Blondie: Piece Corridor, Halifax – Stay Assessment

Blondie | Starsailor
Piece Corridor, Halifax
seventh June 2024

There’s an air of expectancy across the stone-hewn streets of Halifax, West Yorkshire as New York’s best roll into city. The cafés and bars are buzzing with anticipation with teams of Blondie followers, young and old, gathering to benefit from the city’s hospitality. The Ring o’ Bells and Outdated Submit Workplace pubs cannily blast out Blondie hits to attract in passers-by earlier than they witness a efficiency from probably the most iconic bands of the previous fifty years, with credit score as a result of organisers for bringing a chunk of the Massive Apple to this historic nook of the nation. And what higher setting may there be to welcome the exalted guests than the magnificent Piece Corridor, which as soon as once more gives an ideal, if unlikely, venue for a serious rock occasion?

The group is already fortunately congregating in numbers throughout the Piece Corridor’s imposing quadrangle as help act Starsailor take the stage. The band might have solely crossed the Pennines relatively than the Atlantic to be with us tonight, however they’re met with a heat reception nonetheless. It must be mentioned that the stalwarts of the awfully named post-Britpop style aren’t apparent party-starters, and frontman James Walsh appears to acknowledge this by introducing Alcoholic with a modest; ‘Numerous you right here tonight might not know any of our materials.’ Nevertheless, the vocalist’s affable persona quickly begins to win the group over as he takes time to pay tribute to the venue, Blondie and the viewers, in addition to the laborious work put in by BSL signers to make these occasions extra accessible, a sentiment very a lot echoed by LTW. The band proceed to ship a completely skilled set of well-crafted songs, together with favourites Into The Wild, Poor Misguided Idiot, Lullaby and 4 To The Ground, to get us within the temper regardless of the threatening gray clouds gathering overhead.

So, how do you introduce the band which wants no introduction? Suffice to say, Blondie are bona fide legends – an act which, for a time, tapped into the favored zeitgeist with uncanny precision to supply smash hit after smash hit. Ridiculously industrial, they appealed to the High of the Pops viewers and club-goers however have been constantly cool sufficient to maintain the New Wave scenesters very a lot on board with that inimitable New York groove. And, in fact, within the sultry, charismatic and attitude-filled Debbie Harry, that they had that the majority efficient of secret weapons to provide them an altogether unfair benefit over their friends. Whereas bodily attraction undeniably performed a component with Debbie’s posters adorning 1,000,000 bed room partitions, there was a lot extra to her attraction than that. Indefinably alluring and sassy however fully unthreatening, proficient and clever, with the flexibility to gentle up a stage or picture shoot with the faintest of Mona Lisa smiles, the Miami-born songstress was one in all a form, and the eclectic combine within the Piece Corridor bears witness to Blondie’s common attraction. Youthful and ageing, mother and father and youngsters, rockers, clubbers, punks and hen events – they’re all right here tonight. T-shirts on show embody Tom Jones, Placebo, Sisters of Mercy and Stone Bitter, and we even have rock royalty in our midst within the type of ex-Wildhearts bassist Danny McCormack.

The second we’ve all been ready for lastly arrives because the backdrop screens crackle into life with black-and-white interference earlier than Blondie take the stage to large cheers. It’s celebration time, and what higher method to get issues underway than with the monster hit One Method Or One other, a music made much more in style by younger admirers of One Course’s cowl? In fact, all eyes inevitably house in on Debbie, and it must be mentioned she appears incredible in shades, white leather-based topped with a swimsuit jacket (that is northern England in any case), and matching trousers, as she struts the boards with extra power, poise and sprightliness than she has any proper to show. ‘Hiya Halifax, that is Blondie calling’, hollers the singer earlier than launching into Hanging On The Phone. In addition to delving into quite a few musical kinds for inspiration, this band had a knack for taking different individuals’s songs and making them their very own, and this cowl of The Nerves’ monitor is a working example. The beautiful Sunday Woman and Name Me spherical off a quartet of crowd favourites, extra hits in fifteen minutes than most can pack right into a present.

There have been solutions of late that Debbie Harry’s voice had inevitably misplaced a bit of of its silky smoothness and misleading energy, nevertheless it must be mentioned that tonight, it’s nearly unbelievably sturdy, enhanced by raucous crowd participation and with backing vocals to the fore. The entertaining display screen projections, dazzling facet lights and energised band all mix to make this fairly a present, however in fact, it’s primarily about these incredible songs. Though this was at all times going to be a gig chock-full of hits, Blondie wish to range issues a bit of, and Debbie introduces Dwelling In The Actual World with ‘We haven’t performed this one for some time’, (1998 to be exact). Nothing Is Actual However The Woman, Lengthy Time and the unlikely encore of Debbie’s haunting solo monitor, Canine Star Woman additionally serve to please the extra hard-core followers.

The traditional hits proceed with Atomic, Rapture and one other cowl in The Paragons’ The Tide Is Excessive, demonstrating the band’s versatility by visiting disco, hip-hop and rocksteady in flip. Debbie provides one other shout-out for the Piece Corridor and attracts consideration to the ‘refreshing’ rain. Because the heavens actually open, we’re quickly refreshed to the pores and skin, however this does nothing to dampen the celebratory spirit or take away the Cheshire Cat grins from the faces of the disciples. The singer additionally makes positive to provide full credit score to the wonderful band which presently constitutes Blondie, eliciting specific appreciation for ever-present drum maestro Clem Burke and the legendry Glen Matlock, wanting dapper as ever, on bass. Maria and an ecstatically obtained Coronary heart Of Glass apparently convey issues to a detailed, however there’s nonetheless time for Blondie to return and end issues off for actual with yet one more smash, the scrumptious Dreaming. It solely stays for Debbie Harry to want everybody good evening as she blows kisses and the band settle for the wild applause.

Whereas some ‘heritage bands’ are accused of outstaying their welcome, Blondie are above such criticism and in damp West Yorkshire, Debbie Harry has as soon as extra lived as much as her billing as an adopted nationwide treasure. We’ll by no means see their likes once more and, for that cause alone, these experiencing Blondie for the primary time tonight or veterans of 100 gigs will be pleased about this chance.

~

Blondie Hyperlinks: Web site | Fb | X | Instagram

All phrases by Robin Boardman. Extra writing from Robin for Louder Than Struggle will be discovered at his writer’s archive.

All footage by Neil Chapman