The Cult’s Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy: Yorkshire return
THE Cult are bringing their Under The Midnight Sun European Tour home to Yorkshire for outdoor shows at The Piece Hall, Halifax, on July 5 and Scarborough Open Air Theatre the next night. Tickets go on general sale at 10am on Friday (31/3/2023) via ticketmaster.co.uk.
Formed in Bradford in 1983, originally as Death Cult before settling on The Cult in January 1984, they hit the mainstream from the mid-1980s with She Sells Sanctuary, Rain, Revolution, Love Removal Machine, Lil’ Devil, Wild Flower and Fire Woman.
Platinum-selling albums Love (1985), Electric (1987), Sonic Temple (1985) and Ceremony (1991) cemented the post-punk shakers’ place at rock’s top table.
Frontman Ian Astbury, 60, and guitarist and song-writing partner Billy Duffy, 61, continue to be The Cult’s creative driving force. Last October’s Under The Midnight Sun brought them their seventh Top 20 album chart placing, peaking at number 15.
The artwork for The Cult’s 2022 studio album, Under The Midnight Sun
Under The Midnight Sun’s recording sessions brought Astbury and Duff full circle, taking them back to Rockfield, the fabled Welsh studios where they had made their 1984 debut, Dreamtime.
The Cult’s 13-date European Tour starts in June, taking in a third British date at Cardiff Castle on July 4 when they play on UK soil for the first time since last year’s six-date co-headline arena tour with Alice Cooper.
The Cult join The Charlatans & Johnny Marr, Sting, Madness, James, boygenius, UB40 featuring Ali Campbell, The War On Drugs, The Jacksons with Sister Sledge & The Real Thing, Embrace , The Lumineers and Ministry Of Sound Classical as the headliners for the 2023 Live At The Piece Hall season.
Scarborough Open Air Theatre welcomes Sting, Blondie, Pulp, Hollywood Vampires, N-Dubz, Olly Murs, Rag’n’Bone Man, Tom Grennan, Pete Tong and The Essential Orchestra Ibiza Classics and the International Tour of Mamma Mia! this summer.
James on stage: Next spring their ranks will swell by 30 when joined by an orchestra and gospel choir
ENDURING Manchester band James will play York Barbican on April 28 on next spring’s James Lasted Orchestral Tour.
Led as ever by Boston Spa-born singer Tim Booth, this 40th anniversary celebration will come loaded with a 22-piece orchestra and eight-strong gospel choir conducted by Joe Dundell.
The tour title is presumably a nod to both James’s longevity and to the orchestral music once synonymous with James Last, the German composer, jazz double bassist big band leader of the James Last Orchestra.
All 15 dates on the 2023 orchestral tour have sold out already, including Sheffield City Hall on May 4 as well as Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall and a Royal Albert Hall finale in London.
That itinerary will be accompanied by a double album of new versions of James’s greatest hits, fan favourites and deep cuts, plus one new composition, as yet untitled. Full details including release date, tracklisting and formats are to be announced soon.
The poster for the James Lasted Orchestral tour in 2023
Recorded at Blueprint Studios, Manchester, the album was arranged and conducted by Duddell – whose credits include Elbow and New Order – working in tandem with Orca, the orchestra assigned to the tour too, and a gospel choir.
Since playing as James for the first time when supporting Big Country at Manchester’s Hacienda on November 17 1982, they have released 16 studio albums, sold 25 million records, and enjoyed an Indian summer renaissance with a run of Top Five albums with Girl At The End Of The World, narrowly missing out on the top spot in 2016 to Adele’s 25, 2018’s Living In Extraordinary Times and 2021’s The Colours Of You.
Last December’s arena tour, taking in Leeds First Direct Arena with fellow Mancunians Happy Mondays in support, was their biggest selling and most successful to date.
Looking ahead to the 2023 tour and double album release, Booth, 62, says: “There are a number of great bands who have been around for 40 [years]. But to get here and to be having the best time of our lives. To be part of a supportive loving family that still has something to say and new ways to say it. To be turned on by every gig and song. To fall in love over and over again, Groundhog Day, with our bandmates and audience. Damn. That’s time well spent.
