Sheffield’s renowned house music brand, Love to be… is set to stage an all-day festival on Bank Holiday Sunday, 25th May at FORGE, taking over the warehouse, courtyard, and even bringing the party out onto Effingham Road.
Ahead of its return, I spent some time with the co-founder and now brand owner, Tony Walker, alongside Marc Dennis the operations director to find out all about it — plus stay tuned there’s even the added bonus of a VIP giveaway.
Competition Time: Get your hands on x4 VIP tickets
In the run-up to this event, Love to be… is giving away x4 VIP tickets to one lucky winner.
Winners will get their hands on the following:
All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning this prize is the following:
Entrants can simply email their name and mobile number to: competitions@slidingdoors.biz
T&Cs
Over 18s only.
The competition closes at 5pm on Wednesday May 21, 2025. Winner will be notified by Thursday May 22, 2025.
Event Details
Love to be...Festival Sheffield
Sunday 25 May 2025
FORGE, 148 Effingham Road, Sheffield, S4 7ZB
12pm – 11pm
Where can people get tickets?
Tickets are already selling fast and are on second release priced at £52 plus booking fee on Skiddle.com. For those wanting some extra treatment, upgrades are also available for the VIP level. Book your tickets here: https://www.skiddle.com/festivals/love-to-be-in-the-park/
We’ve met the Reverend and now here’s one of the Makers, Ed Cosens returns to the fray as a solo artist once more with his sophomore album, Somewhere Between Dark and Light, releasing on Friday (24th May, 2024) alongside a gig at the much-loved city venue, The Leadmill.
Ahead of his headline show at The Leadmill this Friday, Ed Cosens took a little time out of his hectic schedule to speak to me about going it alone (again), life and naturally his music — both new and old.
You can still buy tickets to see Ed Cosens at The Leadmill on Friday, 24 May, 2024. Book your tickets here: https://leadmill.co.uk/event/ed-cosens/
Somewhere Between Dark and Light will be released this Friday also, and will be available on CD and Vinyl from 1984 Recordings — as well as all of your usual streaming platforms.
Sam Lee joins me this time around to discuss his latest album, his upcoming Sheffield show at the Crookes Social Club, and the importance of nature.
It's a wide-ranging conversation discussing ecological disaster, respecting, revering and treasuring nature... and also a little about the amazing Right to Roam, an ancient custom that allows anyone to wander in open countryside (read more: https://www.righttoroam.org.uk/).
His fourth-album, ‘songdreaming’, represents the latest stage in the development of Sam Lee’s music, from its roots in traditional folk song to a new way of imagining and performing these old songs, making them relevant for a modern audience.
Sam Lee will be performing at Crookes Social Club, Sheffield, on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. Doors open before 7pm.
You can buy tickets from: https://samleesong.co.uk/live/
Sam Lee’s new album, ‘songdreaming’ is out now and was released by Cooking Vinyl on 15th March, 2024, on Vinyl Album, CD, and digital download from: https://samleesong.co.uk/
The iconic multi-genre band return to the UK to celebrate the 25th anniversary tour of their classic album ‘100% Colombian’.
Brian 'Fast' Leiser joins me once more as we shoot the sh*t and talk all about it, by it we mean the music their adventures over the past 12 months and what kind of bewildering goodness we can expect in this celebration of the white stuff. And we don't mean snow... despite Christmas being just around the corner.
So pour yourself something strong, something long and sit down listen to the good ol' chat that's going on.
Fun Lovin Criminals will be performing '100% Colombian' at The Foundry, Sheffield, on Friday 15th December, 2023. Followed by a finale at the o2 Academy in Liverpool on 16th December.
Once again, thanks for listening.
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Ahead of his Sheffield show on November 26, Billy Lockett caught up with me (Chris Hallam) to discuss his debut album, Abington Grove, and it’s certainly been a long-time coming.
Billy Lockett will be performing at Yellow Arch Studios, Sheffield, on Sunday 26 November, 2023. You can buy tickets for the show here: https://www.yellowarch.com/event/billy-lockett/
His debut album Abington Grove, released by Photo Finish Records in February, 2023 is out now.
Cover Image courtesy of: Billy Lockett
In this week's episode, Finnish DJ and music producer Darude joins me for a chat about all manner of things music, life and skateboarding.
We also spend some time discussing his 1999 hit, 'Sandstorm', but not too long as there are so many other things to chat about, like his new record label and upcoming single, Nobody Listens with the excellent Gid Sedgwick.
