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UK concert series TK Maxx presents Live at The Piece Hall is on course to sell out its 2024 season after shifting more than 170,000 tickets for its summer shows so far.
The 34-night series in Halifax, West Yorkshire, gets underway tonight (7 June) with the first of two shows by Blondie, with sold-out concerts by the likes of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Loyle Carner, Tom Jones, Sheryl Crow, Korn, Biffy Clyro, Fatboy Slim and Bryan Adams set to follow over the next two months.
Co-promoters The Piece Hall Trust and Live Nation’s Cuffe and Taylor say the acclaimed 6,000-cap open-air venue has already smashed the previous box office record of 125,000 tickets, set in 2023, with this year’s sales.
“To have already sold in excess of 170,000 tickets – smashing the previous box office record by almost 50,000 tickets – cements The Piece Hall’s growing reputation as one of the UK’s best outdoor venues, one that is loved equally by audiences and artists,” says Peter Taylor, co-founder of Cuffe and Taylor.
“The series has grown from half a dozen shows just a few years ago to 34 this year. With attendance figures set to eclipse virtually every concert series and major festival in the UK – and with a rich and diverse programme of shows – The Piece Hall is truly one hottest tickets of the summer.”
“People are rightly incredibly proud of The Piece Hall and its growing reputation as a premiere music and events venue, not just nationally but internationally”
Outside of events in London and the south coast, only Glastonbury and Liverpool’s Anfield stadium will welcome more gig goers to outdoor shows in England between June and August.
“People are rightly incredibly proud of The Piece Hall and its growing reputation as a premiere music and events venue, not just nationally but internationally,” adds Nicky Chance-Thompson MBE DL, CEO of The Piece Hall Charitable Trust.
The Grade I-listed The Piece Hall originally opened in 1779 for the trading of ‘pieces’ of cloth produced by Yorkshire’s famous woollen mills and is the only remaining Georgian cloth hall in the world. Now an award-winning contemporary cultural, heritage and live entertainment destination, it has welcomed more than 14 million visitors through its historic gates since it re-opened in 2017.
Cuffe and Taylor, which entered into a co-promoter partnership with The Piece Hall Trust in 2022, will present almost 150 outdoor shows at venues and events this year including Lytham Festival, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Cardiff Castle, Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, Summer Sessions in Bedford, Chepstow, Derby, Plymouth and Southampton, and the Forest Live series of concerts.
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Biffy Clyro have been confirmed as the final headliner for The Piece Hall in Halifax’s star-studded summer calendar.
The Scottish rock band, who will play on 23 August, complete the 2024 lineup at the acclaimed 5,500-cap West Yorkshire venue, which includes artists such as Blondie, Sheryl Crow, Annie Mac, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Crowded House, Grace Jones, Bryan Adams, Placebo, Air, Michael Kiwanuka, Underworld, Tom Odell and Rick Astley.
Running from June to August, TK Maxx Presents Live at The Piece Hall will also feature Loyle Carner, Tom Jones, Idles, Ministry of Sound with Ellie Sax & Friends, Bill Bailey, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Richard Ashcroft, The Stranglers, Jess Glynne, Korn, McFly, Status Quo, PJ Harvey, Pixies, The Streets, Fatboy Slim, Jungle and Cian Ducrot.
Live Nation’s Cuffe & Taylor has programmed The Piece Hall – the world’s only remaining Georgian cloth hall – since 2022, presenting the likes of Sting, George Ezra, James, Boygenius, Limp Bizkit, Queens of the Stone Age, The Lumineers, Rag’n’Bone Man, Hozier and Orbital.
“If you’re doing something in London and Scotland, it’s a nice little stop halfway”
The Grade I listed building originally opened in 1779 for the trading of ‘pieces’ of cloth produced by Yorkshire’s famous woollen mills. More than 120,000 tickets were sold for its 2023 concerts.
“It’s not in the main markets and if you’re doing something in London and Scotland, it’s a nice little stop halfway,” promoter Peter Taylor told IQ last year. “It’s been a case of you put a show on and it sells out. It’s taken on a life of its own and I think that’s down to that space and how unique it is. I would like to hope that in a few years, The Piece Hall is seen as the UK’s premier outdoor music venue. It’s in a league of its own.”
Cuffe & Taylor also programmes all live music events at the 8,000-cap Scarborough Open Air Theatre in Yorkshire, as well as promoting Lytham Festival, outdoor live music series Forest Live and Bedford Park Concerts, in addition to events at Cardiff Castle and Chepstow Racecourse.