James, at Broughton Hall, near Skipton, in May 2021, when gathered for rehearsals and promotional duties for 16th studio All The Colours Of You. Picture: Lewis Knaggs
“We should have recorded the orchestra tour first time round, as many of you have reminded us. Well, we’ve done it now. And here comes the tour. The orchestra and gospel singers expand our palette, heighten the tenderness, heighten the celebration and, despite their numbers, somehow leave us feeling more naked and raw. It will be different, probably each night, because we are James and Joe [Duddell] knows how to dance with us. And because you are different, each night.”
Bassist Jim Glennie, 59, adds: “Has it really been 40 years? In some ways it feels like yesterday and in others, many lifetimes. A family of brothers and sisters, willing to support each other musically and emotionally. Uniquely challenging, always pushing ourselves into the new and taking risks collectively and individually, looking for transcendence.”
Joining Booth and Glennie in the tour line-up will be Saul Davies, Adrian Oxaal, David Baynton-Power, Mark Hunter, Andy Diagram, Chloe Alper and Deborah Knox-Hewson.
Marking diaries for next summer’s outdoor concert season, James are booked in to play Live At The Piece Hall 2023 in Halifax, West Yorkshire, on July 7 and a hastily added second show on July 8, due to “phenomenal demand”.
Already confirmed for The Piece Hall in 2023 are Madness on June 16 and 17; The War On Drugs, June 21; Rag’n’Bone Man, June 23; Embrace, July 1; Sting, July 3, and The Lumineers, July 9, with plenty more acts yet to be announced. Box office: thepiecehall.co.uk.
Manic Street Preachers: Returning with 14th studio album and York Barbican date
WELSH rock band Manic Street Preachers will play York Barbican on October 4 on a 14-date 2021 tour with a second Yorkshire gig at Leeds O2 Academy on October 7.
The autumn itinerary will showcase the September 3 release of their 14th studio album, The Ultra Vivid Lament, on Columbia/Sony, preceded by lead single Orwellian, out today (14/5/2021).
In a departure from 2018’s Resistance Is Futile, the new album is the first Manics’ studio set to be conceived initially on piano rather than guitar.
Recording sessions took place in Wales over the winter of 2020-2021, at Rockfield Studios in Monmouth and the Manics’ Door To The River studio in Newport, working with long-time collaborator Dave Eringa before the tracks were mixed by David Wrench, whose credits include Blossoms, Frank Ocean and Arlo Parks.
The Ultra Vivid Lament will feature two guest vocalists: Julia Cumming, from Sunflower Bean, on The Secret He Had Missed and godfather of grunge Mark Lanegan on Blank Diary Entry.
On the subject of new single Orwellian, the Manics say: “The track is about the battle to claim meaning, the erasing of context within debate, the overriding sense of factional conflict driven by digital platforms leading to a perpetual state of culture war.
“As with many songs on the record, it was written on the piano by James Dean Bradfield. Musically, it echoes Abba, the majesty of Alan Rankine’s playing in The Associates and Talk Talk’s It’s My Life with a Lindsey Buckingham guitar solo. It felt like the perfect sonic and lyrical introduction to The Ultra Vivid Lament.”
The poster for The Ultra Vivid Lament Tour, Manic Street Preachers autumn travels
Bradfield, Nicky Wire and Sean Moore say of the album: “The Ultra Vivid Lament is both reflection and reaction; a record that gazes in isolation across a cluttered room, fogged by often painful memories, to focus on an open window framing a gleaming vista of land melting into sea and endless sky.”
Inspired by the record box of their formative years – Abba, post-Eno Roxy Music, Echo & The Bunnymen, Fables-era REM and David Bowie’s Lodger – the 11 tracks marry introspection with quiet rage, from the opening ambient hum of Snowing In Sapporo to the galloping The Secret He Had Missed, with its push-and-pull duet imagining dialogue between Welsh brother and sister artists Augustus and Gwen John. In between come Diapause’s contemplation and Happy Bored Alone’s stoic wishful thinking.
