Northeast Music Guide

Proper artists, proper songs, a proper good night The Dog And Parrot upstairs room, stripped of its tables and chairs makes for a perfect small venue with a reasonable bar. Coquin Migale took to the stage for what was only their second gig as a band together and the 4-piece from Newcastle didn't fail to impress the small crowd with their music. Their songs touch on the ethereal trend that dominates some of the new music radio programmes, but then move into much more interesting territory, jumping from one musical "room" to another while keeping the theme of a song. Their Yellow Room  EP is definitely worth getting hold of and can be downloaded for £0 from their Bandcamp Page . I predict great things for this band, all four of them have talent beyond their years and a youthful enthusiasm I hope they don't lose for a long time! Thomas McConnell , is only 20 and already a very accomplished songwriter and performer. The influence of Lennon and McCartney cannot b...

3 Shorts - Alphabetti Spaghetti Theatre Production @ The Dog and Parrot Friday 14/6/2013   The upstairs room of The Dog & Parrot has been transformed in recent years. Now the Alphabetti Spaghetti Theatre group have taken over we have theatre and comedy up here in addition to the music.   3 Shorts is one such theatre production. Local script writers were asked to come up with 30 minute comedy scripts.   Their work has been produced and performed by the company that was described by the BBC as ‘Original, off the wall and clever’. The result are 3 shorts, in a lovely venue, that are both full of humour and pathos in equal measure.   Tonight’s first short play was “Spear Carriers” by Andrew Thompson. 2 actors who have roles as “attendants” in a production of a Shakespeare play featuring Ian McKellen. They discuss the problems of trying to get noticed in a non-speaking role. The two actors also describe their private lives and this ultimately...

Sweet Music at the D&P Alphabetti Spaghetti Theatre are about comedy, music and performance in the perfectly bijoux surroundings of the Dog and Parrot . Tonight was about music, some astoundingly high quality music. Meghann Clancy’s performance prompted a tweet to Tom Robinson, a beautiful voice and confident stage presence of a maturity well beyond her actual age. I live her song “Touch Ground” inspired by a bullied friend, and her rendition of Miranda Lambert’s country masterpiece   “Gunpowder and Lead” a song about a jailbird’s getting ready for his return, with a shotgun, is spot-on. She started with her recent single, "Neck of the Woods", and quickly brought a fairly party-minded audience into her worlds of teenage romantic longing, nostalgia for one's childhood and everyday struggles and triumphs. "Give Me Everything" , quite suggestive for a young lady with a guitar, but still lovely! Sinead Livingston played a combination of folk and...