It rained but we soaked up the sun with Sheryl Crow as she played a hits laden set in Halifax

★★★★★ (5/5)

SHERYL CROW PERFORMING AT HALIFAX’S PIECE HALL
PHOTOCREDIT: JOHN HAYHURST

My first visit to The Piece Hall in Halifax and whilst negotiating the motorways around Leeds to get there was a nightmare, the venue tonight was nothing short of heaven. This place needs to be seen to be believed, dating from 1779, when it was built as a Cloth Hall for the trading of ‘pieces’ of cloth (a 30 yard length of woven woollen fabric produced on a handloom), The Piece Hall was the most ambitious and prestigious of its type and now stands in splendid isolation as the only remaining example. It is one of Britain’s most outstanding Georgian buildings. Whilst just being here was a history lesson in outstanding British architecture, we were about to have another lesson in how to play an outdoor city centre gig by multi grammy winning songstress Sheryl Crow.

But first a band I saw a few years ago in a pub in Leeds and who played the kind of classic rock only reserved for bearded bikers. Dea Matrona were 3 Irish girls with some serious sass and took the rock chic to another level when they plugged their instruments in and blew the roof off with some serious shredding and rocking out.

Tonight with an additional guitarist and now a male drummer they made light work of getting the Halifax crowd warmed up. Not only playing recent tracks from latest album ‘For Your Sins’ but a rip roaring cover of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Oh Well’ - although Orlaith Forsythe singing “I can’t sing, I ain’t pretty” doesn’t quite fit the profile of either of these girls. Orlaith and Mollie McGinn swap instruments and lead vocals throughout the set, both are equally comfortable whether on bass or lead and even breaking out an acoustic to showcase their stunning vocal harmonies. Definitely come a long way in the last few years, and one I’ll look forward to catching up with again on a future headline gig.

Sheryl Crow was very quick in her set to commend Dea Matrona, and not in a general “thanks to my support…” way, this was a heartfelt couple of minutes of explaining how she loves watching “chicks that can play” and how it gave her comfort about the future of music. Both girls were up on the balcony hearing that and doing a ‘we are not worthy’ bow towards the stage.

Yes it rained a little but when the band plugged in their instruments and Sheryl started singing ‘Real Gone’ it didn’t matter a bit, it was like a musical umbrella giving some shelter from the storm. “This is a crazy beautiful place to play” she says in her Missouri drawl and then launches one of her biggest hits ‘A Change Would Do You Good’. Her vocals are impeccable and she dresses like the rock chick that she is, with leather flared trousers, a sparkly top, and a tight leather jacket. Now 62 years old but looking and sounding like someone 20 years younger.

Taking it back to where it started ‘Run Baby Run’ sees Crow put the guitar over her shoulder and to really belt out those vocals. You can tell a pro by how she pulls away from the mic to let fly, and the acoustics in this perfect space deliver a sound quality that most open air venues can only dream of.

Check the setlist!, so many hits in the first half, ‘Be Yourself’ nearly caused a riot where I was stood, as several people (younger than the average punter here) started to jump around with the chorus. Crow joked about Lionel Ritchie telling her “never play anything new in a live show”, right before announcing the title track off her new album ‘Evolution’. Then we get 2 covers from “some nice English gentlemen”.

Referencing her drug related past and how it is good now that everybody is talking about mental illness, she really wanted to record ‘Digging In The Dirt’ and Peter Gabriel agreed to add some vocals to the track which is on her latest album release. This was a cathartic expressive move for her tonight, and that feeling of liberation really transferred across. Some vital guitar playing from her band including ex Black Crowes guitarist Audley Freed looking statesmanlike in his regulation cowboy hat.

‘The First Cut Is The Deepest’ originally from Cat Stevens less so, but produced a nice sing-along moment and lots of arm waving in time. We were then pretty much on the home straight, it did feel like ‘banger after banger’ throughout the night but when ‘If It Makes You Happy’, ‘Soak Up the Sun’ and ‘Everyday Is a Winding Road’ are your last 3 songs of the night then you really have got a huge portfolio of music to draw from. Casual fans all remarking “Oh yeah I know this one” every time a song started.

I’ll admit, I also thought that there wouldn’t be an encore after ‘Winding Road’ but she surprised us all with ‘Steve McQueen’ for my “Oh yeah” moment and then unusually finishing with the soft lilting soulful ‘I Shall Believe’ from ‘Tuesday Night Music Club’.

Sheryl Crow headlines The Black Deer festival in Kent this weekend, so they are in for a treat, then Blenheim Palace and Hampton Court next week. Surprisingly no Glastonbury performance as she heads out to Europe instead. This was her first date on the tour in England and my first experience of Piece Hall, I can’t give it all anything less than 5 stars.