Made my second trip over to Halifax in as many days, to cover the closing night of a fantastic weekend of shows at The Piece Hall.
Elbow had invited a cracking lineup in support. My old pals The Dunwells got the show underway, and it was really great to see them again. It's been a good few years since the last time I saw them live, and it was great to see how their sound had matured.
Next up was the highly energetic Barns Courtney, who was an awful lot of fun to shoot, followed by former The Coral guitarist Bill Ryder Jones, who I was particularly looking forward to catching as I'm a big fan of his solo work. Unfortunately Bill and the guys were a little.. well.. "worse for wear" having played Glastonbury the day before. Was still great to see him, all the same.
The final support of the day was Dublin folk heroes Villagers - probably the perfect band to set the tone for a headline Elbow set on a sunny afternoon.
When Uncle Guy and the boys from Bury took to the stage, it had that familiar reassuring feel of an Elbow gig. You always know what you're getting with Elbow, and they're always great value. The patter from Guy was as great as always (occasionally 'correcting' the spelling of The Piece Hall), and the crowd duly responded. It was a relatively short set, so was laden with hits - 'Lippy Kids' was particularly euphoric, and when penultimate track 'One Day Like This' rang out the crowd raised their glasses and joined in strong voice.
I made my way around the venue trying to get a decent mix of wide shots, before making my way to the stage for the big finale - my favourite Elbow track - 'Grounds For Divorce'.
I've had the fortune of photographing Elbow a good few times now, but I'll never tire of it. Love that band.
