Tom Walker – charleshutchpress

July 2, 2025July 2, 2025

What’s On in Ryedale, York & beyond. Hutch’s List No. 28, from Gazette & Herald

Richard Hawley: Playing Coles Corner with strings attached at Futuresound Group’s Live At York Museum Gardens concert on Saturday. Picture: Dean Chalkley

AS the outdoor concert season awakens, a festival goes to heaven and hell and Jane Austen has unfinished business in Charles Hutchinson’s list for the upcoming week.

Open-air concerts of the week: Futuresound Group presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Elbow, tomorrow; Nile Rodgers & CHIC, Friday; Richard Hawley, Saturday; gates open at 5pm

LEEDS promoters Futuresound Group’s second summer of outdoor concerts in York begins with Bury band Elbow’s sold-out show tomorrow, when Ripon singer-songwriter Billie Marten and Robin Hood’s Bay folk luminary Eliza Carthy & The Restitution support.

New York guitarist, songwriter and producer Nile Rodgers and CHIC revel in Good Times, Le Freak, Everybody Dance and I Want Your Love on Friday, supported by Maryland soul singer Jalen Ngonda and Durand Bernarr. Sheffield guitarist and crooner Richard Hawley revisits his 1995 album Coles Corner with a string section on its 20th anniversary on Saturday, preceded by Leeds band English Teacher and Manchester-based American songwriter BC Camplight, introducing his new album, A Sober Conversation. Box office: seetickets.com.

Bridget Christie: Late replacement for Maisie Adam at York Comedy Festival on Sunday. Picture: Natasha Pszenicki

Comedy bill of the week: Futuresound Group presents Live At York Museum Gardens, York Comedy Festival, Sunday, 2.30pm to 7.30pm

HARROGATE comedian Maisie Adam will not be playing the inaugural York Comedy Festival this weekend after all. The reason: “Unforeseen circumstances”. Into her slot steps trailblazing Bridget Christie, Gloucester-born subversive stand-up, Taskmaster participant and writer and star of Channel 4 comedy-drama The Change.

More than 90 per cent of tickets have sold for the Sunday fun-day bill topped by Dara Ó Briain and Katherine Ryan. Angelos Epithemiou, Joel Dommett, Vittorio Angelone, Clinton Baptiste and Scott Bennett feature too, hosted by “the fabulous” Stephen Bailey. Tickets are on sale at york-comedy-festival.com.

The Sixteen: Performing Angel Of Peace programme at York Minster on July 7 at York Early Music Festival

Festival of the week: York Early Music Festival, Heaven & Hell, Friday to July 11

EIGHT days of classical music add up to 19 concerts featuring international artists such as The Sixteen, The Tallis Scholars, Academy of Ancient Music, viol consort Fretwork & Helen Charlston and the York debut of Le Consort, performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons “but not quite as you know it”.

Directed by Delma Tomlin, the festival weaves together three main strands: the 400th anniversary of Renaissance composer Orlando Gibbons, the Baroque music of Vivaldi and Bach and reflections on Man’s fall from grace, from Heaven to Hell. Full programme and tickets at ncem.co.uk/whats-on/yemf/. Box office: 01904 658338.

Belle Voix Trio: Nostalgic night of Motown and Northern Soul at Kirk Theatre, Pickering, on Friday

Tribute show of the week: Belle Voix Trio, A Night Of Motown & Northern Soul, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Friday, 7.30pm

BELLE Voix Trio bring 30 Motown and Northern Soul hits to the Pickering dancefloor, from Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) to Tainted Love, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough to The Night. Sandy Smith, Sophie Mairi and Briony Gunn’s singing credits include London’s West End, cruise liners and luxury hotels. Box office: 01751 474833 or kirktheatre.co.uk.

The Script: Making third appearance at Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Saturday

Coastal gig of the week: The Script and Tom Walker, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Saturday; gates open at 6pm

THE Script head to the Yorkshire coast this weekend as part of the Irish rock-pop act’s Satellites UK tour, completing their hat-trick of Scarborough Open Air Theatre visits after appearances in 2018 and 2022.

Danny O’Donoghue (vocals), Glen Power (drums), Ben Sargeant (bass) and Ben Weaver (guitar) have six number one albums to their name. Special guest Tom Walker, the Scottish singer-songwriter, performs songs from 2019 chart topper What A Time To Be Alive and 2024’s I Am. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Dianne Buswell and Vito Coppola: Red Hot and Ready to dance at York Barbican with the Burn The Floor dancers

Dance show of the week: Burn The Floor presents Dianne & Vito, Red Hot & Ready!, York Barbican, Sunday, 7.30pm

STRICTLY Come Dancing’s stellar professional dancers, 2024 winner Dianne Buswell and 2024 runner-up Vito Coppola are Red Hot and Ready to perform a dance show with a difference, choreographed by BAFTA award winner Jason Gilkison.

