Paul Weller live review: The Modfather has Halifax in the grip of his hand through epic Piece Hall performance

While he’s as blunt as an axe with his in between chatter on the mic, Paul Weller remains a hard man to read.

The Modfather made his way to West Yorkshire on Sunday evening following dates in Scarborough and Lincoln as part of a series of shows undertaken for no discernible reason. For someone as prolific as Weller when it comes to album releases and as ever evolving with his craft, his arrival in Halifax comes as something of a surprise, but by the end we are at the least reminded of his long-established brilliance.

Those hoping for a greatest hits set from his 50-year playing career may be disappointed, but the set acts as a vivid expression of the great man’s flawless taste and exceptional song writing ability.

For those not hugely familiar with his vast and impressive back catalogue (myself included) it proves a great opportunity to see what has kept this most reliable of artist’s relevant for so long, while for those die-hards who have been there from his teenage years in The Jam it’s an opportunity for comradeship and celebration at a time of great unrest.

And for the music fans in all of us, it’s a chance to witness a fantastically adept band gallop through all manner of tunes with total proficiency.

In the resplendent surroundings of the Grade I listed Piece Hall, Weller tells the crowd to strap themselves in for a long night of old favourites, newer numbers and more as he gets warmed up for the 30-song set, which starts off at a break neck pace infused with the Northern Soul influence that has prevailed since he started off. Amid this early onslaught is a cover of Otis Redding’s Move On Up, during which the brass section’s essentiality is displayed and Weller’s cool and understated vocal delivery makes its mark.

The set continues at a consistent pace, with the bounding rhythm and parochial visions of the Jam’s ‘Strange Town’ followed shortly by ‘Up In Suze’s Room’, a beguiling number that features lovely flourishes on the flute from multi-instrumentalist Jacko Peake, whose saxophone playing is also a frequent stand-out.

After the excellent one-two of Village and Broken Stones, there’s a Style Council section to the delight of many but the dismay of others still not over Weller’s decision to disband The Jam to pursue the group’s more expansive, experimental leanings. Among them is the woman next to me, who boos the introduction to the section, while her partner protests that it’s among Weller’s best work.

She may well have been convinced otherwise by the time the trio of tracks ends with a rousing performance of the infectious ‘Shout To The Top!’, and even more so a few numbers later when the sultry pining of ‘Long Hot Summer’, with its delicious bassline and backing vocals from Jake Fletcher, soaks over the crowd.

In between the set gets firmly into its groove with ‘Stanley Road’, the title track from the 1995 album of the same name that re-established Weller in the vanguard of British music, and the emotive ballad ‘You Do Something To Me’, which has couples, families and old friends singing in embrace.

The varying musical output continues with a tripped out version of ‘More’, which is followed by the instantly recognisable bassline and organ notes of ‘A Town Called Malice’, which brings about one of the biggest cheers of the evening. Coming directly after the previous number’s sobering exploration though, it perhaps loses some of its immediacy.

Weller is a combative force throughout, whether chattering in his cockney twang or rocketing through the tracks, and his guitar playing acts as the efficient foil next to the exceptional playing of now-long time collaborator and Ocean Colour Scene axeman Steve Craddock.

The duo trade riffs on the extended outro of main set closer Shadow of the Sun, before returning together for ‘English Rose’, a longing Jam number that sounds innocently lovelorn as the sun sets on the picturesque venue and the red lights brighten up the stage and spire behind it.

Things quickly pick up again as the band return and the stomping groove of ‘The Changingman’ is quickly followed by the abrasive barking of ‘Eton Rifles’, another classic from the days of The Jam that is dutifully dedicated to Boris Johnson and other attendees of the private school in terms unpublishable.

The night finishes on an altogether lighter tone though with Wild Wood and another musical odyssey of a track in Rockets, which is dedicated to the ”brilliant man and brilliant artist” that is David Hockney following his recent passing.

The equal parts joyful, aggressive, foreboding and hopeful performance ends somewhat abruptly with a dismissive “right, that’s your lot’, but there’s no question that we’ve been treated to something special.

The Piece Hall has some tremendous acts lined up for the rest of the summer, but whether this fabulous setting will see a more accomplished performance feels unlikely.