From the idyllic peace of life in Finland (considered to be the 'happiest country in the world) to living in the United States and back again, Darude gives us a little peek into his life, passions and so much more. Along with some lovely anecdotes.
Darude will be one of the headliners at this weekend's 90s Fest at Don Valley Bowl, Sheffield on August 5, 2023. His new single, Nobody Listens feat. Gid Sedgwick is out on Friday, August 4 and will be available from all of the usual streaming outlets.
In this episode I spoke with Alex and Elliot from the Liverpool band, Stone. We touched on all sorts of themes from their formation to the excellent EP Punkadonk and their blistering new single I Gotta Feeling, which is a spoken word, punk tour-de-force, attack on 'toxic masculinity' and the lingering faux bravado that often accompanies it.
It's been one heck of a crazy year for this Scouse quartet, who have stormed straight out of the new era Liverpool scene with a formidable live reputation preceding them and a boom in their online following.
I Gotta Feeling is out now on all streaming platforms and you'll be able to see this brilliant band at Tramlines on Saturday, 22 July, 2023.
In this episode of Chris Talks Music, I speak to the Israeli popstar Noa Kirel about her path to superstardom in her home country of Israel. We also spend some time discussing her musical upbringing and the importance of being authentic. Naturally our conversation also spent some time focussing on her recent performances at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool, where the 22-year-old star placed third with a visually and vocally astounding performance of her song Unicorn... which extols the importance of being individual, proud, brave, unique and believing in yourself for your differences are your superpower and a vessel for your beauty within.
In this episode, Hugh Cornwell came onto the podcast to discuss his Moments of Madness tour, which will see him performing at Sheffield's o2 Academy 2 on Sunday 7th May.
As leader of The Stranglers, Hugh Cornwell was the main songwriter of all the band’s most memorable songs across ten stellar albums: from “Golden Brown” to “Strange Little Girl” and from “Always The Sun” to “Peaches”, “No More Heroes” and “Nice ‘N’ Sleazy”. Widely regarded as the poet laureate of the punk era, Hugh Cornwell embarked on an illustrious solo career after releasing album ten with the band, and he has created a body of impressive solo albums to date.
Following on from the critically acclaimed release of his tenth solo LP, Hugh shared some insight into his recent overseas tours and also his excitement at returning to Sheffield later this week.
You can buy tickets to his upcoming Sheffield performance here: http://www.hughcornwell.com/
In this episode of Chris Talks Music, Jim Glennie talks about the James Lasted tour in celebration of the band's 40th Anniversary, as well as the upcoming double album Be Opened By The Wonderful.
Featuring a full orchestra and a gospel choir, Jim also gave an insight into what we can expect from this orchestral double album of the band's biggest hits and a brand new song.
But that's not all, he also shares with us his career journey as well as why the music industry needs to get serious about supporting artists with mental health issues.
James will be performing at the City Hall, Sheffield, on Thursday 4th May, 2023 as part of their Lasted UK tour.
For tickets and further information, go to: https://james.tmstor.es/
In this week's episode, Jon McClure comes on to talk about the upcoming seventh album from Sheffield's Reverend and the Makers, 'Heatwave In The Cold North'.
Never one to rest on their laurels and a musical collective constantly striving to challenge perceptions of the band, Reverend and the Makers have become one of the enduring and great survivors of the British music scene. From Top 10 hits like 'Heavyweight Champion of the World' to recent singles, 'High', 'Problems' and current single 'A Letter To My 21 Year Old Self', I would posit that this album is their strongest, most soulful and affecting body of work released to date.
It was only natural that I spent a little time discussing the new album, relevance in an ever-changing music scene, a dash of politics, as well as what we'd say to our younger selves if given the opportunity. Plus, we also discussed what's next for this ever evolving and artistically important Sheffield band.
Heatwave In The Cold North releases on April 28th, via Distiller Records.
In this week's episode of Chris Talks Music, Sean Cooney from The Young'uns - one of UK folk music's best-loved acts - joins me for a chat about maintaining a bit of the North East feel living in the Steel City and how Paige Hunter's handwritten messages of hope tied to the railings of Sunderland's Wearmouth Bridge inspired arguably the most evocative body of work released yet from the Teeside trio.
Tiny Notes is a bold, profound, empathetic album, which showcases the ever growing talents of ‘premier league songwriter’ Sean Cooney, who says writing songs about real, ordinary heroes has become ‘a personal passion’.