The dream team will be joined by a cast of multi-disciplined Burn The Floor dancers from around the world. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Ione Harrison: Mounting Season Songs exhibition at Helmsley Arts Centre

Exhibition launch of the week: Ione Harrison, Season Songs, Helmsley Arts Centre, July 8 to September 5; private view, July 6, 2pm to 4pm

WELBURN landscape painter and watercolour workshop leader Ione Harrison’s Season Songs exhibition depicts the rhythm of the year in serene, dynamic and joyful paintings that explore seasonal changes in mood, colour and light in the natural world.

Ione, whose teaching career has taken her to France, the Middle East, Turkey and Nepal, creates vibrant, atmospheric paintings, working primarily in watercolour and ink. She is influenced in particular by the heat-soaked colours of Asia and the Middle East.

Vicki Mason’s Margaret Watson, Beaj Johnson’s Tom Musgrave and Becca Magson’s Emma Watson in 1812 Theatre Company’s production of The Watsons

Play of the week: 1812 Theatre Company in The Watsons, Helmsley Arts Centre, July 9 to 12, 7.30pm

WHAT happens when the writer loses the plot? Emma Watson is 19 and new in town. She has been cut off by her rich aunt and dumped back in the family home. Emma and her sisters must marry, fast.

If not, they face poverty, spinsterhood, or worse: an eternity with their boorish brother and his awful wife. Luckily there are plenty of potential suitors, from flirtatious Tom Musgrave to castle-owning, awkward Lord Osborne.

One problem: Jane Austen did not finish the story. Who will write Emma’s happy ending now? Step forward Laura Wade, who takes her incomplete novel to fashion a sparklingly witty play that looks under the bonnet of Jane Austen to ask: what can characters do when their author abandons them? Pauline Noakes directs resident company 1812 Theatre Company’s production. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

October 23, 2024June 30, 2025

Blossoms to make Scarborough Open Air Theatre debut on July 10 2025. When do tickets go on sale? Find out here

*Blossoms: Heading to the Yorkshire coast next summer*

BLOSSOMS will headline TK Maxx presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre on July 10 next summer, supported by Inhaler and Leeds indie band Apollo Junction.

Tickets for the chart-topping Stockport indie group go on sale at 9am on Friday scarboroughopenairtheatre.co.uk and ticketmaster.co.uk

Since forming in Stockport in 2013, Tom Ogden, Charlie Salt, Josh Dewhurst, Joe Donovan and Myles Kellock have released six Top Five albums.

The latest, Gary, went to number one on release on September 20, taking its name from an 8ft fibre-glass gorilla stolen from a Lanarkshire garden centre in early 2023.

Blossoms’ self-titled 2016 debut hit the chart peak for two weeks en route to earning BRIT Award and Mercury Prize nominations. 2018’s follow up, Cool Like You, charted at number four, spawning the anthemic singles I Can’t Stand It, There’s A Reason Why (I Never Returned Your Calls) and How Long Will This Last?.

2020’s Foolish Loving Spaces was the band’s second UK number one, a feat matched by April 2022’s Ribbon Around The Bomb, featuring standout tracks Ode To NYC, The Sulking Poet and Care For.

Dublin band Inhaler’s 2021 debut album, It Won’t Always Be Like This, went straight to number one, leading to tours with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Pearl Jam and Arctic Monkeys.

Their 2023 follow-up, Cuts & Bruises, entered the charts at number two. Now the band – U2 frontman Bono’s son Elijah Hewson, Robert Keating, Josh Jenkinson and Ryan McMahon – are teasing new material for 2025.

Apollo Junction are no strangers to Scarborough OAT, having supported fellow Leeds act Kaiser Chiefs at the 8,000-capacity venue in August 2021.

Venue programmer Julian Murray, of promoters Cuffe and Taylor, says: “We are delighted to announce Blossoms as the next headliner unveiled for summer 2025. They are a band we’ve wanted to bring here for some time, so we are thrilled to have been able to make this happen.

“Blossoms have an incredible catalogue of indie anthems that we know will make this one of the most popular shows of the summer. Together with the brilliant Inhaler and Yorkshire’s very own Apollo Junction, this will undoubtedly be one of the gigs of 2025.”

Already booked for 2025 at Scarborough OAT are:June 14, Shed Seven, Jake Bugg and Cast; July 5, The Script and Tom Walker, and July 26, Texas. More acts will be announced.

A record-breaking 114,000 tickets were sold for 2024’s 18 Scarborough OAT shows by the likes of Jess Glynne, Simple Minds, Anne-Marie, Fatboy Slim, Paul Weller, Deacon Blue, Korn, Becky Hill, Tom Jones, Madness, James and comedian Bill Bailey.

December 20, 2020December 20, 2020

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’ 20^th 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.