Red Hot Chilli Pipers to play Harrogate Royal Hall in May 2022, two years late

Piping hot…but not until 2022 at Harrogate Royal Hall after Red Hot Chilli Pipers rearranged the gig for a second time since the pandemic started to rule diary appointments

BAGROCK pioneers Red Hot Hot Chilli Pipers will pipe up at Harrogate Royal Hall on May 13 2022, more than two years after the Scots were first scheduled to play there.

The pernicious pandemic’s relentless stranglehold has seen the date moved twice, first from April 24 in Lockdown 1.0 this year to April 10 2021 and now to next spring.

Such an impact that the rearranged 14-gig itinerary will form the Chilli Pipers’ 20th anniversary tour, set for April 28 to June 5 2022. Harrogate Royal Hall will be the only Yorkshire concert, with tickets on sale at harrogatetheatre.co.uk or thegigcartel.com/Artists-profiles/Red-Hot-Chilli-Pipers.htm.

Formed in 2002, the Chilli Pipers popped up for a cameo in The Darkness’s set at the 2004 T in the Park, going on to headline the Scottish festival a decade later.

Now “the most famous bagpipe band on the planet…ever”, they present “bagpipes with attitude, drums with a Scottish accent and a show that should carry its own health warning”.

In the Red Hot Chilli Pipers’ tool kit is a groundbreaking fusion of traditional Scottish music and rock and pop anthems that they proudly call “Bagrock”, engineered by world championship-winning musicians, dancers and singers. 

In February 2019, the Chilli Pipers and Glasgow-born singer-songwriter Tom Walker released a piping-hot version  of his debut hit Leave A Light On in aid of Nordoff Robins, the music therapy charity. Their fundraising collaboration came after Walker and the Chilli Pipers performed together at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh, before a Scotland versus Italy Six Nations rugby match.

The Chilli Pipers last released a studio album in June 2019, when Fresh Air combined new songs and covers, ranging from Walker’s Leave The Light On to Leonard Cohen´s Hallalujah and Walk The Moon’s Shut Up And Dance, both with Chris Judge on vocals.

Among their career highlights have been winning the BBC talent show When Will I Be Famous; playing at the BBC Proms in Hyde Park, NBC Olympics Studio and Rugby World Cup, and recording their 2014 live DVD and CD, Live At The Lake,  at Milwaukee Irish Fest, the band’s American spiritual home by the shores of Lake Michigan.

The poster for Red Hot Chilli Pipers’ 20th Anniversary Tour in 2022, stating tickets will remain valid from the postponed Spring 2021 shows

Red Hot Chilli Pipers rearrange postponed Harrogate Royal Hall concert for next April

Pipe down: Red Hot Chilli Pipers are postponing their 2020 spring tour

BAGPIPE band Red Hot Chilli Pipers are postponing their April and May tour under the Coronavirus shutdown, but don’t be too deflated. The Celtic rock band’s dates are being rearranged for next spring.

The 2020 tour would have opened at the Royal Hall, Harrogate, on April 24, a show now re-scheduled for April 10 2021.

Tickets remain valid for the new date, but anyone unable to attend the revised gig – although who can predict anything in their diary for a year’s time?! – should claim a refund from the original point of purchase by Friday, April 10.

Piping up again: Red Hot Chllli Pipers, re-booked to play Harrogate in spring 2021

Formed in Scotland in 2002, Red Hot Chilli Pipers made a cameo appearance at the T In The Park festival with The Darkness in 2004 and won the BBC talent show When Will I Be Famous? in 2007.

Bringing together musicians, dancers and singers from Scotland and further afield, many holding world championship titles, they specialise in “Bagrock”, a groundbreaking fusion of traditional Scottish music and rock/pop anthems.

In 2014, the Pipers released the Live At The Lake DVD and CD, recorded at the Milwaukee Irish Fest, their American spiritual home by the shores of Lake Michigan, when they brought 16 musicians and dancers across the Atlantic.

The set that night took in Insomnia, Gimme All Your Lovin’, Thunderstruck, Everybody Dance Now, Amazing Grace, Fix You, Chasing Cars, Wake Me Up, Don’t Stop Believin’ and We Will Rock You.

Pipe dream team : Tom Walker linking up with Red Hot Chilli Pipers for Leave A Light On

In February 2019, the Pipers and Tom Walker released a new version of his 2018 hit Leave A Light On in aid of Nordoff Robbins, the music therapy charity. Earlier Walker and the band performed at Murrayfield before the Scotland versus Italy Six Nations rugby match.

In a new departure for the Pipers, last June’s studio album of new songs and covers, Fresh Air, featured lead vocals on many tracks, such as Walker on Leave The Light On and Chris Judge on the American band Walk The Moon’s Shut Up And Dance and Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.

Next on the horizon in Yorkshire for Red Hot Chilli Pipers is a July 11 appearance at Pocklington Arts Centre’s Platform Festival at the Old Station, Pocklington. Watch this space for news of whether the festival will go ahead or not as the Coronavirus pandemic’s progress unfurls.