It also helps that Sean is a wonderfully grounded, full of humour, and incredibly insightful with his ability to encapsulate such tragic stories which recall victims of war and terrorism and heroes of the hour, turning the spotlight on injustice and ultimately celebrating love, tolerance and the indomitable human spirit — In short, he's a lovely chap.
The Young'uns will be performing at Sheffield's Firth Hall on 21st April, 2023. Tickets are available here: https://www.theyounguns.co.uk/live
Global folk band Mishra have formed a new collaboration with international fusion-vocalist Deepa Sri Shakthi and are touring venues in the UK this April. Ahead of their return to Sheffield's The Greystones for their penultimate show, I spent some time speaking to Kate Griffin (also of The Magpies) and Ford Collier (also of The Drystones) about this delightful project, justified the spending a small fortune on a new computer, and also had a little bit of a laugh along the way.
Mishra will be performing at The Greystones, Sheffield, on April 15th, 2023. Tickets are available from: http://www.mishramusic.co.uk/gigs
Opening song: 9 Questions
Closing song: Reclaim
They were the 90s Sheffield band that should have made it, headlining The Leadmill and with record companies fawning for their attentions, Freezer recorded “Syd Barrett’s Icelandic Girlfriend” as a single in 1996 for Divine Records. But Divine Records went straight to heaven and the single fell into an aural vortex.
26-years later and Freezer are back!
After wowing their invited audience at The Dorothy Pax, who came to see the launch of the long lost single, "Syd Barrett's Icelandic Girlfriend", Freezer have decided to do it properly and they'll be performing a couple of shows over the coming months.
Singer-songwriter, Dean Bargh popped in for a chat about the formation of the band, lost years, rediscovering (once thought) lost music and much more besides.
Buy tickets to their Friday 24th March, 2023: https://www.wegottickets.com/event/570654/
Find out more about the Dorothy Pax GoFundMe to keep Pax in the Park free for all, here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/freepaxpark
In this week's episode, I spend a little time talking to the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award Winner Lucy Farrell.
The incredibly talented and renowned, multi-instrumentalist, singer, composer and songwriter takes us on a journey through her creative process, how motherhood impacted her music and outlook on life, and so much more.
Lucy will be performing a sold-out show at Bishop's House, Sheffield, on 19 March, 2023, as part of her UK tour ahead of the release of her long-awaited debut album, We Are Sound. Find out more about Lucy Farrell's tour and support her music here: https://lucyfarrellmusic.com/
And as always, thank you for listening.
Babybird has announced a new ‘The Bad Old Man’ UK tour for this Winter, beginning later this month and coming to the Steel City on 2nd December. The Sheffield-formed band will be bringing a wealth of music to UK audiences and ahead of the tour starting, writer and singer Stephen Jones sat down for a chat about how that Johnny Depp opportunity came about, being heckled with his own song lyrics and plenty more besides. As always, I hope you enjoy.
On this week's episode, Chris talks to Cork-native and electro-pop queen LYRA ahead of her supporting slot with Westlife at Sheffield's Utilita Arena. We discuss all manner of things like how lockdown put a pause on her leap to superstardom, why she is a fashion icon in waiting, the important message behind her recent single 29 Box, her surprise at hearing her music featured on Grey's Anatomy and Love Island, and generally just have a brilliant craic about all sorts. Enjoy.
The first time I ever saw Millie Manders and The Shutup was on a bitterly cold Friday evening back in November 2021 at the O2 Academy2 in Sheffield. What followed was an emotional Punk-Pop musical powerhouse of a performance from a spectacular band. Almost a year later I sat down once more to speak to Millie Manders about their musical journey to date, artistic growth, accountability and so much more. Enjoy!
Legendary Dutch DJ and producer Ferry Corsten has been consistently at the top of his game since his sophomore album under the System F alias 'Out of The Blue' charted in the UK Top 20 singles chart in 1999, with remix credits for acts such as U2, Moby, Faithless, Duran Duran and Public Enemy soon after. On November 26, 2022, Ferry is bringing his 'What The F...' a journey into the evolving sounds of Ferry to CODE Sheffield for its final night, naturally we had to sit down and talk about all things music and all things Ferry too.
Blancmange mark their return to London Records with the upcoming album Private View, almost 40 years since the label released the band’s debut. Chris sat down for a chat with Neil Arthur about dogs, the importance of looking inward as well as forward, and how the past is used as a trigger to create new ideas. Amongst other things, enjoy!
