This post was written by guest contributor Finlay Holt

Premiering at the Royal Albert Hall and now on the road, the BBC Concert Orchestra takes Northern Soul Orchestrated on a pilgrimage across the north of England.

Sheffield City Hall was one of many welcoming crowds, needing little persuading from Stuart Maconie to get out of their seats and celebrate the songs of Northern Soul like they would have when these bootlegged 45″s first played in northern venues like the Wigan Casino, the Blackpool Mecca, and Sheffield’s own Samantha’s. Brendan O’Reilly opened with ‘Turning My Heartbeat Up’ followed by Shane Martin’s ‘I Need You’: a fitting start to an evening of remembrance and celebration, with a slight tinge of melancholy. Nothing amplified these emotions more than Darrell Smith’s rendition of Ray Pollard’s ‘The Drifter’. This was the performance of the evening with Smith’s vocals matching the power of the orchestra.

As the vocalists soothed their instruments at end of the first act, the Orchestra fired up theirs and showcased Sliced Tomatoes as a not-so-subtle reminder of the expression and rhythm that is the bedrock to this cultural movement, fittingly first dubbed ‘Northern Soul’ by Sheffield student Dave Godin. At times it could be said that the orchestra even overshadowed the vocal performances. However, the second half did well to rectify this and the vocals became an even partner to the woodwinds and percussion, notably so during Vula Malinga’s moving version of ‘Time Will Pass You By’. She paused momentarily to wipe away a tear – “sorry, I saw a lot of people getting emotional in the crowd” – but this didn’t detract from the performance, only enhanced.

“I think we’re coming back, aren’t we?” cried Maconie, cueing the ‘Three Before Eight‘. We sure are.