The full track listing is: Still Snowing In Sapporo; Orwellian; The Secret He Had Missed; Quest For Ancient Colour; Don’t Let the Night Divide Us; Diapause; Complicated Illusions; Into The Waves Of Love; Blank Diary Entry; Happy Bored Alone and Afterending.
After their longest enforced break from playing live, the Manics will return to the stage with summer festival appearances and an open-air headline show at The Piece Hall, Halifax on September 10.
On the subsequent tour, the support act will be The Anchoress, the stage name of Welsh-born multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and author Catherine Anne Davies, whose March album, The Art Of Losing, is one of the records of 2021 to discover.
Manic Street Preachers last played York Barbican on May 27 2019 on a tour marking the 20th anniversary of their fifth album, September 1998’s This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours. Tickets for their October 4 return will go on sale on Friday, May 21 at 10am at yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Shed Seven: New day at the races confirmed for Doncaster show
SHED Seven’s Live After Racing gig at Doncaster Racecourse will come under starter’s orders for a third time on May 14 2022 after two false starts.
The York band’s outdoor Donny debut had to be scrapped twice, first booked for August 15 2020, then May 15 this spring, but each show was declared a non-runner under the Government’s pandemic lockdown restrictions.
The Sheds will now be chasing winners as well as Chasing Rainbows in the first post-racing Music Live event of the 2022 Doncaster Racecourse season.
Let Donny Races wax lyrical: “Enjoy a day out at the races, soaking up the British summertime [albeit in May] with a glass of something refreshing watching the horses race by, before the night sweeps in and the music kicks off.
“Finding fame within the Britpop scene in the ’90s, Shed Seven hit dizzying heights with their single Chasing Rainbows and their debut album Change Giver. They have released several albums since then, with Going for Gold – The Greatest Hits the latest release. [Not true, fact pedants. Live album Another Night, Another Night came out on December 18 2020. Going For Gold’s reissue on gold vinyl glistened in September 2019].”
Shed Seven’s latest album: Another Night, Another Town
Anyway, you were saying, Donny? “So don’t have your friends asking ‘where have you been tonight?’ We have ‘high hopes’ that ‘the heroes’ Shed Seven will deliver an outstanding night of music. ‘It’s not easy’ but you’d be stuck to find a ‘better days’ entertainment in Doncaster this summer.”
After that glut of Sheds’ song titles, here comes the tickets advice: “Secure your ticket early to guarantee entry as we are expecting huge sales for this massive band!” To book, go to: doncaster-racecourse.co.uk/whats-on/music-live-featuring-shed-seven.
Oh, and should Sheds fans be wondering what to wear, this is the official Donny Dress Code: “Most racegoers choose a smart casual outfit when attending the races and we discourage sportswear and ripped jeans. There are more formal dress codes in place for some of our premier ticket options as well as hospitality and restaurant packages.” Going for gold, maybe?
Shed Seven Live After Racing is the second Sheds’ open-air gig in Yorkshire to have a new date confirmed. Their all-Yorkshire bill at The Piece Hall, Halifax, has moved from June 26 to August 28 this summer.
Joining the Sheds that West Yorkshire day will be Leeds bands The Pigeon Detectives and The Wedding Present and Leeds United-supporting York group Skylights, plus the Brighton Beach DJs. Tickets for this Futuresounds Events concert are on sale at £42.50, premium seats £55, at lunatickets.co.uk, seetickets.com and gigantic.com.
Shed Seven: Yorkshire day out at The Piece Hall, Halifax, on the move again
YORK band Shed Seven’s all-Yorkshire bill at The Piece Hall, Halifax, is being rescheduled for a third time.
The Coronavirus lockdown put paid to the original date of June 26 2020, first moved to September 19 2020, then to June 26 this summer.
Now, fourth time lucky, the Sheds’ show will take place on August 28. All the support acts first signed up for last June have confirmed their participation on the new date.
Joining the Sheds that West Yorkshire day will be Leeds bands The Pigeon Detectives and The Wedding Present and Leeds United-supporting York group Skylights, plus the Brighton Beach DJs.