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Halifax Piece Hall is set for its biggest ever year after ticket sales for this summer programme smashed the 100,000 mark.
The 5,500-cap West Yorkshire, UK venue will host 21 nights of live music throughout June, July and August with headline shows from the likes of Sting, Queens Of The Stone Age, George Ezra, Madness, Limp Bizkit, The Lumineers, Rag’n’Bone Man, Hozier, Boygenius, Orbital and James.
Live at The Piece Hall co-promoters, The Piece Hall Trust and Live Nation-owned Cuffe and Taylor, have revealed this year’s ticket sales have broken box office records.
“Last year we broke box office records when we sold 60,000 tickets,” says Cuffe and Taylor co-founder Peter Taylor. “To now top 100,000 sales – even before our first show with Madness on June 16 – just shows what a truly special venue this is.
“The music industry has certainly sat up and took notice and huge stars – from across many diverse genres from pop to rock to legendary dance acts – want to come and play here. Together with The Piece Hall Trust, we will continue to strive to bring the biggest names in music to Yorkshire and this incredible venue.”
“Our strong partnership with Cuffe and Taylor means we are able to bring world class artists to our iconic venue”
The Grade I listed Piece Hall originally opened in 1779 for the trading of ‘pieces’ of cloth produced by Yorkshire’s famous woollen mills and is the only remaining Georgian cloth hall in the world. It has welcomed more than 10.5 million visitors through its gates since reopening in 2017.
“What a phenomenal milestone to have reached,” adds Nicky Chance-Thompson DL, CEO of The Piece Hall Charitable Trust. “Our strong partnership with Cuffe and Taylor means we are able to bring world class artists to our iconic venue, and these sales prove just how big the appetite is for quality live music at The Piece Hall.
“This is a huge deal for Halifax and Calderdale in terms of the visitor economy, investment into the area and creating a powerful feeling of pride in place.”
Since 2016, Cuffe and Taylor, which entered into a co-promoter partnership with The Piece Hall Trust last year, has exclusively programmed all live music events at the 8,000-cap Scarborough Open Air Theatre – including massive headline shows by the likes of Britney Spears, Lionel Richie, Kylie Minogue, Christian Aguilera, Biffy Clyro, Sam Fender and Lewis Capaldi.
The Olivier Award-winning promoters are also responsible for staging UK tours with Britney Spears, Rod Stewart, Mariah Carey and Little Mix, while also festivals such as Lancashire’s Lytham Festival.
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The director of Live Nation-owned UK promoter Cuffe and Taylor has told IQ that business is bouncing back strongly from the pandemic.
Cuffe and Taylor, who have staged tours with superstars such as Britney Spears, Rod Stewart, Mariah Carey and Little Mix, curate Lancashire’s 20,000-cap Lytham Festival and programme all live music events at the 8,000-cap Scarborough Open Air Theatre in Yorkshire.
The company’s Peter Taylor reports the firm is selling more tickets than ever before.
“We used to be quite reliant on stadium business, but we’ve created a much more sustainable business that isn’t necessarily relying on a headline artist,” Taylor says IQ. “We’re actually selling more tickets overall as a company. We’re on track to sell in excess of 750,000 tickets [this year], and 2023 is going to be in excess of a million tickets, driven by our theatre business and our outdoor venues.
“The demand is there, we actually haven’t seen a slowdown. Even in January, which is traditionally a slightly softer month, we have quite a number of onsales, all of which delivered great ticket sales.
“It’s been incredible how the business has bounced back, how resilient it has been and how it is even stronger now than it was before the pandemic. It’s been crazy busy but, as I remind everybody every day, this is what we wished for.”
After two years on inaction, Cuffe & Taylor’s flagship Lytham Festival is returning as an expanded 10-day event between 28 June and 10 July with headliners Diana Ross, The Strokes, Lewis Capaldi, Snow Patrol, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Duran Duran, Elbow, Simply Red, Tears For Fears and Paul Weller.
In the festival’s absence, the promoter launched the six-day WonderHall at Lytham Hall in 2021, welcoming artists such as Tom Jones, Anne-Marie and Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra. The event will return in 2023.
“This year is a bit of an anomaly in that we’re doing two weeks in Lytham, so we didn’t want to saturate the market and compete against ourselves,” explains Taylor. “But in ’23, we’re going to go back to five nights and bring back WonderHall. We’ll do Lytham Festival at the end of June, beginning of July, and then WonderHall at the end of August.”
