We felt a little smug about having the hottest tickets in town: Turnstile at The Piece Hall. So many people from regions around the UK had turned out for the unprecedented night, to see the eAmerican hardcore punk-rockers put on an unmissable, rare show in this humble old Yorkshire town.

We copped our tickets much earlier in the year, while in Malaysia, but what seemed like yonks away soon came around and we were back at the coveted Piece Hall. Albeit not on press duties, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to write up some content for you avid Record Weekly readers. After all, it was an iconic event. I’ll keep this fairly short and sweet — which, thankfully, the gig was not. Although I could’ve stood there, avec pals, revelling in every second for even longer, Turnstile’s 90-odd-minute display was a work of art with a deliberate start and end. 

Before the headliners bounded onto the stage, Dynamite, a London-based hardcore band, opened for them. A support act that largely fitted the dynamic well, yet brought much more thrash and some screamo to the table. 

Soon enough, Mother Nature’s lighting dimmed, the moon peered through the rolling clouds and an apt tribute began to blare: the just-late, great Dolly Parton’s ‘Islands In the Stream’ (with Kenny Rogers). A touching build-up to the tweeting birds walk-on that followed ahead of a piercing drum solo and jumping kick-off. Sheer class. And all set to a rainbow, static TV backdrop on the screen. While on the subject, that screen was used expertly, immediately uploading live in-crowd clips of moshers, kids bopping their heads and phones displaying political messages. It really made the whole thing feel more real, connected and personal. 

It was the sort of night where most of the hits were woven in, not necessarily in an obvious order to a punter, enabling me to collect anthemic favourites as the band romped through the set. Hits included ‘BIRDS’, ‘I CARE’, ‘UNDERWATER BOI’, ‘MYSTERY’, ‘DULL’ (my top pick from their latest album), and so, so many more. Thank god. No ‘SEEIN’ STARS’? That might qualify as my only complaint. 

Some bangers were chopped into shorter bursts of tracks, which arguably retained the energy up throughout. No lulls, no obvious toilet-break pauses; very much the all-killer, no-filler kind of orchestration. Just good vibes. 

Turnstile really decided to lean into their hardcore genre, and their transitions were as as-per-the-record as possible. Those drums? That bass? The sharpness of everything was intensely impeccable. And their frontman did a stellar job of motivating Halifax, taking to the drums himself at one point momentarily, and sprinkling quotable phrases into his spiel. “No matter where you find yourself, remember, always keep it moving” — that he did. And a reminder to “take this in, it’s beautiful” wasn’t lost on anyone either. 

As surprises went, a cover of The Stone Roses was fun. They usually have a Rhodes as well but my view didn’t quite allow for me to spy a piano’s presence or not. But, unsurprisingly, ‘NEVER ENOUGH’ was an absolutely supercharged behemoth of a penultimate tune. They did it; they ate and left no crumbs. And we were there — at a 2026 Turnstile concert that’ll go down as one historic bragging right.