Turnstile – Live Review – The Piece Hall, Halifax
By Steve Crabtree, August 2026
Heading to a gig when you’ve got no idea who you’re watching is pretty unusual for me. Yes, I like to check out bands and artists I’m not familiar with, but normally, I know some songs, a bit of the history, and a few details before I head out to a gig. But this one was totally different.
I was here purely on orders from the other side of the world. My young nephew Fraser lives in Australia, and Turnstile are his absolute world. He’d been bending his grandad’s ear about how incredible their drummer is, insisting we had to check them out.
So, taking on family scouting duties, we stepped in on his behalf. Our mission was simple: go down to The Piece Hall and find out what the hype was all about. However, I was genuinely unprepared for the sheer wall of noise and ferocious, raucous energy that was about to hit us…
“Opening blast”
Turnstile were in town for their only UK headline show of the year. Because of that, tickets had been snapped up in no time. A packed, sell-out crowd filled the place, and everyone was ready for a proper blast of American hardcore.
People-watching whilst support act Dynamite were on, Halifax was awash with hardcore punk fans, and despite the impending chaos, there was just a great atmosphere in the air. As is the norm down here.
When we got to 9pm, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers’ ‘Islands In The Stream’ started feeding through the PA system, which was a touching tribute to the country star who passed away the previous day. It was well received too, and probably the last delicate moment of the evening.
Then the lights dropped, and Turnstile strolled out to a massive roar. They wasted zero time, launching straight into a furious opening blast of ‘Birds’, ‘Real Thing’, and ‘Endless’. From that opening salvo, the place simply erupted.
“Ferocious set”
For the next hour and twenty, the courtyard was complete mayhem in the best possible way. The moshpit was huge. And the bouncing wasn’t just reserved for the front barrier either; it rippled right through the crowd and pushed all the way to the back.
The band treated fans to a ferocious set spanning their 16-year career. There were gems from Nonstop Feeling, Time and Space, and more. There were plenty of heavy-hitters, and every single song punched its way into the heads of 6,000 people. This was adrenaline-rush music at the highest level.
Fan favourites like ‘I Don’t Wanna Be Blind’, ‘Mystery’, and ‘Look Out For Me’ sent the noise levels skyrocketing. Then came a proper standout moment: a blistering cover of The Stone Roses’ ‘I Wanna Be Adored’. Hearing a Manchester classic get a spin on Yorkshire turf went down an absolute storm.
The gig rarely dipped below extraordinary, and The Piece Hall can’t have witnessed many crowds bouncing in such a frenzy as this one from start to finish.
“Tore the place up”
Nobody was ready for things to wind down, and Turnstile returned to deliver a relentless four-song encore. They tore through ‘Holiday’ and ‘Blackout’, pushing the energy even higher.
Closing the night with ‘Never Enough’ and ‘T.L.C. (Turnstile Love Connection)’, I have no idea how all these fans (nor the band!) kept their energy levels this high, but they’d lasted the duration. Me? It was exhausting just watching them, but I fully loved seeing these people lost in the power of the music.
I might have turned up solely on the advice of my nephew down under, and Turnstile came, completely tore the place up, and gave Halifax a night of live music it won’t forget in a hurry. Fraser, you called this one absolutely spot on, mate.
Images: Cuffe & Taylor
Give Steve music, give him food, give him theatre, tech or travel… and he’s a happy man. He’s been writing professionally since 2003, turning to journalism in 2017 when it offered him the chance to enjoy a lot of his existing passions, and learn some new ones at the same time. Steve can be found spending many of his summer nights watching bands at The Piece Hall in his hometown of Halifax, or enjoying a bite to eat and a drink with his wife anywhere in Yorkshire at any time of year. Random fact: He does the best impression of Zippy and George from Rainbow that anyone has ever heard.
