elbow, and the appreciative crowd were more than happy to join in with the call and response throughout the evening and listen to the amusing side stories and thoughts of Guy Garvey throughout the evening.

‘My Sad Captains’ the ode to lost drinking buddies was a personal highlight for me, and the Halifax crowd were in fine voice on this one. Tunes like this could only be topped by the mighty ‘One Day Like This’ which has become a firm gig/festival favourite, and again the crowd raised the roof on this one. 

Closing tune ‘Grounds For Divorce’ with it’s raucous opening and almost chant like chorus ensured that this was night that would be remembered for a long time by those who were there.

Elbow continue to deliver at the very highest level with their live and recorded output, and they are at home in both the largest and smallest of venues, and really are a national treasure.

If you ever get the chance to see them live, take it. I guarantee you will enjoy every single minute of it.

If you’re in the enviable position of this band being new to you, check out their back catalogue, and you’ll see what all the fuss is about.

Set list:

  · Fly Boy Blue/Lunette

· The Bones Of You

· Magnificent (She Says)

· Mirrorball

· Little Fictions

· My Sad Captains

· Empires

· Station Approach

· Kindling

· The Birds

· Lippy Kids

· One Day Like This

· Grounds For Divorce

 https://elbow.co.uk/ 

You can read more about the Piece Hall Halifax here:

 https://www.thepiecehall.co.uk/heritage 

Photos courtesy of :  http://www.dannypaynephotography.com/  and   https://www.futuresoundgroup.com/ 

One of the surprises of the summer has been the resurfacing of Lighthouse Family, a band who have been away for the last 18 years, but who are now back very much front and centre.  

Their debut album ‘Ocean Drive’ from 1995 shifted a serious amount of units, spent 175 weeks in the charts and went platinum multiple times. No mean feat I think you would agree. Clearly their laid back easy listening style hit a chord with the listening public and they subsequently went on the release 2 further albums, ‘Postcards From Heaven’ in 97 and ‘Whatever Gets You Through The day’ in 2001.

Then off they went for 18 years to do their own thing, but they’re now back with a new recently released album (Blue Sky In Your Head) and a winter 19/20 tour all set up and ready to go. In the meantime, they decided to do some small stripped back album launch shows, and so it was that a sold out Leeds Brudenell welcomed The Lighthouse Family onstage for a short but enjoyable gig. 

Strangely they went for the killer track from the start with opener ‘Lifted’, and it’s clear that time has been kind to this band. Tunde Baiyewu’s vocals sounded as good as ever, and with co-founder Paul Tucker on keyboards, accompanied by acoustic guitar and drums, this pared back version sounded as good as it’s ever sounded.

As this was an album launch they of course showcased three tracks from their new album, ‘My Salvation’, ‘Live Again’ and ‘Whose Gonna Save Me Now’ which all had the distinctive Lighthouse Family sound and were well received by the audience.  

Of course ‘Ocean Drive’ and ‘High’ resulted in impromptu singalongs and the set was completed with ‘Lost In Space’ which was my personal highlight of the show.

They may have been away for a few years, but clearly people haven’t forgotten them. I’ve no doubt their full shows later this year will be a huge success, but it’s nice to occasionally see bands in a small venue like this, and The Lighthouse Family were a perfect match. 

Set list:

• Lifted
• My Salvation
• Ocean Drive
• Live Again
• High
• Who’s Gonna Save Me Now
• Lost In Space

Full details of their winter tour below:

 https://www.thelighthousefamily.co.uk/tour/