Richard Hawley review – homecoming hero is in a mood to celebrate

Don Valley Bowl, Sheffield
Playing his largest ever gig in the city, the singer croons his musical love letters to the people and places of Sheffield with tenderness, while his biting political songs turn into rousing singalongs

As Richard Hawley walks on to the stage, a Sheffield brutalist monolith, the Moore Street electricity substation, is projected on a backdrop behind him. During a moving, sweeping version of Coles Corner he holds up a sign reading “Welcome to Sheffield” to huge roars from the crowd. He dedicates Don’t Stare at the Sun to his two sons, who are on top of pals’ shoulders in the audience, arms entangled, singing along to their dad’s music. He sings quiet, delicate songs that were written on dog walks in local parks and have since been spun into the hugely acclaimed musical Standing at the Sky’s Edge, set in another Sheffield brutalist monolith, Park Hill. There is an unquestionably celebratory, and very Sheffield, mood in the air tonight for the endlessly proud local as he plays his biggest ever home town show in the city – headlining the opening night of a four-day event at a venue that holds 10,000 people.

It’s somewhat ironic that the song Standing at the Sky’s Edge is now synonymous with catchy singalong for tourists in the West End, as it unfurls with a slow-building, almost western desert rock snarl. It’s a dark, brooding, heavy song rooted in political turmoil, and it is delivered with real bite from his band. Meanwhile Open Up Your Door projects Hawley’s voice at its best, coated with a rich, enveloping warmth and resonance.

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