Tickets for this Futuresounds Events open-air concert are on sale at £42.50, premium seats £55, at lunatickets.co.uk, seetickets.com and gigantic.com.
August 28? Doesn’t that clash with Leeds Festival, co-headlined that day by Stormzy and Catfish And The Bottlemen? Indeed so, but “let’s just say our fans are not their demographic,” quips lead singer Rick Witter, aware of the predominance of teens at the post-exam-results gathering at Bramham Park.
This is the second outdoor Shed Seven show in 2021 to be in need of a new date. They should have been chasing winners as well as Chasing Rainbows at Doncaster Racecourse on May 15, but that Don 2021 Music Live debut is now a non-runner under the Government’s lockdown restrictions.
Witter confirms an announcement on when the Sheds’ show will finally come under starter’s orders will be made tomorrow. Expect a delay until 2022.
When first setting up the Halifax headline gig, Witter said: “We’re doing this Piece Hall show partly because our 2018 gig at Manchester’s Castlefield Bowl went so well.”
The revived Britpoppers drew 8,000 that June day; the maximum capacity is 5,500 for the Piece Hall, a renovated 18th-century Halifax cloth hall that now houses history exhibits and independent shops, bars and restaurants.
Skylights: York band will support Shed Seven on August 28 at The Piece Hall
In 2019, the Sheds mounted their biggest ever Shedcember winter tour, chalking up their record run of 23 shows between November 21 and December 21, with Leeds First Direct Arena on December 7 at the epicentre.
“After we did those Shedcember gigs, we just fancied doing something similar to Castlefield Bowl, but this time a Yorkshire gig,” said the Stockport-born Witter.
Stockport, Mr Witter?! “I know, but I consider myself a Yorkie now,” said Rick, who attended Huntington School in York. “To do an outdoor Yorkshire show in such a salubrious setting will be a great buzz.”
The Sheds are making provisional plans for a 2021 series of Shedcember shows. Watch this space for updates.
Meanwhile, The Piece Hall Trust and Futuresound have confirmed their rescheduled programme of live music events for 2021 and 2022, in the wake of the Government roadmap rollout.
The partners have worked hard to keep as many acts as possible in 2021, with the vast majority rescheduled for August and September. “But due to the complex nature of artist touring schedules, we have had to move some of the gigs, including Nile Rodgers featuring Chic and Doves, to 2022,” says the trust.
“We have managed to secure a second date for Nile Rodgers & Chic following strong sales demand seen this year. Tickets for the new show will go on general sale at 10am on Friday [12/3/2021], with a 24-hour Piece Hall Trust member pre-sale starting on Thursday.
“We hope that the return of live music to the venue will help bring some joy and a sense of normality back to music lovers.”
The dates now confirmed for The Piece Hall:
2021
Shed Seven, August 28; The Specials, August 29; The Cribs, September 3; Richard Hawley, September 4; Manic Street Preachers, September 10; Kaiser Chiefs, September 11 and 12.
Kaiser Chiefs: Two nights in Halifax in September
2022
Doves, June 18; Nile Rodgers featuring Chic, June 24 and 25.
All tickets purchased for deferred events remain valid, and ticket holders do not need to do anything to secure their spot for the new date.
Those unable to make the new dates should contact their booking platform to discuss making alternative arrangements. Refunds will be available from the point of purchase if they cannot make the rescheduled dates.
Visitor safety continues to be the number one priority for The Piece Hall Trust, and so the team has been working closely with partners to determine the safest way to reinstate live music events.
Essential maintenance and a significant deep clean have been undertaken during the Lockdown 3 and the logistics of the large-scale events are being planned meticulously.
Nicky Chance-Thompson, the trust’s chief executive officer, says: “We’re thrilled that we have been able to reschedule our planned Summer 2021 artists to the autumn in what has been a turbulent year for all of us.
“By moving the events to the later dates, we hope we’re providing peace of mind for ticket holders not just around the certainty of the gigs going ahead, but around individuals’ safety and wellbeing, which remains our main priority.
