The inaugural Zombiefest Weekender in Wallsend doesn’t feature any zombies—far from it… ‘The Daylight Zombie Buskers Club’ has been running at the Lindisfarne Club in Wallsend on the last Tuesday afternoon of the month for the past two years, and now t…

One of the US’s finest singer-songwriters, the multi-Grammy winning Shawn Colvin, is undertaking a rare UK tour this autumn, with one of the date’s at The Glasshouse in Gateshead. This intimate Glasshouse show forms part of a milestone tour celebratin…

Omega Nebula are set to blow the roof of Cluny 2 in Newcastle this October. The UK-based electronic duo—celebrated for their explosive fusion of heavy dub, synthesisers, and live instrumentation—are bringing their signature high-octane cosmic sound to …

Teesside duo Megson continue to push boundaries when it comes to all things folk, and they’ll be showing just why they’re so cherished when they play Barnard Castle this October. Comprising husband-and-wife team Stu and Debbie Hanna, the four-time BBC …

I Am Kloot’s head honcho John Bramwell is coming to Pop Recs in Sunderland this October. I was on board with I Am Kloot way back in 2001, when their ‘Natural History’ album become my go-to release that year. I loved their indie-folk sound, and at its …

The ever reliable Darlington Rock & Blues club are bringing Alice Armstrong our way this October—a woman who is creating a huge stir among in-the-know punters on the scene. It isn’t hard to see why Alice Armstrong has set tongues a-clacking, because th…

‘Snapshot’ at Ushaw in Durham is a fascinating show that explores the history of photography, from its early beginnings to the present day, revealing how the medium has shaped the way we capture and remember the world around us. Most of us walk around …

Nadine Shah & The Royal Northern Sinfonia: BBC Proms The Glasshouse International Centre for Music Mercury Prize nominated, South Tyneside-born Nadine Shah made her BBC Proms debut, with a sold out concert overlooking the Tyne. Unfortunately we missed …

The Durham Jazz Festival returns for three action-packed days this October, with a plethora of acts set to kick up a right old fuss in the historic heart of the region. Whether you’re a lifelong jazz aficionado or simply looking to soak up top-tier liv…

The Fire Station in Sunderland and The Glasshouse in Gateshead have announced a new season of live orchestral music on Wearside. This quartet of concerts will bring live orchestral performances from Royal Northern Sinfonia to Sunderland audiences, and …

One of Sunderland’s finest indie bands Hivemind are playing a hometown gig this October, which is the kind of good news that you need in your life right now. Hivemind are firm local favourites, but they’ve also been in much demand from other acts and h…

I really love the cut of this four-piece’s jib. I mean, really love it. ‘Last Dance on Broadway’ is the latest from this Newcastle band and it sees them throttling back a bit from their usual pell-mell assault for a track built around some delightfully…

This Teesside artist takes no prisoners on her new single ‘That Other’, and I’m absolutely here for it. The sleeve of That Clare’s new single features a street sign for Tufton Street in Westminster, an area noted for its right-wing pressure groups, whi…

One bill. Three bands, and each with a defining characteristic: they’re capable of thrilling the pants off you. And The Grove in Newcastle is the place to be this October to catch one of Autumn’s most exhilarating line-ups. This rather frothy line-up h…

The Mercury Prize is once again back on Tyneside in October which means that the Mercury Prize Fringe is also back with a whole programme of gigs and other events. The Mercury Prize Fringe programme this year is packing a significant amount of heat inc…

The Mercury Prize is, once again, being held in Newcastle this October, which is kinda neat. Have you picked out the winner of this year’s Mercury Prize? A cursory glance at the current odds has Florence and the Machine and Dave neck and neck to scoop …

Watching this stage adaptation of Thomas Harris’s iconic horror novel was a fascinating experience as somebody who enjoyed both the book and the film. It diverges from the latter just enough to be refreshing without upsetting fans. Drawing more heavily f…

Earlier this year, the North East Mayor, Kim McGuinness, pledged support for the region’s creative industries including a new £2.2m Small Venues Fund. Fancy a slice? Small venues (such as Independent in Sunderland – pictured) are the absolute lifeblood…

Newcastle is set for a masterclass in heavyweight roots reggae and dynamic live dub when the legendary Zion Train pull into The Cluny in early October. For decades now, the pioneering collective that is Zion Train has stood at the absolute vanguard of …

Sunderland is set for a massive dose of fuzzy, sugar-coated indie-pop when Coventry legends The Primitives take over Pop Recs for a special Sunday afternoon matinee in early October. Best known for their explosive 1988 top-five smash ‘Crash’—an infecti…

I’m a HUGE fan of Fickle Friends (yes, caps) and they’re in Newcastle in early October. Oh, my! Brighton’s premier indie-pop groovers, Fickle Friends are bringing their infectious, sun-drenched synth-pop to the intimate confines of Think Tank? this Oct…

