Northeast Music Guide

If you go down to the woods today…  Northern Stage presents  Tallest Tales from the Furthest Forest,  16 Nov – 4 Jan  From the team who created The Little Detective Agency and the Case of the Festive Thief, Shhh… A Christmas Story and more comes Tallest Tales from the Furthest Forest – Northern Stage’s Christmas show especially for under 6s and their families.   Puppets, live music, audience interaction and a wonderfully inventive set all help to bring the story alive, but at the heart of it all is the love of a good yarn.    Tallest Tales is the story of a little girl who gets lost in a magical forest. She meets 'Leshies' (an old Slavic term for wood spirits) who involve her in their weird and wonderful tales to help her find her way. Northern Stage has a reputation for offering audiences original family entertainment at Christmas - a refreshing alternative to panto - and Susan describes the show this year as “exciting, funny and just a ...

Good Looking Boy at Arts Centre Washington Box Clever Theatre take their hit Edinburgh show ‘Time for the Good  Looking Boy’ to Arts Centre Washington on Thursday 28 November. This hard-hitting play for young adults tracks the challenges of youth in the face of adulthood. Following The Boy as he talks about his memories and emotions, this compelling, witty and intimate play explores the harsh realities of growing up, independence and the consequences of a night when your life changes forever. An urban ghost story, The Boy tells his tale of love and loss in rhyming couplets with an original and haunting soundtrack. This is an account of an extraordinary night in the life of an ordinary young man and a journey which will change his life forever. Wherever that journey takes him, we are asked to be part of it, to share it with the living and the dead.  Using the rhythms and gestures of rap, often backed by composer Jon Nicholls's score, he tells us...

QUITE A CHARACTER: ROB GILROY APPEARS AT NEXT GIGGLE BEATS COMEDY QUIZ Character comic Rob Gilroy will appear at Giggle Beats’ next comedy quiz night on Monday 4 November. Gilroy, described by Chris Addison as “one of the best new comedy writing talents around”, will perform a short set at The Hancock pub in Newcastle to round off the quiz that puts your comedy knowledge to the test. He will appear as protest singer and freelance activist Jerry Bucham – complete with a back catalogue of god-awful songs. He said: “"I am delighted to be taking part in the next Giggle Beats' comedy quiz. “As a weekly columnist for GB this is finally my chance to step out from behind the desk and impress them live and in person. Like Jan Moir opening a Tesco Express." Gilroy has been performing as Jerry Bucham since 2011. Now based in Yorkshire, he originally started performing in Newcastle and established himself as a popular act on the North East circuit. In 2011, Rob wa...

Newcastle Band speaking out for those of us who don't get paid £1000's an hour! Peculiar Disco Moves "Joining Fee" Launch Gigs Peculiar Disco Moves are back with new single Joining Fee , their take on the ridiculous sums of money involved in the top echelons of the football world! The single will be supported by an intimate launch show at the Newcastle Institute for Mining on Friday 22 nd November, as well as from HMV Newcastle with an exclusive in-store performance of the single. Joining Fee will be available to download from the Peculiar Disco Moves’ Bandcamp page and as a limited edition CD. Joining Fee examines and compares the life of footballers and their agents with the everyday working man, challenging the disparity between them, as well as other sportsman and athletes who struggle to finance their careers. It seems that the difficulty experienced in modern society is not reflected and in proportion with the astronomical amounts of mo...

The Ugly Sisters  Northern Stage  22 nd  October 2013-10-22 Cinderella was the poor down trodden girl who was bullied by her evil ugly sisters. Or was she? Have they been misrepresented? It’s time to settle that score! Rash Dash are the hugely engaging Abi Greenland and Helen Gaolen and they start the show as the poor ugly sisters who have been in rehab. Quickly the story moves back to the blissful experience of life as 8 year old non-identical twins living in a squat. Marking their territory and letting people take shelter from the rain in a car that no longer works for 50p. Their Mum, Ruby, meets a man and they all move in with him and his daughter, Arabella. In their quest to marry the prince they go on TV and things start to go very wrong. This musical is driven by three members of Not Bernard Now who not only have to swap instruments but they have to make cameo appearances as Ruby, the Prince and Cinders herself. The pumping music oscillates between j...

Review: Toyah “Love is the Law Tour” first date Newcastle Legends 18/10/2013 Toyah was supported by Alexa de Strange, a dramatic old-school rock band. Their style was indicated by the name of their new album Tits of Death which was performed with great passion by the 4 piece from Yorkshire. Alexa certainly has an impressive set of lungs on her, belting out those songs like a the pro she is. Toyah is on tour to reanimate the 1983 album Love is The Law , and this she did. She expressed in her interview with me on NE1fm this week, her love for the album, and the fact it represents one of the best years of her life. She said this again tonight.         Toyah is a natural performer. Decades of acting, performing music, voiceover work, interviews and taking whatever the showbiz world threw at her has given her an amazing ability to present these songs in the way only she could. Her voice has, if anything, become stronger, more resonant a...

THE RAT PACK VEGAS SPECTACULAR SHOW Its fun all the way as the "Purveyors of Cool" swing into  SUNDERLAND – Empire Theatre on Thursday 31 st  October   (doing both a matinee & evening performance) with a sensational show featuring the greatest music of the 20th century. Wonderful memories of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin & Sammy Davis Junior in a fabulous production that continues to be successful all over the world. The great news is - it's all totally live and every song is an absolute classic - Come Fly With Me, Under My Skin, Mr Bojangles, Lady Is A Tramp, That's Amore, Mack The Knife plus many more of your favourites. With an abundance of class & style they take you on a trip back in time to vintage Las Vegas; hip, cool and a with their timeless soiree that still remains the hottest party around. The BBC summed up this show in just one word - MAGNIFICENT! Tickets are available from: SUNDERLAND – Empire Theatre , High Street W...

Particle Velocity   Northern Stage 10 th October 2013. A Phoenix Dance Theatre Production       Particle Velocity is a production of four energetic dance pieces that weave music and dance together with a sense of purpose.   The show opens with ‘All Alight’ in which 7 dancers move with subtle grace and poise to the often energetic strains of Ravel’s ‘Sonata for Violin and Cello’. Richard Alston’s choreography is the first indication that the Phoenix Dance Theatre intend to use the full extent of the wide stage that Stage 1 at this venue offers.   Jose Agudo’s ‘Ki’ starts in one corner and as the score by Vinz starts to pulsate the action increasing spreads across the stage.  This is a tale of a boy that will become legend. Even from the beginning when we only see the back of the dancer the raw physical nature of the piece is broadcast to the audience.   An eclectic musical compilation follows the turbulent relationshi...

THE SOUTH announce an Autumn / Winter 2013 – Sweet Refrains Tour! The South make a welcome return to UK venues when they return with a ‘Sweet Refrains – Autumn / Winter 2013 UK Tour’. Ex members of The Beautiful South, Dave Hemingway and Alison Wheeler will be singing many of those hits including A Little Time, Don't Marry Her, Rotterdam, Good as Gold, Perfect 10 and many more from the back catalogue. This 9 piece band will also be performing several songs from their wonderfully received debut album as The South, Sweet Refrains (available now on iTunes). Photo by Amy Brammall History - from The Housemartins to The Beautiful South to The South Formed in 1988 ,   The Beautiful South had a string of hit singles such as Old Red Eyes Is Back, Rotterdam, Don't Marry Her, Perfect 10 and Number One single A Little Time. Their greatest hits album, Carry On Up The Charts, was one of the fastest-selling albums in UK history, entering at N...