Photo + Words: Lucy Evans

Coinciding with the summer solstice, Belle & Sebastian took to the stage at The Piece Hall in Halifax to perform their second LP ‘If You’re Feeling Sinister’ in its entirety. As the blazing sunshine gave way for a relieving cloud, fans poured through the gates to celebrate the thirty-year anniversary, with many sporting t-shirts from various eras throughout the Scottish indie band’s career.

Opening act Saint Etienne gave all the evidence that one could need in proving that this was going to be a special night right from the start. I can’t remember the last time I saw a crowd so excited for a support act, with fans jumping with excitement and singing along with a ferocity you might only expect to see at a sold-out stadium show. The excitement only grew as Belle & Sebastian graced the stage, kicking the evening off with the album’s opening track, Stars of Track and Field.

The playthrough of the album itself raced by, with hit after hit captivating the audience. Thirty years on, the record still sounds as upbeat and inspired as it did the first time I heard it. Witnessing lead guitarist Stevie Jackson go to town on the harmonica during Me and the Major prompted fervent fanfare, and by the time Get Me Away from Here I’m Dying was in full swing, I’m half convinced that even the venue’s walls were dancing. The title track If You’re Feeling Sinister made for the loudest singalong of the evening, but cheers grew even louder when frontman Stuart Murdoch donned a horse-head mask for the bizarre and rosy track Judy and the Dream of Horses.

Once the “surprisingly short album” (as noted by Murdoch during the set) came to a close, the audience were treated to a run of songs spanning their discography. I was particularly delighted to hear the thumping intro of Step Into My Office, Baby, a lesser-featured track of their live performances. The barbershop quartet inspired breakdown of this song proved to be even more impressive in the flesh, highlighting the strong chemistry between each of the band members. The most impressive thing of all, though, was the sheer, overwhelming presence of fun. Everywhere you could have looked that night presented smiling faces, cheer, applause, laughter, dancing – and that doesn’t even include the energy happening onstage. It’s laudable for a band who rose to fame in the 90s to still demonstrate such intrinsic joy within their music and performance.

The fun peaked to a circus-like level during the band’s biggest hit, The Boy with the Arab Strap. As the upbeat looping intro rang out over Halifax like church bells, Murdoch asked “where are our dancers tonight?”, before inviting members of the crowd to join them onstage. Happy faces jumped around in utter delight, whilst Murdoch did laps of the stage on a scooter. It is still unclear where this scooter came from, but by that point, nobody even thought to question such beautiful and brazen silliness.

I cannot think of many better ways to spend an evening than in the company of Belle & Sebastian and their adoring fans, not least at a venue as well-managed and picturesque as The Piece Hall. I left the venue that evening with a renewed sense of elation, and the overwhelming sense that things will be okay. Isn’t that what it’s all about, really?

Photo Credit: Lucy Evans