Photo Credit: Cuffe and Taylor

Kicking off the 2026 Live from The Piece Hall concert series, Yorkshire chart topping act Shed Seven returned to Halifax a special one-off performance of their sophomore album ‘A Maximum High’. Now thirty years on, 6,500 fans flocked to the venue to witness a historic evening to celebrate a much adored album.

Opening the show were youngsters The Guest List, who made the short trip across the pennines to serve as the first act to perform on the stage for 2026. An already heaving Piece Hall courtyard welcomed the young Mancs as they kicked things off with ‘Ruine’. As the set progressed, more and more people began to fill up the venue, resulting in louder cheers and applauses from the Halifax crowd. A handful of fans were in attendance down at the front as they joined in for tracks ‘You Should Care’ and ‘161’, as well as recruiting a large portion of new fans as the reception grew more positive right until the end with ‘Weatherman’ concluding the show. The Guest List are set to release their debut album later in the year, alongside the bands biggest UK tour to date. A perfect time to jump onboard the hype train.

Making his debut at The Piece Hall too was Uppermill superstar Seb Lowe. Bringing a much different sound to the Yorkshire venue, accompanied by violinist Kate Couriel who has also been making waves as a solo artist recently. The Manchester 5-piece act had the Halifax crowd in the palm of their hands. Relentless energy, songs with a message and a mixture of sound that unless you were very familiar with Seb’s music, you didn’t know what direction it would take. Tracks ‘One Day to Live’ and ‘People Like You’ kept the almost at capacity venue entertained, with each member utilising the huge stage underneath their feet. Concluding with ‘No One to Kill the Sky’, Lowe and his band bowed out with a roaring cheer, with preparations of the main event now complete.

Returning to The Piece Hall after their triumphant 2021 performance as well as a sold out Victoria Theatre show in 2024 for the bands 30th anniversary tour, Shed Seven were back in Yorkshire to celebrate three decades of ‘A Maximum High’. Peaking at #8 in the UK Album Charts back in 1996, the band are arguably the biggest they have ever been in their careers. Now with two UK #1 albums under their belt, both released in 2024, there was no better way to kick off The Piece Hall’s concert series than a sold out show with a night of throwbacks and fan favourites.

One by one each member made their way onto the stage after five years since the last time they graced the iconic venue, finally frontman Rick Witter took centre stage to complete the line-up, now it was show time. The set began with five tracks from Shed Seven’s debut album ‘Change Giver’, to the crowds surprise in which Witter joked about shortly after ‘Dolphin’. Nonetheless, the debut material was more than welcomed to warm up the crowd ahead of album play through.

Performed in its entirety, the ‘A Maximum High’ track listing came bounding in. Opening with ‘Getting Better’, the Halifax crowd were bouncing around, arms raised high and voices certainly heard as they belted out the lyrics perfectly in time. Witter’s attire change was a very fitting addition to the celebrations, as the lights beamed off of his red sequinned shirt. The opening riff of ‘Going for Gold’ was met with huge cheers as the calming intro had the entire venue swaying from side to side. Loved ones and strangers were embraced as ‘On Standby’ came around, showing unity amongst the Shed Seven fans. A rare performance of ‘Lies’ ‘This Day Was Ours’, ‘Ladyman’ and ‘Falling From the Sky’ set up the final two tracks from the record. ‘Bully Boy’ picked up the energy once more, with ‘Parallel Lines’ concluded the ‘A Maximum High’ 30th anniversary play through.

After a brief interval, the band returned to the stage for five more big hitters to see out the night in style. Picking up where they left off with ‘High Hopes’ alongside ‘A Matter of Time’ tracks ‘Talk of the Town’ and ‘Let’s Go Dancing” covered all eras of the bands before rounding off with two more classics in the form of ‘Disco Down’ and the long awaited final song of the night ‘Chasing Rainbows’ was a very fitting conclusion as the night began to fall across The Piece Hall to not just end a fantastic Shed Seven show, but kick off The Piece Hall’s triumphant 2026 series.