The hugely acclaimed South African cellist, singer and composer Abel Selaocoe is redefining genres right before our very eyes (and ears). Be prepared to be astonished when he – and The Bantu Ensemble – visit Newcastle in early November. From show-stopping…

Graham Nash warmly greeted the audience, ‘Gateshead, we’ve got a lot of good music for you - it will be a good night for sure.” The concert was part of the ‘Sixty Years of Songs and Stories’ tour. So, I expected material from Nash’s early days in the 1960…

Back in the distant mid-twentieth century there used to be a popular theatrical phenomenon on called the Whitehall farce. These comedies, (very) mildly risqué for the time, involved stage sets where an unfeasible number of doors facilitated the appearanc…

Any avid reader of Diana Henry’s food writing can practically taste her passion for food between the lines of her words, and upon her evening at The Biscuit Factory to celebrate the new edition of Roast Figs, Sugar Snow that passion felt almost infectious…

In the bygone age before the aux and bluetooth audio, Dizzee Rascal’s album ‘Tongue N’ Cheek’ was the only CD that was played in our family car for at least a year after it came out and we still play his track ‘Holiday’ literally every time we drive into …

Shannon Pearl IS a singer. But she’s also one of the most idiosyncratic, interesting and brilliant artists working in the north-east. She’s playing Sunderland this September. I love the sleeve of Shannon Pearl’s ‘Kiss The Ground’ album, which was released…

North Shields’ Maius Mollis is one of the finest singer/songwriters in the region, and when it comes to soul-baring honesty and melodies that arrow straight to your heart, she doesn’t hold back. She’s playing Cluny 2 in early October. Last year Maius Moll…

Teesside’s magnificent The Gathering Sounds festival returns in September with the kind of line-up that has sent taste-makers’ tongues a-clacking. Check out this little lot… The Gathering Sounds festival is now being discussed in the same sort of hushed t…

‘Storylines Live’ is a night of poetry, songs and films that have been inspired by life today along the world’s oldest public passenger railway. Live poetry, music and films from award-winning poets, songwriters and filmmakers (including – left to right –…

The Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music festival is now in its seventh year, and it’s spreading its wings in 2023 to take in even more venues. This much loved festival is packing so many highlights this year that it’s a pretty thankless task t…

In a stunning retelling of the classic fairytale, The Customs House brought magic to the stage in their summer production of Cinderella. Directed and Starring South Shields icon Davey Hopper as Arbuthnot in his farewell show after a gleaming eight years; …

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is arguably Shakespeare’s most entertaining plays – a far cry from some of his other dark and tragic plays, it offers a little bit of fun for the audience in a mystical setting they’re not quite familiar with. Daniel Bradford’s i…

After an extensive refit, one of the region’s finest venues – The Gosforth Civic Theatre – opens again this August with a programme that’ll knock your socks off. Bringing people together. That’s Gosforth Civic Theatre’s motto, and they’ll be doing just th…

Having not interacted with any of Shakespeare’s plays since school, I was half expecting to go to the opening night of Macbeth at Durham’s Assembly Rooms and be haunted with the same confusion I felt trying to translate his words in a grey classroom back …

Like any theatre buff, I’m a sucker for a huge production with a cast that fills the entire stage and an excessive set that is just as busy. However, I must admit that nothing impresses me more than a performer that can command space and silence in a pair…

I spent my teenage years fangirling over The Vamps, so I had to get myself along to South Tyneside Festival and relive my teenage dreams. I was screaming and the nostalgia hit me like a brick at South Tyneside Festival. The Vamps played some of their upbe…

It takes a talented and confident writer to set a story that takes place in a modern setting. It requires tackling the pleasure and torment of social media, as well as the constant and vast political and social change; if the extraordinary success of her …

Local composer and puppeteer, Kerrin Tatman, is one of the 2022-23 Artists in Residence at the Sage, and they ended their residency with the emotive and masterful ‘Requiem For A Fading World’. The piece tells the story of the separate journeys of a mother…

Through the doors of Alphabetti Theatre tonight awaited a man and a suitcase. As the Kasabian song Wasted blasted on the radio, we would come to find out that man is Peter. He might be staying for a few days if his ex-girlfriend Rose will alone it. And th…

There are few people that can extract all of the nuances of female rage and bottle them into a text, Rose Wilding is one of them. Her debut ‘Speak of the Devil’ explores the thrilling mystery of 7 women and a mysterious decapitated man, all under the stor…

If you were one of the more than 25,000 fans lucky enough to make the three-hour pilgrimage over the luscious green mountains of Washington State to the Gorge Amphitheater to see Joni Mitchell, chances are you’re still processing the pure and resplendent …

Local lad made good and high-profile Toon Army member Sam Fender playing a homecoming stadium gig at St James’ Park was always going to be a ‘thing’. That this is taking place shortly after Newcastle United’s qualification for the Champions League elevate…

Josie Long is no stranger to funny, first performing stand up at the age of just fourteen years old. If you’re a fan of Josie’s work you’ll know that her character naturally makes a room full of people feel at ease, which was exactly the case at the eveni…

The mighty Matthew Bourne has a way with ballet, and it isn’t simply to do with innovative choreography, great though that is. He can look at a classic dance narrative and spot the nuances, clues and implications that can spark off a whole new take on the…

The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen are usually less about fairies and more about forces of Nature, human behaviour, grotesquely powerful inanimate objects and the need for some universal (and ultimately Christian) code of morals to make sense o…

South African dancer and choreographer Dada Masilo has already made a huge splash in the world of dance with her fresh and exciting re-imaginings of ballet favourites “Swan Lake” and “Giselle”, but this take on Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” offers an…

Dance is ultimately a way of expressing the voices of others without ever speaking a word. Twin sisters and founders of Alleyne Dance, Kristina and Sadé Alleyne do just that in their production Far From Home, by revealing the voices of migrants and refuge…

As the long awaited warmth of spring prepares to make a comeback, Richard Chappell’s Hot House is a welcomed blazing commentary of the energy currently circulating society. Performing against the backdrop of the cost of living crisis and political unrest,…