This Hartlepool-based, vocal-led, jazz-soul quartet conjures up a heady brew of all manner of different influences—all of them good. I’m of the mind that a vocal-led, jazz-soul quartet—with designs on my heart—must be in possession of a quality singer…

Martha Hill is one of the finest singer-songwriters in Newcastle, right? Wrong! She’s one of the finest singer-songwriters in the UK. Evidence? Her new album. I’ve had it on repeat. And that album is ‘Tether’. Apparently it was written in conjunction w…

I'm willing to bet that everyone, at some point in their life, has asked themselves the question 'are we alone in the universe?' Few people, however, have created a festival based around the idea - with the notable exception of local space-funk band SKX…

Fresh off the back of their Finsbury Park homecoming gig, Wolf Alice took to the stage at Exhibition Park in Newcastle, bringing their energy packed fan favourites from 2015 to the present day. The stage was set with their familiar silver star curtain and…

I got to see The Awakening, the debut show from The Feminist Cult Agenda, as part of Live Theatre’s Unearthed Festival, spotlighting new talent and showcasing performances with a feminist slant. If The Awakening had slanted any more feminist, it would’ve …

Two local all-female variety shows, Hendrika Seguro-Bigg’s Girlie Show and Rosie Bowden’s Lasses, teamed up at Live Theatre this month to deliver a weird and whimsical mixture of skits, stand-up, music, and other revelry. Contending with swelteri…

I can’t stop thinking about Jason Isbell’s teeth. A man with his history of cocaine and alcohol addiction shouldn’t have two decks of perfect shiny whites, but he does. Maybe they’re just a representation of his story, and his songs; all about surviving a…

Ah, the damage you can wreak with a gauzy scarf, a tutu, an overweening ego and perhaps just a hint of chest hair. Yes, the Trocs have been on tour again, delighting all afficionados of classical ballet with a programme of dance excerpts that embody every…

This was the first time that Irish shoegaze/noise rock band Just Mustard had played Newcastle. The five-piece from Dundalk are riding high at the moment having secured support slots for the likes of Fontaines D.C. and The Cure this summer, and they …

China Crisis are marking 40 years in the game with their 2026 Tour. If the Gosforth show was anything to go by, they’re doing it in style, just without the usual overblown anniversary hype. Kicking things off earlier this year, the tour feels more like a …

The only thing I love more than a romcom is a romcom parody, and The Fit Prince - or, The Fit Prince who gets switched on the square in the frosty castle the night before (insert public holiday here), to give it its full title - is nothing if not pure, ta…

During WWII composer Benjamin Britten, an East Anglian lad, toyed with the idea of settling in America, but was drawn back to coastal Suffolk by a Victorian poem about life in the fishing village of Aldeburgh which became the basis for his first opera, “P…

Difficult to imagine that back in the late eighteenth century Beaumarchais’ trio of plays (and, indeed, the operas based on them) about wily servant Figaro presented a political hot potato. Valets and barbers weren’t supposed to be smarter than their up…

Echo and The Bunnymen were back at Newcastle City Hall with their “Very Best of Echo & The Bunnymen 1978-2026” tour which celebrated the songs that have brought the group twenty top 20 hits and nine top 20 albums spanning across their legendary career. I…

Though this 1930 comedy of manners must be one of Noel Coward’s most popular and enduring plays, there’s no doubt that the social conventions creating the plot are so dated that a younger audience probably needs footnotes. In a lovely, neatly turned game …

It seems impossible that a decade has passed since the release of Ken Loach’s uniquely powerful Newcastle-set movie “I, Daniel Blake”. I say uniquely because the film deals with issues of social justice not via politics, criminality or violence but by hi…

Right from the start of the play, where a queen has effectively disinherited her son by marrying the brother-in-law who less than two months earlier had surreptitiously murdered her husband the king, it would be fair to describe the Kingdom of Denmark as…

On the night I went to see Pilot Theatre's production of Noughts and Crosses, they had the most terrifying, difficult-to-impress audience that I can imagine. Not reviewers. Worse: a whole room full of teenagers. Noughts and Crosses is adapted from the …

Newcastle’s abundantly talented Melanie Baker has just signed to Tambourhinoceros, news which gets a hearty “Woo hoo!” from me. And the first fruits of Melanie Baker’s dalliance with Tambourhinoceros is her latest single ‘Sad Clown’, which is a blister…

Dolder are Dani and Zara Dolder, twin sisters from Newcastle who have been turning plenty of heads recently with their harmony-dunked alt-pop. And one of the heads that Dolder has been turning is that of Little Mix’s Perrie Edwards, who, on hearing a t…