THE STYLE COUNCIL GOLD SERIES

The BPM levels and crowd jubilations increased when Paul played 'That's Entertainment'. An encore followed, and Weller returned with Stanley Road's mellow ballads 'Broken Stones' and 'You Do Something to Me', which the audience sang along. Singing and excitement continued to soar as Weller played Heavy Soul's lead single, 'Peacock Suit'. Once Paul began singing The Jam material, beginning with 'Start!', the courtyard was singing and dancing along with escalated elation. Despite the audience being well acquainted with Weller's material, 'Wild Wood' would be the first song they would join in verbatim. 'Above the Clouds' from his self-titled debut and 'Into Tomorrow', which laid down the roots for what would be 'Sunflower' from his sophomore effort Wild Wood. Then came material from Weller's first two solo LPs. This material included some of the most mellow and tranquil of the set with 'More', which introduced the flute, whilst 'Rockets' was acoustic led and ended unexpectedly. Paul also played three songs from his 2020 album, On Sunset. Paul would play and dedicate 'It's a Very Deep Sea' to The Style Council keyboardist Mick Talbot who was in the audience. The gorgeous use of saxophone was felt throughout. Following this came the first of four Style Council songs beginning with 'Headstart for Happiness'.

When Weller began playing his hit singles, starting with 'From The Floorboards Up', the already standing audience descended evermore forwards towards the stage. Owing to the seal of the bass drums, material from Fat Pop (Volume 1), his second number one album of the 2020s, was inevitably going to be played beginning with 'Cosmic Fringes'.

Weller chose to open with two songs from 2015's Saturns Pattern, 'White Sky' and 'Long Time'. With 17 solo albums, excluding greatest hits compilations and The Jam and The Style Council catalogue, Paul Weller had no shortage of material, and he could easily surprise the audience in the courtyard. Irrespective of the weather, multi-instrumentalist, bandleader and producer Emma-Jean Thackray proved to be a fantastic crowd-engaging support act for Paul Weller. The weather turned sour for the penultimate Simply Red performance but the Crowd spirit, Mick Hucknall's voice and the gorgeous setting of the 300 years old setting home of Chelsea pensioners ensured a good time was had by all.ДЇor the final evening, the audience was better prepared for the weather, with far fewer people dressed in shorts and t-shirts, and instead of tumultuous cloud bursts, there was light drizzle.

THE STYLE COUNCIL GOLD SERIES

When Tom Jones kicked off the 2022 Live at Chelsea festival at the Grade, I listed Royal Hospital Chelsea, the weather couldn't have been more idyllic for the series of open-air concerts in the courtyard.

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