“There is light at the end of the tunnel, and for the first time in a long while, we can re-imagine a thriving and vibrant live music scene returning to Halifax once again. Live music events have always been the jewel in the crown of The Piece Hall, and we sincerely look forward to welcoming these world-renowned artists to our venue.”
For tickets, go to: lunatickets.co.uk, seetickets.com and gigantic.com.
Grayson Perry: Two shows in York in 2021; one an exhibition of “Lost Pots” at York Art Gallery, the other, his existentialist gig, A Show For Normal People, at York Barbican
AFTER a year where killjoy Covid-19 re-wrote the arts and events diary over and over again, here comes 2021, when the pandemic will still have a Red Pen influence.
Armed with a pantomime fairy’s magic wand rather than Madame Arcati’s crystal ball from Blithe Spirit, when what we need is a jab in the arm pronto, Charles Hutchinson picks out potential highlights from the New Year ahead that York will start in Tier 3.
Velma Celli: Had planned to present A Brief History Of Drag at Theatre @41 Monkgate in January; now heading online at home instead
Back on screen: Velma Celli, Large & Lit In Lockdown Again, streaming on January 8
AFTER his “Fleshius Creepius” panto villain in York Stage’s Jack And The Beanstalk, Ian Stroughair was planning to pull on his drag rags for a live Velma Celli show in January, and maybe more shows to follow, at his adopted winter home of Theatre @41 Monkgate.
Instead, he writes: “Darlings, as we head back into a lockdown in York, I am back on the streaming! My first show is next Friday at 8pm. I would love you to join me for an hour of camp cabaret fun! Get those requests and shout-outs in!” Tickets for Virtual Velma start at £10 via http://bit.ly/3nVaa4N; expect an online show every Friday from Ian’s new riverside abode.
Shed Seven: Headlining all-Yorkshire bill at The Piece Hall, Halifax, in the summer
Open-air one-off event of the summer: Shed Seven, The Piece Hall, Halifax, June 26
FRESH from releasing live album Another Night, Another Town as a reminder of what everyone has had to miss in 2020, Shed Seven have confirmed their Piece Hall headliner in Halifax has been rearranged for next summer.
The Sheds have picked an all-Yorkshire support bill of Leeds bands The Wedding Present and The Pigeon Detectives and fast-rising fellow York act Skylights. For tickets, go to lunatickets.co.uk or seetickets.com.
Cocktail Party 1989, copyright of Grayson Perry/Victoria Miro, from the Grayson Perry: The Pre-Therapy Years exhibition, opening at CoCA, York Art Gallery, in May
Most anticipated York exhibition of 2021: Grayson Perry: The Pre-Therapy Years, York Art Gallery, May 28 to September 5
CHANNEL 4’s champion of people’s art in lockdown, Grayson Perry, will present his Covid-crocked 2020 exhibition of “lost pots” at the Centre of Ceramic Art (CoCA) next spring and summer instead.
The Pre-Therapy Years reassembles Perry’s earliest forays into ceramics; 70 “explosive and creative works” he made between 1982 and 1994. Look out too for the potter, painter, TV presenter and social commentator’s existentialist September 6 gig at York Barbican: Grayson Perry: A Show For Normal People, wherein he will “distract you from the very meaninglessness of life in the way only a man in a dress can”.
Chris Moreno: No festive cheer at Christmas, but now he looks forward to presenting The Great Yorkshire Easter Pantomime, Aladdin, on Knavesmire, York, in spring 2021
A pantomime in the spring? Yes, The Great Yorkshire Easter Pantomime in a tent on Knavesmire, York, March 19 to April 11
CHRIS Moreno, director of Three Bears’ Productions four pantomimes at the Grand Opera House from 2016 to 2019, will direct York’s first ever “tentomime”, Aladdin, this spring with a cast of “21 colourful characters”.
The Great Yorkshire Easter Pantomime will be presented in the luxurious, heated Tented Palace, Knavesmire, in a socially distanced configuration compliant with Covid-19 guidance.
