Gig review: Nile Rodgers and CHIC at The Piece Hall, Halifax

As the last 45 years have shown, we can rely on Nile Rodgers for a good time – and the second of two sold-out nights at Halifax’s beautiful Piece Hall demonstrated not only what a hit machine the 69-year-old New Yorker has been for four-and-a-half decades but also what a fine line-up of CHIC he has around him now.

From the powerhouse singing of Kimberly Davis and Audrey Martells to the mighty rhythm section of Ralph Rolle and Jerry Barnes, the keyboards and vocals of Russell Graham and Richard Hilton and a punchy horn section who give numbers such as I Want Your Love and Modern Love an added zing, this is a band who intuitively know how to bring a Studio 54 vibe with them everywhere they go.

A two-hour set is expertly marshalled by virtuoso guitarist Rodgers, and the time between curtain-raiser Chic Cheer and rip-roaring closer Good Times flies by in a flurry of dancing, hand-waving and audience sing-alongs.

Dance Dance Dance (Yowsah Yowsah Yowsah) and Everybody Dance are as instructive as they are fun. After a lithe I Want Your Love, Rodgers declares they’d had “a hell of a time” the night before, adding: “So what are we going to do today? We are going to top it.”

He’s keen to point out his songwriting credentials for others too, beginning a whirl through multi-million sellers for Diana Ross (I’m Coming Out, Upside Down), Madonna (Like A Virgin, Material Girl), and Sheila and B Devotion’s evergreen Spacer.

A quartet of collaborations with Sister Sledge stand out, with We Are Family particularly joyful, while Thinking Of You is touchingly dedicated to Rodgers’s long-time musical partner Bernard Edwards.

Notorious, a song Rodgers co-wrote “with my brothers from Birmingham”, Duran Duran, is a blast; the David Bowie numbers Modern Love and Let’s Dance are even more exhilarating – with drummer Rolle taking the vocals on the latter.

A revision of Daft Punk’s Get Lucky is a soulful riposte to a journalist who recently puzzled over what kind of band CHIC are, while My Forbidden Lover delivers on a promise of “maximum funkosity”.

Bidding adieu with Le Freak and Good Times – which interpolates The Sugarhill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight (itself indebted to Rodgers and Edwards’ slick disco groove) – this is, as the man himself had vowed, a hell of a show – and quite a finale for promoter Futuresound, whose last presentation this was at The Piece Hall.

C’est CHIC, magnifique.

The Piece Hall’s summer series continues tonight with Pete Tong & The Heritage Orchestra Ibiza Classics. For details visit www.thepiecehall.co.uk