SPARK — BOXING DAY JUST GOT LOUDER… WITHOUT THE NOISE

There's a particular sound that runs through British music like electricity through an old valve amplifier. It's there in the razor-edged urgency of The Jam, the explosive swagger of The Who, the beautifully English songwriting of The Kinks and the street-corner soul of The Small Faces. Clever without being pretentious, melodic without becoming soft, it was music built on great songs, sharp clothes, loud guitars and attitude — and Mark Stelfox and Mike Greatbanks, collectively known as SPARK, understand that sound instinctively.

Hailing from the great northern mill town of Oldham, Stelfox and Greatbanks live and breathe the music that exploded from Britain's guitar bands during the late '70s and early '80s. The Jam, Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson and Squeeze are all firmly embedded in their musical DNA, but dig deeper and you'll discover roots stretching back to The Who, The Kinks and The Small Faces — that extraordinary generation who took R&B, soul and rock 'n' roll and somehow turned it into something unmistakably British. SPARK aren't interested in putting those songs behind glass and treating them like museum pieces; they play them because they still believe in them.

And these boys have accumulated some serious musical mileage along the way, appearing on stages alongside the likes of Bruce Foxton of The Jam, Big Country, Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze, plus many more. That experience matters. SPARK aren't simply two blokes knocking out a collection of old favourites. There's an understanding of the songs, the period and, most importantly, the attitude behind them.

Now they've announced something absolutely tailor-made for the day after Christmas. BOXING DAY JUST GOT LOUDER — WITHOUT THE NOISE. On Saturday 26th December 2026, SPARK arrive at Barnoldswick Music & Arts Centre for a stripped-back acoustic celebration of some of the greatest British guitar music ever committed to vinyl. Forget another Boxing Day disappearing beneath leftover turkey, Quality Street and Christmas television — for just £15, you can dive headfirst into something cooler, sharper and considerably more exciting.

And don't mistake acoustic for polite. Expect the music of The Jam, The Who, The Kinks, Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, Squeeze and plenty more, stripped back to guitars, voices, rhythm and pure songwriting. Think "Eton Rifles," "Who Are You," "Watching The Detectives," "Different For Girls" and a whole stack of songs carrying melodies and lyrics strong enough to survive perfectly well without a wall of Marshall amplifiers behind them.

That's where SPARK becomes particularly interesting. Take away the distortion and suddenly there's nowhere to hide. The chord changes matter. The harmonies matter. The groove matters. Above everything else, the song matters. In the hands of Stelfox and Greatbanks, these familiar anthems aren't simply reproduced — they're pulled apart, rebuilt and allowed to breathe again, revealing just how bloody good they were in the first place.

This isn't background music while somebody orders another pint. It isn't nostalgia-by-numbers and it isn't a tribute act wearing somebody else's clothes. It's two northern musicians taking the music they genuinely love, ripping away the excess and rediscovering the electricity that made those records so exciting in the first place.

SPARK — Mark Stelfox & Mike Greatbanks. Saturday 26th December 2026 at Barnoldswick Music & Arts Centre. Shake off the turkey haze — Boxing Day has found its soundtrack.