Paul Weller w/Miles Kane – The Piece Hall, Halifax – Sunday 14th June 2025

PAUL WELLER

Our first trip of the year to one of our fave settings – Halifax’s iconic Piece Hall – and an impossibly fabulous series of Summer gigs. After an overcast and sometimes rainy opening series, the sun has turned out for Paul Weller. He’s of such iconic standing that he probably has it written into his rider. It wouldn’t not dare.

It’s the start of an escapade which has led from Scarborough to Lincoln and now The Piece Hall (and onwards to similar locations), three venues which are a holy trinity; a to-do trio – bit like the alternating Reading /Leeds bills but with more class. The latter a word which might run amok over the next couple of hundred words. The West Yorkshire gathering has donned the Weller inspired gladrags and turned out in their sell out numbers.

PURE CLASS

In a nutshell, Weller is class. National treasure material. For some, befitting of a Dylan-esque ‘voice of a generation’ labelling. Remarkably, some fifty years into the job for life, the more mature Paul Weller is arguably at his best, armed with a lifetime’s work. Yes, there is still a vestige of the angry young man – still a bit o’ politics as My Ever Changing Moods gets a small speech and is dedicated to the people of Palestine, and a couple of old Jam classic rollick along.

However, there’s a lot to play, cherry picking from an embarrassment of musical riches that ends up as a thirty song set.Skipping the genres, and carried it off with the sort of aplomb that in much the same way that bassist Jake Fletcher mismatches his own gladrags and round Ozzy/Lennon turquoise shades to magnificent effect. Talking style, we get a chance to nod along to what turns out to be forty years of the Style Council in a little sequence mid set. In hindsight, memories of long hot Summers and the first step on the path that leads us to Weller today.

The band too is no less that top notch; the percussion/keyboard backline supplemented by a brass trio that makes an early impression with Move On Up. Up front, Weller retains the tried and trusted, flanked by Jake Fletcher and Steve Craddock (retro brown sweater and slacks for the record). The Jam is well represented with the hits and some less obvious choices – “we’re gonna go across the decades tonight – fuck ’em,” he says before the warm nostalgia of The Man In The Corner Shop. And that’s what seems to sum up Paul Weller in 2026. Inevitably, it’s about a bit of nostalgia, but also about a celebration of a legacy without being a legacy or heritage act. There are no obvious low points where the toilet or bar queues get rammed, nor sitting patiently through the gig awaiting a song from The Jam years.

IMPOSSIBLE TO FAULT

For a Springsteen-like encore another mini set sees Paul and Steve Craddock return for English Rose as a tender duet that might have been the highlight. It’s quite a chilled finale, with Wild Wood and the cinematic arrangement on Rockets balanced with crowd pleasing Eton Rifles and The Changingman. In Can You Heal Us (Holy Man), he sings “hang on tight, hang on strong, how much longer can this go on?” and you get the feeling that Paul Weller might just have a shot of immortality coursing through his veins.

MILES KANE

A well received support slot from Miles Kane sees the stage set with the sort of big cat/leopard print branding that’s possibly an indication or some element of warning – do not poke the beat or tap on the glass. Miles Kane – the man who moves like a cat and charges like a ram.

By now he has enough tunes in his locker that are cut from similar cloth to stoke a crowd. The occasional influences break through. Electric Flower is pure twenty first century Bolan sans the ringlets and glittery eye shadow and Wild Flower is much in the same vein. And having made that connection, it’s hard to shake off joining the dots like the guitar jive that might link Don’t Forget Who You Are and Jeespter.

And when the quartet launch into Coup De Grace, it’s hard not to picture Holly Johnson leading the Frankies in a cabaret showcase full of “Hey heys“s. The track must be the 12” mix too as the band take off in some wild improv style direction and extend into a nigh on psychedelic freak out.

By his own admission, the title track to the latest album, Sunlight In The Shadows has a great little riff. Apt too for a day when the little corner of Piece Hall reserved for the stage is in full sunlight, necessitating shades for comfort rather than coolness. And it’s also his own admission as the sun shines on the righteous, that he’s played his part and made this into what is indeed “A boss Sunday!“

Paul Weller: Website

Miles Kane: Website

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