Is there anything more enjoyable than cat videos? I don’t think so, and the Star and Shadow Cinema seems to agree with me. In order to raise money for Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter, they’ve edited together an hour-long montage of cats knocking things over…

Now that Christmas is over and pantomime season has passed, I got a chance to go down to the Theatre Royal and watch everybody’s favourite moustachioed Belgian detective do his thing. In this stage adaptation of the famous novel, Hercule Poirot tries to h…

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…

It may only have been around since 1843, so a mere newcomer to Festive Season traditions, but “A Christmas Carol” does manage to pack in all the things we think Christmas ought to be about, from fond memories, forgiveness and happy endings to gigantic ro…

Holly & The Reivers are one of the best folk outfits in the UK and their north-east gigs always go down a storm. They’re at the Gosforth Civic Theatre in Newcastle this January. Nancy Kerr – Principal Lecturer in Folk Music at Newcastle University and …

Du Blonde is returning to her hometown of Newcastle in January for a gig at The Cluny, which I imagine will be all kinds of amazing. I saw Du Blonde at The Cluny back when she was still going under her real name Beth Jeans Houghton. That was around 201…

Newcastle riot grrrl three-piece Dinky Bossetti are releasing a bracing new EP on the last day of January and they’re launching it with a special gig at The Globe on the same day. Dinky Bossetti’s latest EP is titled ‘Pink, White & Blue’ and is so-call…

C Duncan is due to play The Georgian Theatre in Stockton in early February. (As long as he’s finished his blissful power-nap before then, that is.) C Duncan came to mine, and most other people’s attention, when he released his rather brilliant ‘Archite…

Welsh singer/songwriters Kathryn Pepper and Paul Zervas have won plaudits aplenty for their tribute to Joni Mitchell ‘This Flight Tonight’, and they’re bringing the show back to Sunderland’s Fire Station this January. Kathryn Pepper and Paul Zervas hav…

The Damned kicked off the first night of their UK tour in Newcastle, and everyone was excited to see that 1980s line-up back together again with David Vanian, Captain Sensible, Rat Scabies, Paul Gray and Monty Oxymoron all present and correct. First up…

Two brothers plus two sisters gives you The Magic Numbers, and the popular quartet will be at The Glasshouse in Gateshead this January to help banish any lingering early year blues you may be feeling. 2025 marks the 20th anniversary of The Magic Number…

Femi Kuti and his sizzling band The Positive Force are hitting Wylam Brewery in Newcastle this January. Thrills will ensue. Femi Kuti is the oldest child of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti and, indeed, he cut his teeth playing in Fela’s band, the feted Egyp…

A lot of venues like to let out their belts in January, and stick their feet up for a month or so. Not so Zerox in Newcastle who have pulled together a line-up of gigs that are guaranteed to get your 2025 off to a thrilling start. What have you got to …

Naturally, one of the region’s finest independent venues – KU in Stockton – are celebrating Independent Venue Week this January and February, and they’ve got three gigs lined up, all of which I’m stamping with an “AMAZING”. It’s fitting that this vene…

As we waited for The Jesus and Mary Chain to appear on stage, a huge cloud of dry ice floated towards us. The excitement was palpable. The band – who have a new album out (‘Glasgow Eyes’) along with a memoir from founding members and song writing partners…

Newcastle based artist Rye trousered our Single of the Month slot last month, so I thought you should know a bit more about her. She’s great. As mentioned above, Rye lives in Newcastle but she’s actually from Vilnius in Lithuania where she grew up imme…

Here’s a Newcastle four-piece reading their favourite magazine and trying their best not to frown over my unnecessarily frequent use of the phrase “Lordy lordy!” Lovely Assistant – featuring Annie (keys, voice), Kieran (bass, voice), Dave (guitar) and …

Aussie Emily Barker released one of the best Americana/folk albums in 2024 in the shape of the brilliant ‘Fragile as Humans’, and no doubt she’ll be hitting us up with songs from it when she plays Cluny 2 in Newcastle this January. I don’t mind admitti…

Prohibition Cabaret Bar are celebrating their 10th anniversary in 2025, and judging by their line-up for January it looks as though they’re moving into the new year with every intention of letting the good times roll. Prohibition Cabaret Bar came into …

Given how swiftly styles of choreography and stage design can change, this revival of Ballet North’s 1992 production of “Romeo and Juliet (originally directed and devised by the late, great Christopher Gable) might have been perceived as a trip down memor…

Richard Hawley, one of the UK`s best singer/songwriters, returned to the Firestation, Sunderland on 03/12/2024, as previously promised, for a rare and intimate show for the start of his latest 2024 tour promoting his superb new 9th album “In This City The…

With our constant re-evaluation of just what “traditional” fairy tales might really be about, it was interesting to see balletLORENT offering a family-friendly dance version of Snow White, but also a grittier, more visceral variant freshly retold in words…

