CAMRA have brought out a new, words-based, beer scoring system, about which I have my doubts. But alongside that I have just enjoyed what has been almost certainly the best weekend of music in my life. And what's even better is that it was close to home in Halifax....
Regular readers may have spotted that I often refer to scores in terms of quality for the beers that I have been drinking on my travels, a numeric system that CAMRA have been using for years. Whilst it is of course going to inevitably be subjective, they have recently come up with a new words-based system which to me seems a bit too simplistic. I would always qualify my scores under the old style with words, but I am not sure if the new scheme is maybe a case of dumbing down too much. Anyway, here it is for you to decide for yourselves....
It also reminded me that adjectives these days are often used differently to how they were in years gone by, or different ones are used to what was normal a few years ago. Handing over the correct change or simply taking empty glasses back to the bar in the 1980's when leaving would at best often get a grunt by way of thanks, if anything at all. These days, as we have grown used to businesses concerned about their ratings on the likes of Trustpilot wanting to make the customer experience/journey more memorable, the superlative ante has well and truly been upped. So today, for taking empty glasses back or having the correct change you are more often than not likely to get an awesome for what is essentially a pretty mundane, routine task. Love the appreciation, but there's no need to go over the top!
But from my point of view the superlatives are well and truly out for the weekend I have just had in Halifax. It has been a combination of brilliant music, great beer in some of the town's top pubs and bars, and wonderful people. To quote a totally inappropriate long-running advert for a blog about real ale on the basis that the sentiment nails it, if Carlsberg did weekends....
It all started on Friday, when I met my son, Tom after he finished work in Halifax. We had a couple of excellent pints of Nelson Sabro from one of my favourite brewers, Two by Two, at Dukes, situated in the attractive Russell Arcade at the northern entrance to the town's historic market. And from there it was off to the Grayston Unity for a couple of pints of Thornbridge Green Mountain where the team were busy serving a growing crowd, many of whom went upstairs to enjoy the early evening vibe on the bar's roof terrace.
The evening was moving on, and it was time to head towards the Piece Hall for the evening's entertainment. The Piece Hall is an amazing Grade 1-listed building in the middle of Halifax which over the years until recently lived a somewhat chequered life.It dates from 1779 when it was built as a market hall where 'pieces' of hand-woven woollen cloth were traded by the local weavers. Halifax was the dominant town in the North for wool in those days and the local merchants wanted a building that reflected their pre-eminence. They wanted the best, nothing less would do, and so the local wool barons paid the princely sum of £12,000 for the construction of an Italian-inspired colonnaded hall around an open square. Because it was built on a slope there were two levels on the upper side and three on the lower, with small rooms behind each walkway and balcony. It was a spectacular place at the heart of the woollen trade, and now remains as the only building of its kind in the country.
Gradually, though, over the years, the focus of the woollen trade moved away from Halifax, and the Piece Hall ended up being used for all sorts of different activities. It held markets, concerts, and other events, you name it. It drifted on for decades with a diminishing number of little shops and units and was a pleasant walk-through, but clearly was not being used to its full potential.
Then, in 2014, the building was shut and Calderdale Council embarked upon an ambitious restoration costing the princely sum of £19m. It finally opened on August 1st, 2017, which, fittingly, was Yorkshire Day. These days we almost take for granted the spectacular tiled piazza with integral water and lighting features, which help re-emphasise the Italian style in which it was built. There is seating dotted around and from an access point of view there are ramps and lifts to the upper levels. There is a museum, heritage tours, plenty of shops, and several bars and restaurants. The Piece Hall is a couple of minutes from the town's station, is next door to the Square Chapel Arts Centre, and with other attractions like the Eureka! Children's Museum, the Industrial Museum, the Minster, and The Shay Stadium close by, it provides a compelling reason to give Halifax a visit.
Over the years since re-opening the Piece Hall has hosted many events, with the summer gig season becoming a major feature with many big names appearing here. Some such as Paul Weller. Tom Jones, and Madness are regular visitors, whilst I have seen some of my favourites here such as The War on Drugs, PJ Harvey, Underworld, Queens of the Stone Age, and the Pixies, something which would have been unthinkable only a few years ago. The impact on Halifax as a whole has been to dramatically increase visitors, bringing more business to pubs, bars, and restaurants, more hotel bookings, and increase the town's profile significantly.
And so to Friday evening's gig. CMAT was the main attraction. I got in to hear the latter part of support Katy J Pearson's set, which was pretty good. The gig had been sold out for weeks, and it seemed that some of the crowd had travelled quite a way. CMAT, which are the initials of Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, is Irish, hailing from the small town of Dunboyne in County Meath, and there were plenty of Irish accents to be heard. There were also plenty of ladies in cowboy hats, some pink, and jackets emblazoned with CMAT. And what a great gig it was too. CMAT's music is country-tinged indie pop, with plenty of melody, and sharply-observed, often funny, lyrics. She was an engaging presence, on stage for almost 2 hours, putting on a spectacular show with her excellent band. We were treated to favourites such as Running/planning, Take A Sexy Picture Of Me, The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station, and Euro-Country to which we danced and sang along. There was a wonderful atmosphere, joyous and uplifting, and it was a fantastic start to the weekend.