The big top will have a capacity of 976 in tiered, cushioned seating, while the stage will span 50 metres, comprising a palace façade, projected scenery and magical special effects. Look out for the flying carpets.
Going solo: Julie Hesmondhalgh in The Greatest Play In The History Of The World at York Theatre Royal from February 16
Falling in love again with theatre: The Love Season at York Theatre Royal, February 14 to April 21
ON December 15, York Theatre Royal announced plans to reopen on St Valentine’s Day for The Love Season, with the audience capacity reduced from 750 to a socially distanced 345.
Full details will be confirmed in the New Year with tickets going on sale on January 8, and that remains the case, says chief executive Tom Bird, after hearing yesterday afternoon’s statement to the House of Commons by Health Secretary Matt Hancock.
“We’re carrying on with our plans, including presenting Coronation Street and Broadchurch actor Julie Hesmondhalgh in husband Ian Kershaw’s one-woman play, The Greatest Play In The History Of The World, from February 16 to 20,” he confirmed.
Van Morrison: A brace of bracing nights at York Barbican in May
Six of the best at York Barbican in 2021
YORK Barbican has remained closed since the March lockdown, foregoing even the UK Snooker Championships in November and December.
A reopening date is yet to be announced but mark these shows in your diary, if only in pencil: Rob Brydon, A Night Of Songs & Laughter, April 14; Jimmy Carr, Terribly Funny, May 2; country duo The Shires, May 23; Van Morrison, May 25 and 26; Paul Weller, June 29, and Rufus Wainwright, Unfollow The Rules Tour, October 13.
Ceramicist Beccy Ridsdel: Looking forward to the 20th anniversary of York Open Studios
Anniversary celebration of the year: York Open Studios, April 17 and 18; 24 and 25, 10am to 5pm
2020 turned into a virtual Open Studios with displays online and in windows, but already 140 artists and makers are confirmed for the 20th anniversary event in the spring when they will show and sell their work within their homes and workspaces.
Many of 2020’s selected artists have deferred their space to 2021, but new additions will be announced soon, the website teases. “We’re channelling the optimism and enthusiasm from all our artists to ensure this year’s 20th show is one of the best,” says event co-founder and ceramicist Beccy Ridsdel.
Dr Delma Tomlin: Administrative director of the 2021 York Early Music Festival, running from July 9 to 17
And what about?
Festivals galore, as always, in the self-anointed “City of Festivals”. Coming up are the Jorvik Viking Festival; York Fashion Week; York Literature Festival; York Early Music Festival; York Festival of Ideas, the Aesthetica Short Film Festival and more besides.
The artwork for Shed Seven: Live, Another Night, Another Town
SHED Seven’s live album, Another Night, Another Town, is out tomorrow
“We had to put back the release date by a fortnight, because under Covid guidance, we hadn’t been able to sign the signed copies,” says lead singer Rick Witter. “But last Thursday the warehouse delivered them and we sat in different rooms in the Gillygate pub to sign them, so everything is ready now.”
Specially curated by the York Britpop luminaries and available exclusively through the Sheds’ store, Another Night, Another Town “captures their dynamic live performances and anthemic songs over 21 tracks”.
As trailed on the shedseven.com website, Sheds’ followers can pick up a limited-edition coloured gatefold vinyl edition, a special double CD set, a 180g heavyweight triple vinyl version and a download, plus a selection of new merchandise.
Another Night, Another Town is Shed Seven’s fifth “live” album after Where Have You Been Tonight? Live, in 2003; Live At The BBC, in 2007; See Youse At The Barras: Live In Concert, 2009, and Live At Leeds 2007, digital download only, in 2009.
“But we hadn’t recorded a live album since we returned as a five-piece in 2007 and we certainly hadn’t released one as good as this!” says Rick, 48, reflecting on the new album, mixed by Chris Sheldon, who produced the Sheds’ 1996 album A Maximum High and 1999 single Disco Down (whose lyrics have been raided for the Another Night, Another Town title).
“We’re delighted with the results, which we think are as close as we can get to capturing the Shed Seven live experience on record.
