Nile Rodgers and Chic review: Legends deliver hit after hit during funky Halifax Piece Hall show

We know just how revered Halifax Piece Hall is in Yorkshire but it is always wonderfully warming to hear music legends sing its praises.

Blondie’s Debbie Harry did so on the opening night of the 2024 summer series at historic venue with Nile Rodgers following suit on Sunday evening. The renowned icon, one of the world’s best guitarists and prolific producer, made an endearing announcement before Chic’s headline Halifax show.

After praising the venue, Rodgers said: “Before we start, I just wanted to say last time we were here, it was insane. Can we top it?” This was, of course, met by loud enthusiastic cheers from the 6,000 people crammed into the West Yorkshire venue.

Read more: Rock 'n' roll icons Blondie set the tone for Halifax Piece Hall's summer series

Long before Rodgers and his dance collective took to the stage, the atmosphere was buzzing as the sun glistened down on Halifax Piece Hall. This was, in no small part, thanks to the evening’s impressive support duo.

Viral favourites Deco kicked things off with Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Kitchen Disco later impressing. The latter played a hit-packed brief set filled with her own big numbers and classic covers.

Ellis-Bextor regularly showed her appreciation for Rodgers for inviting her to support Chic. Murder On The Dancefloor, which has found a whole new audience through recent film Saltburn, undoubtedly being the highlight from the support stint.

Sunday’s show fell on Father’s Day with many dads being treated to a glam sequinned night out. Although, the festivities did clash with England’s first match in Euro 2024. Ellis-Bextor helped get the world in motion, for those interested, by breaking news of the Three Lions taking an early lead against Serbia - setting visions of Gareth Southgate’s side going all the way and football finally coming home.

Given the sheer quality of the performance, and fun, later delivered by Nile Rodgers and Chic, the dads in the audience will surely have believed they were in the right place, under the stars, when the legendary act were in full flow later in the evening.

They were treated to era-defining song after era-defining song, during the headline performance, with it featuring Chic originals such as Le Freak and Everybody Dance. Alongside those classics were renditions of iconic dancefloor fills Rodgers has collaborated on with other megastars.

There were nods to David Bowie, Madonna, Beyonce and Sister Sledge - among others. Vocalist Kimberly Davis was in sensational form. At times, there was an impressive photo reel, flashing on the stage, of just some of the greats Rodgers has worked alongside - in a career spanning back to the 1970s.

The charismatic Rodgers, a highly-decorated industry awards winner who has sold a treasure trove full of records, gave his adoring fans a little insight into his glistening career. There were lovely moments when he talked about working with Daft Punk on hits Get Lucky and Lose Yourself to Dance, both performed on Sunday, and his sadness at the sci-fi robots disbanding in 2021.

While the music got everyone dancing, it was the little touches which will likely live long in the memory for most. These moments included drummer Ralph Rolle cheerleading the Halifax thousands to 'maximum funkocity', the band getting the venue’s sign language translator on stage and all coming together as one to wish Chic’s guitar tech happy birthday.

And, to cap things, Rodgers even took the time to confirm England’s nervy 1-0 victory over Serbia. Rodgers joking: “How can we follow that?” The dance disco soul funk troupe’s airing of Good Times, while being perfectly fitting, seemed to do the trick.

Is it really a Halifax Piece Hall summer without a visit from Nile Rodgers and Chic? The Halifax natives will be rolling out the sparkling red carpet when they next return...hoping that is in the summer of 2025.

Setlist

• Le Freak

• Everybody Dance

• Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)

• I Want Your Love

• I'm Coming Out

• Upside Down

• He's the Greatest Dancer

• We Are Family

• Like a Virgin

• Material Girl

• Modern Love

• CUFF IT

• Get Lucky

• Lose Yourself to Dance

• Lost in Music

• Notorious

• Thinking of You

• My Feet Keep Dancing

• Chic Cheer / Love Like This

• My Forbidden Lover

• Let's Dance

• Good Times

Below you can see all the upcoming Halifax Piece Hall 2024 shows which have been announced:

• June 19 - Crowded House and Liam Finn

• June 22 - Grace Jones and Stone Foundation

• June 23 - Bryan Adams with Cassyette and Vivas

• June 25 - Placebo with Friedberg

• June 26 - Air

• June 27 - Michael Kiwanuka with support from Joel Culpepper

• June 28 - Underworld with Ela Minus

• June 30 - Tom Odell

• July 7 - Rick Astley with support from The Lightning Seeds

• July 9 - Loyle Carner with support from Children of Zeus

• July 12 - Sir Tom Jones with Germein and Storry

• July 13 - Idles with support from Sprints and Angelica Garcia

• July 27 - Ministry of Sound with Ellie Sax and Friends - Ibiza Anthems

• July 31 - Bill Bailey

• August 1 - Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds with support from Andrew Cushin

• August 2 - Richard Ashcroft with support from Apollo Junction

• August 3 - The Stranglers and Buzzcocks

• August 8 - Jess Glynne with support from Issey Cross and The Mercians

• August 9 - Korn and Loathe

• August 10 - McFly and State of Error

• August 13 - Status Quo and The Alarm

• August 18 - McFly and NOAHFINNCE

• August 20 - PJ Harvey and Mica Levi

• August 21 - Pixies with support from The Pale White

• August 22 - The Streets with support from Billy Nomates

• August 23 - Biffy Clyro with support from Witch Fever

• August 24 - Fatboy Slim

• August 25 - Jungle

• August 26 - Cian Ducrot

you can buy tickets for Halifax Piece Hall shows from Ticketmaster.

You can find the latest event news in Yorkshire and nearby by visiting our What's On homepage. There you can also find days out guides for things to do across the region.

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