Piece Hall: Halifax venue completes 2024 programme of summer concerts
Debbie Harry’s voice is still up to scratch and The Streets fans generated – by a mile – the biggest bars queues.
The Piece Hall has just completed another year of summer gigs.
A few years ago no one would have considered Halifax to be a key destination on the touring calendar of the world’s biggest artists but it has now played host to the likes of Tom Jones, Rick Astley and Noel Gallagher.
The venue and its live music programme has been a big part of revellers being attracted into town to make use of the surrounding bars and restaurants.
Trying to get a seat at the Railway Hotel, Kobenhavn or the Grayston Unity – among others – became impossible amid thousands of Placebo fans.
On the topic of Brian Molko’s 90s rockers, the diversity of acts on offer at the venue over the summer was notable – from Placebo’s eyelinered splendour to the coming-together of football fans, hippies and middle-aged ravers for dance act Underworld.
Blondie opened the programme with two gigs all the way back in June.
Their setlist played like a greatest hit collection and frontwoman Debbie Harry – aged 78 at the time – was utterly convincing.
Later, in August, PJ Harvey’s ethereal set started off with woodsy folk from last year’s I Inside the Old Year Dying album and then into fan favourites from Rid of Me, To Bring You My Love, and Mercury Prize-winning Let England Shake.
The earlier section of the set captured the venue at its quietest – you could hear a pin drop in the moment between a song ending and the applause beginning.
The Pixies barrelled through a set of vintage late 80s-early 90s indie rock, leaning heavily on masterpiece Doolittle, and The Streets brought a different flavour to the venue with their UK garage-influenced hip-hop.
It’s typically easy to get a drink at the venue during most events – there’s loads of places to queue and service is normally almost immediate.
But the bar logistics were put to the test when Mike Skinner’s grime collective played, with every line 10-people deep. The takings must have been record breaking.
A total of 180,000 tickets were sold over the 34-date series.
Bring on 2025.