“We’re playing better live now than ever, and with Chris Sheldon mixing it, it’s a good memory of great times. There’s brass on there as well, and because gigs with big crowds still aren’t coming back in the imminent future, this is the next best thing to a gig. At this time in our lives, it’s the best thing we can do.”
Shed Seven’s five-piece line-up since 2007: bassist Tom Gladwin, left, lead vocalist Rick Witter, drummer Alan Leach and guitarists Paul Banks and Joe Johnson
The decision to release a live album was made in the hiatus of the pandemic lockdown. “We were thinking, at the beginning of Lockdown, ‘we’re not going to be able to do anything, so how can we do something to stop us going stale?’.
“We’d recorded a lot of the last Shedcember tour in 2019, so this was a good time to go through those recordings and the 2018 Castlefield Bowl show [in Manchester] to curate the best live album we could.
“Listening to 18 different versions of She Left Me On Friday…we spent a lot of time doing that, then picking the best, so there are songs from lots of different gigs, which should please Shed Seven fans that were there.”
For the packaging, the Sheds have drawn inspiration from their favourite live albums, among them The Smiths’ Rank and U2’s Under A Blood Red Sky. “We also had a little bit of idea, from the Rolling Stones’ Exile On Main Street, such classic imagery, not copying it, but paying tribute to it,” says Rick.
“We must have grown as a band because we now have four photographers following regularly on our tours, with lots of logging of our gigs. We got in touch with three of them to ask if we could cherry pick them for album artwork and it looks great.”
Another Night, Another Town’s arrival coincides with tickets going on sale for the Sheds’ rearranged Live After Racing’ @ Doncaster Racecourse gig, now moved to May 15 2021.
“We should have been playing there this August, as well as about 12 big festivals and The Piece Hall at Halifax that we were headlining,” says Rick. “Thankfully, we’ve re-scheduled most of these gigs.
“The bonus for us is that usually in a year when we do a Shedcember tour, we’re not allowed to do those outdoor shows in the same year because the promoters like to push the Shedcember shows through the year, but because of what’s happened this year, we’ll now be doing both summer and winter shows in 2021. It looks like being a busy year.”
The poster for Shed Seven’s all-Yorkshire line-up at The Piece Hall, Halifax, next summer
Shed Seven’s diary for outdoor engagements in 2021 is taking shape: Don 21 Music Live, Doncaster Racecourse, May 15; Neighbourhood Festival, London, May 29; Isle of Wight Festival, Newport, June 18; The Piece Hall, Halifax, June 26; Corbridge Festival, July 3; Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival, Beaufort, July 31, and Watchet Music Festival, Somerset, August 29.
The Piece Hall concert will be an all-Yorkshire event embracing Shed Seven, up-and-coming anthemic York band Skylights and Leeds groups The Pigeon Detectives and The Wedding Present. “We wanted it to be a Yorkshire celebration, thinking, ‘who could we ask?’, ‘ who would be up for it?’, and it was a real delight that The Wedding Present said ‘Yes’, as I love them but haven’t seen them for a while,” says Rick.
Impeded by the unremitting Coronavirus pandemic, The Sheds have ended up “taking a rest this year. “But being savvy, I thought, ‘we’re going to be able to play next year but loads of bands will be looking to do the same, so we better not sit on our laurels’. We structured the 2021 Shedcember tour as soon as we could, getting the gigs organised,” says Rick.
The dates will be announced in due course but he did confirm Shed Seven would play the Leeds O2 Academy, rather than Leeds First Direct Arena, where they made their debut last winter. “It’s just too stressful!” Rick reveals. “We’re set in our ways and we just know what we’re doing in front of 3.000, 4,000, whereas with 10,000 you have to concentrate so much more to make it work.
“It’s like a big step-up to play arenas, especially when we’re playing ‘normal’ venues for the rest of the tour, with that gig in the middle. We ended up with three set builds, trawling stuff around for the tour where we wouldn’t use half of it on most nights!
“So, we’re going to revert back to our comfort zone, but with plenty of big cities on there, as I kinda let the cat on my radio show.”
