Review: Richard Hawley and the Black Dyke Band at St George's Hall in Bradford

On face value, this one-off show tips the balance in favour of Yorkshire. Teaming up with Bradford’s Black Dyke Band as part of the City of Culture’s Big Brass Blowout, it sees him perform with one of the oldest and most well-known brass bands in the world.

Yet far from being an extended Hovis commercial, the Band bring 1950s Hollywood to Hawley’s balladry. During their opening set, conductor Nicholas Childs jokes that, “whatever a symphony orchestra can do, the Black Dyke Band can do better.”

This 90-minute set would leave few in the audience to doubt the claim.

The Band bring added depth and emotional weight to 16 of Hawley’s tracks, which are chosen from across the last two decades. ‘Don’t Stare At The Sun’ has the sober elegance of Scott Walker, especially in the extended outro.

The pounding country-rock of ‘Standing At The Sky’s Edge’ is punctuated with bursts of drama, and ‘Is There A Pill?’ loops into the orchestration of Arctic Monkeys’ The Car.

But they also know when the song speaks best with subtlety. Opening track ‘As The Dawn Breaks’, which Johnny Cash could easily have covered during his American Songbook phase, is left to the “five herberts from Sheffield” (as Hawley describes his backing band). ‘Soldier On’ has a warm undertone before swelling into a Bond-like crescendo.

The ability of the Band to fully complement, rather than overshadow, the mood of the material is exemplified by ‘For Your Lover Give Some Time’. An emotionally soulful song, it naturally lends itself to bombastically lush orchestration.

Yet rather than overegg an already heartfelt song, the arrangements wisely leave Hawley’s rich baritone to carry its warts and all romance.

As with all the best collaborations, this is one that leaves the audience wanting more. It seems the same is also true for Hawley; he praises the Band while in typically deadpan style noting, “I think the budget for the next album has just been blown!”