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| CMAT |
Saturday came around and I headed off to meet a couple of old friends, Alex and Andy, from the Buffet Bar in Stalybridge who had come over to Halifax to visit a few of the town's pubs. Now Alex comes over fairly regularly and has featured in this blog before, but I hadn't seen Andy since my last visit to the Buffet Bar a couple of years ago or so. I met them in the Three Pigeons when they had already visited the Cross Keys and the Big Six. We exchanged handshakes and I went for the beers. I ordered a pint of White Rat for myself, which was in fine form, whilst the others were on Butterley Bitter, which prompted Andy to fondly reminisce about the original version brewed by Phil at the former Riverhead Brewery in Marsden 20 years ago or more. We walked up to Kobenhavn where I enjoyed a fine cask beer from Farm Yard Brewery, the name of which escapes me, but to be fair we we were chatting and then I bumped into Simon, the boss here. More reminiscing as Andy tucked into a burger here, and then we went our separate ways. Andy left us to head off home, and Alex and I made our way up to the Victorian Craft Beer Cafe, which was pretty busy with seats at a premium, although we did manage to find somewhere to sit in the room at the end of the building. I'd gone for a pint of Hum, the 4.8% hazy pale ale from Beak, which is pretty much a regular here, and very nice it is too. There was an air of anticipation in the air about tonight's Piece Hall gig and I kept bumping into people who were heading there. Amongst them were Damian and Natalie who we were chatting to at our next port of call, Dukes, where I enjoyed another excellent pint of Two by Two. Damian runs the Beer Necessities micro pub in Todmorden where I am well overdue a return visit. I left Alex there, and headed over to the Grayston to meet up with Michael and Tom from the bar who were also going to the gig. A pint of Phaedra from Pomona Island was bought, and shortly afterwards we headed off down to the Piece Hall for the night's entertainment. We had been joined by country singer Gordon McKinney, who was over from his base in Norman, Oklahoma, and the-excellent Halifax-based artist Marcus Jack, and we arrived at the Piece Hall in the middle of the set from Anna Calvi, who was the support for David Byrne. It wasn't quite my cup of tea, although things improved when she was joined by the main man for a duet.
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| David Byrne joins Anna Calvi on stage |
And so to the main performance. I'd seen David Byrne once before, when the Talking Heads had played at Manchester University way back in 1978 so it had been a long time! The stage had been cleared after Anna Calvi had finished so it was completely empty. David Byrne emerged on to the stage, and then the music started, then the band started to file on to the stage, each carrying their instruments, and did throughout the set, keyboards, percussion, the lot. They were playing Heaven, from the Talking Heads' third album Fear of Music. It was a very strong start, it sounded excellent. And as the set progressed they performed a selection of classic Talking Heads numbers: And She Was, (Nothing But) Flowers, This Must Be The Place, Psycho Killer, Once in a Lifetime, as well as several tracks he'd recorded on his own or with Brian Eno. These were perfectly executed, the sound was stunning, and the visuals on the screens were amazing, sometimes fading to a blank canvas with spectacular colourways. In between songs the main man would chat sometimes, coming over like an avuncular New York professor. The whole set was brilliant, the musicians and assorted bodies on stage moving, marching, and dancing to these wonderful pieces of music. The main set finished to rapturous applause, the artists left the stage to return moments later to deliver a two song encore; first up was a recent David Byrne favourite Everybody's Coming to My House finishing with the Talking Heads classic and one of my favourites, Burning Down The House, bringing the curtain down on what had been possibly the best gig I have ever been to in my life. It had been an amazing, awesome evening, and everyone who was privileged to be there had witnessed something very special. I left the guys and headed off with a big smile on my face to catch the bus home. What a night....
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| The amazing David Byrne |
And so to Sunday. Yet more music, this time at the Grayston Unity where a number of artists were performer under a Storytellers banner. First up was Otley-based singer songwriter the Silver Reserve who I had seen a couple of times before. He plays mesmerising, intricate guitar, sometimes with effects, to accompany some lovely songs which often are about members of his family and everyday life, with a fair bit of humour in between the songs. It was an excellent way to start the afternoon. Next up was Helen McCookerybook, her surname dating back to when she was in a band called the Chefs. She had also been in a band called Helen & the Horns, who did several sessions on the John Peel Show and had released a single in 1983 called Freight Train which had once been in my record collection, a fact I mentioned to her when I spoke to her after the gig. She played a set full of enjoyable songs, often quite whimsical, and chatted away between the songs to explain the stories behind them. It was then time for the main event, Gordon McKinney. This was about the 4th time I'd seen him as he's been coming to the Grayston Unity since 2019 and become a friend of the bar and to some of us customers as he is a lovely, warm, and engaging character. So there was quite a welcome for him today as he came on stage. Normally his partner Heather would have been with him on stage, but today he was accompanied by the excellent local band. Les Gillon & the Agents of Karma. Considering they had only had an hour or so practice time together, they picked up the essence of Gordon's excellent country songs and seemed instinctively know what worked where. It was a wonderful performance, with Gordon's warmth and humour coming through in both his songs and introductions to them. It brought the curtain down on a remarkable weekend of music in Halifax.
In fact, it had been an awesome weekend....
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