A Christmas Cracker with Hackney Colliery Band at The Blues Kitchen

Tis the season to be jolly rowdy as one of the UK’s most explosive brass bands performs a one-off Christmas show at The Blues Kitchen.

Described as “clever and enormous fun” by the Guardian, “One of the greatest live bands that we have in this country” by BBC Radio 2, and as “Reinventing the brass band format for the 21st century” by the Times, Hackney Colliery Band have spent 13 years blowing their way towards international acclaim.

Since the release of their eponymous debut album in 2011, the 9-piece East London collective’s genre-bending combination of brass, reeds, percussion and electronics has won press plaudits and dedicated fans around the world. They’ve performed everywhere from the Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics to the MOBO, Brit and Mercury Awards, worked with the likes of Amy Winehouse and Madness, and released a string of albums covering Nirvana, The Prodigy, Jay-Z and everyone in between.

Most recently, they’ve brass bangers have filled two collaborative albums. These have seen the band working with a host of key names in jazz and world music including British jazz funk legend James Taylor, the father of “Ethio-jazz” Mulatu Astatke, and Grammy Award-winner Angélique Kidjo. Across volume 1 (released in 2019) and volume 2 (released in 2024), the band serve up a typically boisterous mix of tunes, all originals this time, powered by chunky riffs and foot stomping grooves.

But their one-off Blues Kitchen gig will likely feature a bit of different setlist than usual – tis the season after all. Serving up a mix of Christmas classics and music spanning their catalogue, expect a full-blown Christmas knees up to get you into the seasonal spirit when the crew land in Manchester for their ‘Christmas Cracker’ show on 4 December.