Say “Hi!” to Elizabeth Liddle and Billy Smith – a duo whose debut single is a real thing of beauty and joy. As singles go Smith & Liddle’s ‘Piece of You’ is among the best debuts I’ve heard in a while. Recorded at Blank Studios in Newcastle it’s a real…

This female-fronted five-piece from Newcastle are alt-rocking heroes in the making and I was on board with them from the very first riffs. PØRTERS first hovered onto my radar when they released their debut single ‘Recover’ – a confident chunk of tick-t…

The frankly awesome Brass Festival returns to Durham for eight glorious days this July, and the line-up for 2025 is straight out of the top drawer. Check this little lot out. Durham is a special city whatever the time of year, but come July it really b…

The Durham Fringe Festival returns for five days this July with a programme that’ll knock your ruddy socks off. Last time I checked, the Durham Fringe website had 112 events listed for this year’s festival. 112! (One hundred and twelve!) And talk about…

The Glasshouse’s ‘Innovators’ strand continues to bring us, well, the best innovators around, and in July they have the awesome Jessica Pratt for our pleasure and delight. Jessica Pratt’s ‘Here in the Pitch’ album came out last spring, but I don’t supp…

Americana queen Eve Selis – and her friends – are currently wowing audiences with their Healing Hearts Tour, which, thankfully, is calling in at the Gosforth Civic Theatre this July. Last year Eve Selis hit us up with one of the very best albums of 202…

8-piece movers and groovers Discography will be bringing a touch of disco mecca Studio 54 to Darlington this early August when they play The Forum. You can almost feel the satin sheen of Discography’s sonics when they hit their stride. Because make no …

The Grove in Newcastle has an indie triple bill of rare quality coming up in July featuring Cheekface (pictured), Martha and Fresh. Gonna be special. Cheekface has built up a loyal following in the US (or “Cheek Freaks” as they sometime refer to themse…

Newcastle Castle has got an incredible line-up of live acts lined up for a very special evening this July. And that incredible line-up includes: Crack fave India Arkin (pictured – this hotly tipped singer-songwriter draws influences from the likes of W…

The Newcastle Fringe Festival returns this July and August with 110 performances scheduled right across the city. I’ll say that again: 110. Wow! It’s bigger, it’s bolder and it’s even more bountiful with its delights. It’s the Newcastle Fringe Festival…

Aussie duo The Weeping Willows will be bringing the blues and more when they play Newcastle this July. I say “the blues” but this pair – when asked nicely to talk about “their sound” – would probably describe their stuff as “cautionary tales”, “murder …

The Cluny 2 Sunday Matinee Jazz Club has got a really special event lined-up for July featuring the outstanding talent that is Julie Dexter. If ever an artist was more suited to a Sunday afternoon than the delectable Julie Dexter then I’ve yet to hear…

Levellers – everyone’s favourite anarcho-punks – are still one of the most potent forces of nature you’ll find on the live circuit and their latest tour sees their merry charabanc stopping off at Sunderland’s The Fire Station. In these times of mega po…

Truth be told, I cannot adequately describe this play within the word limit I’ve been given. A surreal semi-musical comedy, it follows the story of brothers Ken and Mark as they struggle to run Bell’s End, their late father Barry’s 24-hour garage, after h…

Buff follows a primary school teacher who, following a bad breakup from a long relationship, decides to start dating again, but finds the dating world is even crueller to plus-sized, black, gay men than he remembers. However, it's his own prejudices and f…

It takes a brave soul to cover Bob Dylan live let alone tour a song-for-song tribute to his iconic Royal Albert Hall gig of 1966. It takes an even braver one to do it while clearly under siege from some upper respiratory misfortune. But for one night in N…

The Glasshouse in Gateshead is hosting a major weekend of BBC Proms this July, and it’s absolutely bountiful with major names and surprises. Oh my giddy aunt! The brilliant JADE (pictured) is part of the BBC Proms at The Glasshouse this year. Yes – the…

I first met Ilisha Thiru Purcell when we were both Young Creative Associates with New Writing North in 2023, and it was there that I first heard about her project: a poetry collection where she reimagines the ancient Tamil poetry practice of Thinnai - in …

Californian rockers extraordinaire Rival Sons are hightailing it to the Stockton Globe in early July for a show that is sure to have a celebratory air about it. Rival Sons are getting ready to party. Not only were they hand-picked by Guns N’ Roses to s…

Canadian punk band PUP – with support from fellow bands goo and Illuminati Hotties – rocked up at Newcastle last Monday. PUP has been one of the most well-renowned acts among contemporary Punk Rock fans for their ability to weave together the abrasive and…

One of the first music festivals on the calendar, Stockton Calling continues to deliver a true celebration of new and original music from the north east and beyond. Spread across nine venues in the town, the event is 100% focussed on bands and solo artis…

It’s amazing how many people, on hearing I was going to see The Flying Dutchman, gave the same response – “At least that’s one of Wagner’s shorter operas.” Yup, it may not go to the same bladder-testing lengths as The Ring Cycle, but its taut three-act…

I know it’s a cliché to say this sort of thing, but it REALLY doesn’t seem possible that Matthew Bourne’s innovative re-imagining of that perennial favourite Swan Lake had its premiere thirty years ago. The buzz at the time considered whether it might all…

Tchaikovsky’s 1892 Nutcracker Suite must provide the most gloriously inconsequential excuse for a ballet ever, offering quite literally a sumptuous feast of sugar plums that still delights sweet-toothed audiences today. It’s also a fabulous excuse for co…

Shockingly, despite having lived in Newcastle for 5 and a half years, this was my first ever gig at The Cluny. It definitely won’t be my last, as I was genuinely taken aback by how lovely the atmosphere is there. I could tell most of the crowd was made up…

Did you know that My Fair Lady is based on a play? I didn’t. George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, in turn inspired by the Greek myth about the man who makes a woman out of clay and then falls in love with her, is somewhat darker than the beloved film. It foll…

When Marius Muller killed a man by slowly beheading him, he was haunted by the sound of the man’s soul leaving his body, almost like the hum of a moth's wings. When he tells this story to John Josana, he becomes similarly haunted by the sound. When I watc…

If a combination of southern gothic, country pop and punk can exist in harmony, there could be nowhere better to catch it than at Mattiel’s performance at the Cluny this Tuesday gone. Another American to brave the great Atlantic leap over to the Cluny, An…

I last went to see Dylan John Thomas just over 2 years ago at a venue that was exactly half the capacity of NX, which is where he was performing this time around. This is a testament to the Glaswegian artist’s remarkable ability to attract a rapidly growi…