Thursday night at the Leadmill Sheffield for Richard Hawley and impressively the third sold out show of the week.
Support tonight came from Before Breakfast, hailing from Sheffield the band have an individual sound with the hook being superb vocal harmony. Great audience banter from singer Gina Walters, an all round relaxed set of mainly self penned tunes. A cover of Harry Styles ‘As it Was’ featured, cleverly re-worked from the original, its the bands latest release which you can check out on all major streaming platforms.
Go see them live as soon as you can to fully appreciate.
On to Richard Hawley who really needs no introduction from me. A Sheffield lad born and bred as I am myself. I got the feeling that tonight really was all about the city and its fine musical heritage.
Taking to the stage with up tempo ‘Off My Mind’ Richard and his superb band took us on a trip across his highly acclaimed back catalogue.
Sheffield fact..I was chatting to my father today who was huge on the Working Mens Club circuit back in the day (Johnny Kalendar). He told me how he knew Richards late Father Dave Hawley from various bands in the 60’s and 70’s. It got me thinking how the music culture in Sheffield is unique with everyone kind of knowing everyone else. That still rings true today, looking around the room I spotted a lot of Sheffield’s new musical generation enjoying Richards set.
Tune ‘Standing on the Sky’s Edge’ featured with the play of the same name currently running at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield to sold out crowds.
Richard didn’t disappoint tonight, a set full of great tunes, on stage family participation and a general all round good ‘Sheffield’ feeling.
I came away from the show feeling quite nostalgic, confident that the Sheffield music scene is thriving and certain that it will definitely ‘Be Reit’ in the future.