Benjamin Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” Doesn’t so much set Shakespeare’s play to music as release the music inherent in the text, the drama and most of all, the characters. It brays, it soothes, it tricks and it celebrates, matching and enhancing …

Of the many pantos I’ve attended down through the years, this was the first time I’d seen ‘The Little Mermaid’ given the full glitzy treatment. Needless to say, fans of fish-based puns certainly weren’t left feeling short-changed. Once again – for the 19t…

It feels a bit odd writing a review of a performance by a restaurant critic. Celebrity chef Jay Rayner is at his funniest when giving hilariously scathing accounts of bad restaurants, but unfortunately there’s nothing for me to be scathing about here. Ray…

When she did her routine at Live Theatre, most of Karen Dunbar’s audience members were her fellow Scottish people, and there was a level of audience participation that was starting to make me a bit nervous. Spectators were announcing their bathroom trips,…

The Aussie four-piece shed/pub punk rock band – who have just released their ‘Cartoon Darkness’ album – are renowned for their energetic and chaotic live shows and videos, and an expectant, sold- out, Newcastle crowd certainly weren’t disappointed tonig…

It’s a relief to find Opera North director James Brining describing Mozart’s The Magic Flute as, stylistically, a bit of a jumble sale. The mad plot by Schikaneder (the original Papageno) is both fairy-tale simple (the daughter of the Queen of Night, Pami…

Faithless’ legacy spans almost three decades, yet their timeless hits are still common fixtures on the playlists of today’s clubs. This means their fanbase is very mixed, ranging from those who were cutting about the dance scene when Faithless first burst…

Back in our September issue, I raved about ‘Heavy Jelly’ - SOFT PLAY’s first album since their hiatus and re-brand. It’s without a doubt one of my favourites of the year and, for me, their best record yet, so I was buzzing to catch some of these new track…

After recently releasing his 17th solo album ‘66’ – the title a reference to its release, which was a day after his 66th birthday – Paul Weller played two sold out nights in a row at Newcastle O2 City Hall. Weller, of course, is a bit of a music legend ha…

Intended as a short, sharp, shock-inducing piece of multi-media, movie-infused live theatre, this fell rather flat. Possibly the problem was that, drawing as it did on the familiar tropes of the horror film, the material was simply TOO familiar, but th…

In 1983, Altered Images released their meisterwerk ‘Bite’ produced by the legendary Tony Visconti (David Bowie/T Rex) and Mike Chapman (Blondie). Unfortunately, barring a few American dates, they split up and the world was unable to appreciate its inheren…

Saint Maud is yet another original work playing at the Live Theatre, just in time for Halloween. Based on the 2019 horror film by Rose Glass, it is a tale of religious fervour gone horribly wrong. Set in the north-east (unlike the movie), the play follows…

I often find the consumption of live music to be quite perverse. People are quite happy to pay hundreds of pounds and withstand the exploitation of dynamic pricing to watch their favourite band play their hits while their fans are reduced to watching them…

Taking the world by storm after the release of their debut single ‘Nothing Matters’, The Last Dinner Party were quick to take off. With a number 1 hit under their collective belt, and a soaring following on TikTok, it was no surprise when the band charted…

If the plot sounds familiar…. well, that’s hardly surprising. Gerry and Sewell, two footie-mad Tyneside teenagers, are the protagonists in Johnathan Tulloch’s 2000 novel “The Season Ticket”, which was adapted the same year into the movie “Strictly Belter”…

Fontaines D.C. played two shows in Newcastle on the same day, such was the demand to see them. We were at the second, and, thankfully, they didn’t show any signs of flagging. The Dublin band were celebrating the release of their new album ‘Romance’ and, a…

In one of only 2 UK tour dates, Jo Nesbo’s visit to The Biscuit Factory to talk about his new crime thriller Blood Ties last Tuesday was cozy and conversational - a real pleasant evening and an outright treat. Fans attending were able to glean insights i…

1927 isn’t just a date, it’s also a theatre company (drawing influence from the visual power of silent, Expressionist movies, which might just put their choice of name in perspective.) Based in Margate (but with a burgeoning international reputation) they…

This is the third time Isobel McArthur’s irreverent dramatic take on our perpetually favourite regency love story has played Newcastle, and it’s still packing in gleefully enthusiastic audiences. Not really surprising – what could be jollier than watching…

I’ve grown up watching Strictly Come Dancing with my mam pretty much as long as I can remember, so I was really excited to hear that Janette Manrara - a staple of the show since 2013 - was coming to along to The Bound in Whitley Bay to talk about her new …

Of course, the big draw here was to have been Sir Ian McKellan performing probably the only mature male Shakespearean lead he’d never attempted, Sir John Falstaff. The dramatic vehicle for this virtuoso personification, “Player Kings”, offered a mash-up b…

Put together as much through a rehearsal process of improvisation and experimentation as through a set script, director/playwright Mike Leigh’s “Abigail’s Party” was the London stage hit of the season in 1977, with the production revived within the same y…