Piece Hall Glamour, Bradford Beat: A Weekend Of Sold-Out Sounds Across West Yorkshire

Jimmy Eat World Photo: Cuffe and Taylor

Halifax: Jimmy Eat World Celebrate In Style

When Arizona pop-punk band Jimmy Eat World released their 2001 album Bleed American, it followed on the back of being dropped by their previous record label. The album went on to become the most successful of their career, selling over 1.7 million copies in America alone.

The band arrived at the Piece Hall in Halifax in what was another coup for the historic venue — the concert was their only northern date on a tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of the album, with the record played in full.

Frontman Jim Adkins hailed the passionate Halifax audience as "the hardcore of the hardcore" after the show sold out in record time. It's easy to see why the Arizona four-piece have built such a devoted following, with fans from across West Yorkshire, the wider UK and beyond coming together to celebrate a band whose appeal clearly stretches far beyond their American homeland.

The night opened with songs from 1999's breakthrough Clarity, making clear from the outset that this was far more than a trip down memory lane — a timely reminder that the band's songwriting craft was exceptional long before mainstream radio caught up with them.

The biggest triumph of the evening was the ease with which the band brought these songs back to life. Nothing felt rehearsed for the sake of nostalgia or performed out of duty. Adkins delivered every lyric with the same honesty and conviction, while Tom Linton's guitar playing remained razor-sharp and full of energy, with Rick Burch and Zach Lind providing the thunderous, dependable backbone that has held the band together for so many years.

Although the latter half of Bleed American doesn't deliver quite the same run of instantly familiar songs as the opening section, the crowd's enthusiasm never wavered; this felt less like waiting for the big favourites and more like a collective reunion with an album that had become the soundtrack to many lives in the audience. The band closed with the seven-minute alternative rock number 23, its slow build and emotional depth reaching every corner of the Piece Hall on a night that left any doubters eating their words.

Heaven 17 Photo: Graham Clark

Holly Johnson Photo: Graham Clark

Martin Fry Photo: Graham Clark

Halifax: Holly Johnson, ABC and Heaven 17 Lead the Way Into Temptation

Frankie Says T-shirts had been dusted down from wardrobes, along with a few other questionable fashion choices from the eighties, as three of the decade's finest purveyors of pop — Sheffield's Heaven 17 and ABC, alongside Liverpool legend Holly Johnson — arrived at the Piece Hall for another sold-out night.

Looking as though he had borrowed John Travolta's white suit, Heaven 17's Glen Gregory may have been dressed for the late seventies, but the music was firmly rooted in the early eighties. (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang now sounds very much of its time, though its sentiment remains as relevant as ever. Gregory and musical partner Martyn Ware could easily sit alongside Pet Shop Boys among the finest purveyors of eighties electronic pop.

An unexpected tribute to David Bowie's Let's Dance featured in a brief but entertaining set, which built towards Temptation, the band's 1983 signature hit.

Where Heaven 17 remain tied to their groundbreaking debut Penthouse and Pavement, ABC are similarly linked to another landmark record, The Lexicon of Love. Cutting a fine, debonair figure, Martin Fry remains the group's only original member, and with such a wealth of iconic pop songs at his disposal, he wisely led the audience through his whole career rather than sticking solely to that renowned debut.

From the soulful When Smokey Sings to the lesser-known How To Be A Millionaire and tracks from 2016's Lexicon of Love II, the well-judged set inevitably built to All Of My Heart and The Look Of Love. His back catalogue has aged well, though a few new songs might yet lift the band beyond the nostalgia circuit.

Anyone who wasn't wearing a Frankie Says T-shirt in 1984 probably wasn't much of a fan of Frankie Goes To Hollywood. Their Trevor Horn-produced debut, Welcome To The Pleasuredome, catapulted the Merseyside act into the pop stratosphere, and forty-two years on, Holly Johnson's voice remains every bit as memorable and compelling. Undiminished by time, his vocals made Frankie favourites Relax and Two Tribes sound as lush and vibrant as they did back in the day.

With Halifax marking Johnson's last gig of the summer, he fittingly joked that this would be his "last tango, right here in Halifax," his warmth connecting easily with the crowd. The Power of Love closed a compelling set from three emblematic acts whose reputations emerged thoroughly untarnished.

Irwin Sparkes Photo: Graham Clark

The Hoosiers Photo: Graham Clark

Bradford: The Hoosiers Energise the Inaugural Live at the Courtyard

Away from the Piece Hall, a very different city and a very different stage: Bradford's new Darley Street Market courtyard, hosting the debut of Live at the Courtyard, with the Hoosiers headlining the closing day.

The million-selling indie-pop icons first released their debut album The Trick To Life in 2007 on RCA Records, achieving rapid success with a UK No.1 and Top 5 hits including Worried About Ray and Goodbye Mr A. Armed with their sixth album, Confidence, Irwin Sparkes and Alan Sharland picked up where they left off, honing a more grown-up take on the jubilant sound that made their name back in 2007.

The Hoosiers' appearance marked, hopefully, the start of a regular fixture for a city that still largely sits off the touring circuit of big-name bands, despite the opening of Bradford Live last year. In spite of their trumpet player being stuck on a train in Birmingham, the band delivered an entertaining and enthusiastic set.

Their fondness for cover versions might be worth curtailing slightly; their own back catalogue carries an assured confidence that needs no help, however well Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Want To Have Fun or Billy Joel's We Didn't Start The Fire came off. Sparkes' easy, friendly rapport with the crowd recalled another successful indie-pop band of the same era, Scouting For Girls — both bands share a knack for a memorable pop tune that is inoffensive, unobtrusive and thoroughly effective all the same.

Their latest single, Jigsaw Heart, followed the same formula, but the band couldn't send their audience home without their breakthrough hit, Goodbye Mr A. "Sing along if you know it!" Sparkes shouted, and the Bradford crowd duly obliged in unison — a fitting send-off for the organisers of a debut event that could scarcely have wished for a better ending.

The Hoosiers play the following northern dates:
29th August- Wildlife Park, Doncaster
8th October - O2 Ritz, Manchester
9th October - NX, Newcastle
For more information click here