For those unaware, Will You, Live in Brighton captures Hazel O’Connor at her most powerful, recorded live at Brighton’s Concorde 2 in April 2004 with The Subterraneans and special guest Billy Davidson. This 2CD set showcases an electrifying career-spanning performance from one of the UK’s most distinctive post punk voices.

Featuring definitive live versions of her best-known songs including Will You, Eighth Day, Give Me An Inch, and D-Days, the album highlights O’Connor’s emotive vocals alongside the band’s dynamic, sax-led sound.

This 2CD package includes sleeve notes and exclusive photographs from the night, making it an essential addition for long time fans and collectors alike. With roots in punk, rock, and new wave, and a performance that balances intimacy with raw energy, Will You, Live in Brighton stands as a compelling document of Hazel O’Connor’s enduring live reputation and artistic resilience.

OK, so I should preface this all with the fact that Hazel is a dear friend of mine and has been for 15 years now, and the fact that her current physical health is not of the good kind, just makes listening here to her today via these recordings all the more special.

Hazel grew up in a poor family, the daughter of an Irish skipper who had come to England to work in a car factory. At sixteen she decided to run away from home. She traveled around the world with money she earned and her journey began in Amsterdam.

Later, in France, she joined a Japanese dance group, whereby she then got to visit Tokyo. This then led to a stint in Africa, but when she was tired of all this endless wandering she went back to Coventry, where she attended art school.

Her breakthrough came when she accidentally was asked to play the role of Kate in the film Breaking Glass. They seemed to have the perfect appearance. The film was released in 1980 and is about a young girl who wants to be a rock star but thereby comes into contact with the wrong people.

She won with her rendition a BAFT Award for Best Newcomer and the film was a blockbuster in Britain. Also the soundtrack of the film, made entirely by O’Connor himself, earned her some big hits with such now-classics as Will You? and Eighth Day. The album was later noted as having gone Double Platinum.

Furthermore, the film and soundtrack were so successful that O’Connor had money and now artistic freedom to independently record an album. That album turned out to be the 1980 brilliance of Sons and Lovers and produced such hits as D Days and Smile.

She released a number of albums afterwards, but could not match the success of the first two albums. Come 1998, and after a self-created hiatus, she resumed her music and she came back with her first full-fledged studio album since 1984, 5 In The Morning. And in 2005, her last album released, Hidden Heart featured a number of duets, including the Irish folk singer Moya Brennan and was followed by a reissue of her 1984 album Smile.

CD 1:
1. Give Me An Inch (4.13)
2. Runaway (3.38)
3. Blackman (4.16)
4. Calls The Tune (4.49)
5. If Only (5.00)
6. (Cover Plus) We’re All Grown Up (4.59)
7. D. Days (3.33)
8. Fighting Back (3.40)
9. Hanging Around (4.36)

CD 2:
1. Will You (5.20)
2. Rebecca (6.25)
3. Eighth Day (3.45)
4. Who Needs It (3.19)
5. Big Brother (3.11)
6. Spancil Hill (4.05)
7. Driftwood (6.06)
8. That’s Life (2.22)
9. Beyond The Breaking Glass (9.46)

Official Purchase Link