Michael Ball: Singer and West End star to play only gig this summer at tiny Yorkshire cricket club

Michael Ball has performed in front of millions on TV along with the West End and Broadway stages yet in June he’ll be singing at a cricket club in Huddersfield. And there are still some tickets left but they are going fast.

The afternoon concert at Almondbury Wesleyan Cricket Ground on Sunday, June 16, is certainly a one-off – the audience is urged to bring their hampers along to make, as they say in Yorkshire, ‘a reet good do of it’ – and the show is even called Harmonies and Hampers.

It’s billed as “a picnic like no other” and it sure is as an important fundraiser for the cricket club’s junior section.

Ball said: “It’s the first time the cricket club has done something like this so it’s good to break new ground and it’ll be a really nice experience so I thought ‘why not’. It sounds like I may be trailblazing here.

“I love open air shows and this really appealed to me – it’ll be relaxed and informal, a great way to spend a summer’s afternoon.

“I love Yorkshire, it’s a beautiful place and the audiences are always up for a great time. It’s also brilliant that people will be bringing their hampers along – my piccy tea will be cheese and chutney sandwiches.”

It’s also a very rare chance to see Ball in Huddersfield. He’s only been here once before when he did some filming in Huddersfield Town Hall for the 2014 film That Day We Sang where he starred alongside Imelda Staunton. Jessica Gunning from Holmfirth, who has just hit the headlines as the stalker in the Netflix series Baby Reindeer, was also in it.

He pledged the notorious Yorkshire weather will not put him off.

“I’ll be in Huddersfield come rain or shine,” he said. “The worst concert for weather I ever did was with Alfie Boe in Scarborough. It was raining, windy, the sea was so rough it was crashing over the wall and across the road and we had to move the orchestra back they were getting that wet.”

He was booked by Almondbury Wesleyan Cricket Club committee member Mark Binns, who said: “It’s a very rare chance for Michael Ball fans to see him close up and personal in such an informal setting.

“We are getting interest from all over the country as it’s such a one-off. If you look on Michael’s website under his Live section there’s just one show this summer … and that’s us. I think that’s why the tickets have been selling so fast but people can still get hold of them if they act quickly.”

Michael will be supported by another West End star, Jenna Lee-James, who has been performing as lead character Elsa in the stage version of Disney’s Frozen.

To buy tickets for the Huddersfield show go to click here.

Gates open at 1.30pm, the concert starts at 3.30pm and will end at 6.30pm.