The mesmeric Warmduscher are playing Gateshead in November. Oh, yeah! Warmduscher are such a thrilling proposition because they've forged a unique sound that’s a wild, unholy marriage of punk, funk, and garage rock. Their music isn’t just played; it’s …

Indie-art-pop heroes Tune-Yards have released one of THE best album of 2025, and they’ll be airing songs from it when they visit Sunderland this November. And that album is the very brilliant ‘Better Days’, a release that sees the band confronting the …

Just why are Softcult so good? Find out when they play Newcastle this November (but read this chunk of text first). Softcult, the Canadian duo of twin siblings Mercedes and Phoenix Arn-Horn, are so good because they've masterfully revived and reinvented …

The extraordinary California-based roots rockers Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse are at Cluny 2 in Newcastle early on this December and, as ever, they’ll be kicking up a right old fuss. I’ve slapped this gig with a big WOW, because Beaux Gris Gris & …

The Glasshouse in Gateshead are as excited for Christmas as an eight-year-old on Christmas morning, and that’s certainly reflected in their programming. This year they’re gifting us everything from Messiah to musicals, big laughs to big bands, festive fil…

Skimstone Arts are celebrating their 18 years of working in the arts in the north-east with a free party at the Star & Shadow in Newcastle, which will feature some of their greatest hits. Since 2007, the charity Skimstone Arts has had a mission to supp…

Liam Gallagher’s offspring Gene Gallagher is the frontman of Villanelle, a trio who have been causing quite a stir this year, despite only releasing their first single in September. They’re playing Sunderland in early December. Thankfully, Villanelle d…

This Newcastle-based artist released her debut album in October and it’s stunning. And that album – Daughter of the Equator Sky – really shows off the sheer depth and breadth of Nadedja’s talents, from the polished grooves of ‘Twilight’ to the low-slun…

This bunch of north-east rabble-rousers only came to our attention earlier this year, but they’ve already leapt up our ‘Ones To F-ing Watch’ league table with astonishing speed. It was only in May that we got to hear Goodnight Kid’s debut ‘House (With …

Steeleye Span has been at the forefront of the folk rock scene for 50+ years and with a new album out this year, they’re showing no signs of slowing. See them in Barnard Castle and Blyth this November. Steeleye Span’s enduring presence on the British m…

Josh Law and Ben Sadler make up Bristol’s Getdown Services, a duo worth getting very excited about. They’ve got gigs in Stockton and Sunderland this November. Getdown Services have carved out a unique and compelling niche in the contemporary music scen…

…no one is getting burned alive when Will Finn and Rosie Calvert play The Cumberland Arms in Newcastle this November. Of that, we’re almost 100% certain. Are you getting a decidedly folky vibe from this pic, a folky vibe with added vibrancy and flair f…

The brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Sarah Cosgrove, Low Girl continue to generate buzz for their raw and relatable introspection with irresistibly catchy, dynamic indie-pop. They’re in Middlesbrough this November. Fronted by Sarah Cosgrove, Low Girl …

Not only does The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle give us world class exhibitions, it also stages classy concerts from some of the most interesting artists working today. Check this little lot out. And the November concerts at the Bowes Museum kick off…

GlobeFest is hitting Newcastle over three days this November with 15 well feisty bands raising funds for the wonderful Globe venue. And headlining GlobeFest on the very first night is a real Crack fave in the shape of OCHISIA (pictured). Of their recen…

On a sweltering Sunday afternoon, Glasgow’s The Pastels played a sold out matinee gig in Byker. The band has been integral to the Scottish indie music scene, and are forever associated with the NME’s C86 cassette cult. When other bands moved to London, Th…

The Engine Room is the perfect setting for the last night of Dean & Britta’s tour, before they head back to America. Dean Wareham was co-founder and guitarist/ vocalist of Galaxie 500, a band that were integral to the shoegaze/dreampop movement. I loved t…

I went in to see Bad Lads blind, having not heard of the Medomsley Detention Centre before. The fact that an abuse scandal with over 1800 reported victims is not common knowledge is exactly why this play needs to exist. It is not an easy watch, but it’s a…

Some eight years ago (really? REALLY?) I saw Jenny Éclair’s one-woman show “Guide to Being a Middle Aged Woman Without Going Insane”. Back at Northern Stage this September, her new production, “Jokes, Jokes, Jokes: My Very Funny Memoir” is based on her la…

On the day that thousands of anti-racism protestors stood firm against a march of UKIP supporters, what better event to go to than a showcase of the work created by the Poets of Colour Incubator programme. Previously debuted in Manchester, this showcase w…

Much loved local rock band Dam Yankee are playing a charity gig in Newcastle on Friday 31 October, with all money raised going to St. Oswald’s Hospice. I’m not a huge fan of Halloween. All those parties with bozos dressed as The Bride of Frankenstein a…

One of Tyneside’s finest cultural institutions, the Jumpin’ Hot Club, is 40 years old this year and they’re celebrating with a fascinating exhibition at Gateshead’s St Mary’s Heritage Centre. Naturally, they’ve also got plenty of gigs lined up too. One…

The titular Mr Funbles, a mysterious interdimensional clown, did not make an appearance in this eclectic variety show, which was in fact held on a Saturday and not a Sunday. However, his surrealist fingerprints are all over it. Hosted by August Mwfanwy, w…

Ellis Jones’ Trust Fund project stopped by at The Holy GrAle, Durham. Trust Fund can be defined by its versatility if anything – over the years it has metamorphosed into Jones’ one-man Indie Pop act at times, into a full-blown Indie Rock band at others; t…

This production of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra was another in Opera North’s excellent series of slightly-staged concert performances, where the orchestra visible on stage behind the singers adds a special style of visual enhancement to the action. The main h…

Moira Buffini’s 2010 one-act play has been reimagined, enlarged and given just a touch of an ‘80s soundtrack (which HAS to be an added attraction, right?) for a new tour that brings an even sharper edge to its scalpel-like dissection of the relationship b…

If you’re looking for a show that’s as empowering as it is silly, Geet Northern Show, the brainchild of Rhian Jade, is the one. While every show is different, hilarious sketches about the dramatic lives of pickles in a jar, Geordies living in medieval tim…

The brain-child of actor Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson (co-creator of The League of Gentlemen TV series) Ghost Stories, is a theatrical oddity. It’s a short, sharp performance, with no interval to dissipate the tension, yet still manages to tell three dif…

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…

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 …

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…