The 2022 line-up for Scarborough, meanwhile, kicks off with a sold-out show by Sam Fender on 27 May, with other acts scheduled to include Crowded House (11 June), Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons (25 June), Westlife (23 July), Christina Aguilera (2 August) and Lewis Capaldi (11 August).
“When I joined Live Nation I was the only promoter at Cuffe and Taylor. Now, I have a team of five”
“I always think Scarborough is an easy sell for tickets, and it doesn’t take a lot of hard tickets out of the market either because it’s a local audience that are proud that somebody like Christina Aguilera’s coming to the town,” he says. “That being said, clearly we bring people in from outside the area because there’s not a hotel room to be had in Scarborough when the concerts are on and we’re working with the council in Scarborough on a master plan for the area around the Open Air Theatre to kickstart that regeneration.”
Last month, the North West-based promoter also announced it had secured an exclusive deal to programme live music events at The Piece Hall in Halifax. Cuffe & Taylor will co-promote the 5,500-cap venue biggest ever summer season of live music in 2022 with The Piece Hall Trust, with headline shows by Jessie Ware, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Pete Tong & The Heritage Orchestra, Tom Grennan, Paloma Faith, Paul Weller, Primal Scream and Tom Jones.
“The venue wanted to look at a different model and we presented to them the opportunity to work with us in a joint venture,” explains Taylor. “Halifax is perfect, because it sits between Lytham and Scarborough and some things that don’t work at Scarborough and Lytham will work at the Piece Hall because of the capacity.
“It’s a great venue and everything that we’ve put in there has sold extremely strongly. We’ve got some other acts to announce, we’ll probably be doing about 16 shows with them this year. And the deal we’ve signed is a five-year agreement, so we’re already well into programming for 2023.”
Taylor reveals the company currently has no plans to revive its Greenwich Music Time London concert series, which was last held in 2019.
“We didn’t do anything in Greenwich for the last couple of years because we felt the market was softer,” admits Taylor. “Never say never, but we’re finding that getting a foothold in the regional venues – where there’s less competition – is actually proving to be our niche. And at the moment, I’m very keen to expand that regional growth into other areas.”
Cuffe and Taylor, which was founded by Taylor and co-owner Daniel Cuffe, recently celebrated five years as part of Live Nation following its 2017 acquisition.
“It’s been a good home for us,” reflects Taylor. “It’s allowed us to have the network of support that Live Nation is able to offer, while allowing me to really focus on building the business. When you’ve got your own business, you’re everything: the accountant, the lawyer, HR, which doesn’t allow you to focus on developing new business.
“When I joined Live Nation, I was the only promoter [at Cuffe and Taylor]. And now I have a team of five and we’re all on the frontline securing tours, artists and venues, and that has made all the difference.”
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Live Nation’s Cuffe and Taylor have secured an exclusive five-year deal to programme live music events at The Piece Hall in Halifax, UK.
The North West-based promoter will co-promote its biggest ever summer season of live music in 2022 with The Piece Hall Trust, with headline shows by Jessie Ware, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Pete Tong & The Heritage Orchestra, Tom Grennan, Paloma Faith, Paul Weller, Primal Scream and Tom Jones.
The Live at the Piece Hall series will take place within the venue’s 5,500-cap courtyard across June and July.
“We are beyond delighted to confirm we have entered into an exclusive five-year agreement with The Piece Hall Trust,” says Cuffe and Taylor founder Peter Taylor. “This historic and iconic Yorkshire venue is simply stunning. We pledge to build on the work already undertaken by the Trust and deliver an exciting programme which has wide appeal for music fans.
“Cuffe and Taylor have an amazing track record in delivering live shows at iconic and historic venues across the UK”
“Live Nation work with some of the biggest music acts in the world and we cannot wait to bring major artists here to Halifax to play this special venue.”
Since 2016, Cuffe and Taylor has exclusively programmed all live music events at the 8,000-cap Scarborough Open Air Theatre, also in Yorkshire, including headline shows by the likes of Britney Spears, Lionel Richie, Kylie Minogue, Stereophonics, Biffy Clyro, Duran Duran and Lewis Capaldi.
They have also staged UK tours with Britney Spears, Rod Stewart, Mariah Carey and Little Mix, while also curating major festivals and events such as Lancashire’s Lytham Festival and Greenwich Music Time.
“Cuffe and Taylor have an amazing track record in delivering live shows at iconic and historic venues across the UK, and we look forward to working with them to build on our great track record to date,” adds Piece Hall CEO Nicky Chance-Thompson.
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