Rick Witter’s Disco Down has found a new home at Jorvik Radio from 7pm to 9pm on Sunday. “I did show number three last weekend with [York singer-songwriter and erstwhile Seahorses frontman] Chris Helme as my guest,” says Rick. “Mark Morriss [from The Bluetones] did an earlier show, so I’m working my way through my contacts book!”
Tomorrow, the focus will fall on the launch of Another Night, Another Town. “We hope this album provides just a little bit of the live experience we’re all missing before we return in 2021,” says Rick.
Shed Seven’s artwork to announce their December 4 live album, Another Night, Another Town
SHED Seven are to release a live album on December 4 after a frustrating summer of Covid-cancelled gigs.
Specially curated by the York Britpop luminaries and available exclusively through the Sheds’ store, Another Night, Another Town “captures their dynamic live performances and anthemic songs over 21 tracks”.
As trailed on the shedseven.com website, Shed followers can pick up a limited-edition coloured gatefold vinyl edition, a special double CD set, a 180g heavyweight triple vinyl version and a download, plus a selection of new merchandise.
From this week, you can pre-order a signed copy to download album opener Room In My House and Ocean Pie now.
“A few words” from frontman Rick Witter accompany the announcement: “When it became clear virtually no live events would be taking place this year and with no Shedcember [December tour] to look forward to, we thought it was a good time to go through recordings from our 2019 [Shedcember] tour and 2018 Castlefield Bowl show [in Manchester] to curate the best live album we could.
“From 10,000 people singing along to Chasing Rainbows at Leeds Arena to playing the classic outro of I Am The Resurrection in the home of the Stone Roses, this 21-track album features the best from our live shows over the last couple of years.”
The live album has been mixed by Chris Sheldon, who produced the Sheds’ 1996 album A Maximum High and 1999 single Disco Down (whose lyrics have been raided for the ‘Another Night, Another Town’ title).
Taking it sitting down: Shed Seven have been left with a blank summer gig diary in Covid-19 2020
“We’re delighted with the results, which we think are as close as we can get to capturing the Shed Seven live experience on record,” continues Rick, 47. “We haven’t released a live album since we returned as a five-piece in 2007 and we certainly haven’t released one as good as this!
“We hope this album provides just a little bit of the live experience we’re all missing before we return in 2021.”
Another Night, Another Town will be Shed Seven’s fifth “live” album after Where Have You Been Tonight? Live, in 2003; Live At The BBC, in 2007; See Youse At The Barras: Live In Concert, 2009, and Live At Leeds 2007, digital download only, in 2009.
The track listing will be: Room In My House; Mark; Where Have You Been Tonight?; People Will Talk; Devil In Your Shoes; Butterfly On A Wheel; She Left Me On Friday/I Am The Resurrection; Better Days; On Standby; It’s Not Easy; Getting Better; Enemies And Friends; Ocean Pie; Dolphin; High Hopes; Disco Down; Bully Boy; Going For Gold; Parallel Lines; Invincible and Chasing Rainbows.
The Sheds should have been playing in the open air at The Piece Hall, Halifax, on September 19, but as with this summer’s post-racing concert at Doncaster Racecourse on August 15, preceded by Witter and guitarist Paul Banks’s acoustic set at Pocklington Arts Centre’s Platform Festival at The Old Station on July 11, Covid-19 intervened.
However, Shed Seven’s diary for outdoor engagements in 2021 is taking shape: Don 21 Music Live, Doncaster Racecourse, May 15; Neighbourhood Festival, London, May 29; Isle of Wight Festival, Newport, June 18; The Piece Hall, Halifax, June 26; Corbridge Festival, July 3; Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival, Beaufort, July 31, and Watchet Music Festival, Somerset, August 29.
Meanwhile, The Piece Hall has added Nile Rodgers & Chic to next summer’s concert list, booked in for June 18 with Liverpool soul singer Rebecca Ferguson as the support act. Tickets will go on sale at 10am on Friday at www.seetickets.com and www.lunatickets.co.uk
