“I’m Going Down Town Where There’s Music…” - Richard Hawley Announces Hometown gigs to Celebrate 'Coles Corner' At 20

Richard Hawley’s iconic fourth album Coles Corner celebrates its twentieth anniversary this year, and to mark the occasion Hawley will be playing homecoming shows at Sheffield City Hall in December where he will play the album in full.

These are Hawley’s first hometown shows since he headlined The Leadmill twice in June to mark the venues enforced closure. Due to incredible demand after quickly selling out the City Hall for 16th and 17th December, he has now announced a third and final date at the same venue for Monday 15th December.

As well as his usual touring band of Shez Sheridan (guitar), Colin Elliot (bass), Jon Trier (keyboards), and Dean Beresford (drums), Hawley will be joined by a string quartet to bring those lush arrangements on ‘Coles Corner’ to life. It’s a beautiful album and the historic Sheffield City Hall (opened 1932) is the perfect location for these songs. Hawley first played the City Hall in December 2006 at the end of the original Coles Corner tour, and subsequently played there again in 2007, 2012 and 2016, each one a triumph.

Following the full album performance, Hawley will perform a selection of fan-favourite songs such as ‘Tonight The Streets Are Ours’, ‘Open Up Your Door’, and ‘Standing At The Sky’s Edge”. All three nights are guaranteed to be very memorable, and the perfect lead into Christmas! Last December he played Barrow Hill Roundhouse near Chesterfield where he arrived by steam train and sang ‘Silent Night’!

Released on 5th September 2005, Coles Corner followed Hawley’s eponymous debut mini-album released in early 2001, Late Night Final released later in 2001, and Lowedges released in 2003. It was originally launched with an intimate instore gig at Fopp in Sheffield, followed by a headline show at The Leadmill a few days later. Selling out multiple dates at the City Hall shows how far Hawley has come in the intervening years.

Coles Corner became Hawley’s first UK Top 40 album. It was nominated for the 2006 Mercury Music Prize for best album, but memorably lost out to Arctic Monkeys’ debut album Whatever People Say I Am That’s What I’m Not, famously leading Hawley’s friend Alex Turner to quip on stage as they collected the award, “someone call 999, Richard Hawley’s been robbed!”

You can sign up here for early access to presale tickets: bit.ly/RichardHawleySheffieldPresale-Dec15

If you’ve already registered for the previous Sheffield presale, you’ll automatically receive your presale ticket link before 10am on Thursday 23rd October. If not, please sign up now to make sure you don’t miss out on one of these historic evenings!