REVIEWS

KURT VILE & THE VIOLATORS, KING HANNAH @ BOILER SHOP, NEWCASTLE (20.06.23)

Words: Lee Hammond

Tonight is Kurt Vile’s first time in Newcastle and with a fantastic new album in Watch My Moves, it’s set to be a brilliant night. King Hannah open the show with their dark brand of indie rock that sets a rather bluesy tone to start proceedings. It fails to really light the touch paper in terms of excitement though.

Fortunately, the same cannot be said for Kurt Vile, who bumbles onto the stage, maybe a little worse for wear, and sets about thrilling this crowd with some sensational slacker rock. His effortless style shines through as he treats us to a set which focuses on the highlights from Watch My Moves, with the likes of Palace Of OKV In Reverse, Hey Like A Child and Flying (Like A Fast Train) sounding exceptional this evening. His set is peppered with old favourites too though, especially Bassackwards and Hunchback, the latter closing the main set in raucous style, a shift away from an otherwise melodic evening. Vile was in particularly high spirits — even though he thought he was in Nottingham and not Newcastle — returning to the stage to finish his set with more from his latest album, before closing on an incredible cover of Silver Jews’ Punks In The Beerlight. A long-awaited first show in Newcastle and certainly one to remember!

PLACEBO @ O2 CITY HALL, NEWCASTLE (07.06.23)

Words: Ali Welford

It’s easy to admire Placebo’s refusal to join the nostalgia circuit – yet since diminishing returns descended into a nosedive sometime around the mid-‘00s, it’s been equally pertinent to wonder whether they’d be better served ditching those morals and dusting off Nancy Boy after all. Fortunately, Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal’s latest outing, last year’s Never Let Me Go, is their first record since 2006’s Meds worthy of propping up a show devoted to the present. It’s solid rather than inspired, though with an extensive live band inflating things to an extent that’d make Billy Corgan proud, its material does offer genuine thrills. Hugz, for instance, mines a familiar angsty seam, but with a vim and beefy post-grunge buzz which feels refreshed as opposed to reheated, while Surrounded By Spies is the group’s first number in some time whose authority merits being a future staple.

A marked improvement, then – but it wouldn’t be a Placebo show without some decidedly odd decision making. As such, when the hits do arrive, they’re not outsider anthems from the ‘90s, but rather ‘80s pop classics by the likes of Tears For Fears and Kate Bush. It makes for a fun encore, but after an hour-and-a-half steadfastly declining to put their own best foot forward, it isn’t half baffling.

UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA @ BOILER SHOP, NEWCASTLE (19.06.23)

Words: Caleb Carter

In the open, brassy mouth of Boiler Shop, UMO’s James Nielson crooned against fuzz. The intoxication of the Auckland frontman’s vocals has always been rooted in its gloss, in an easy, moisturised surface that eschews smoke in tacit acknowledgement of the rooms it will probably jive through. Here, however, against walls that feel as if they talk in creaking bolts and rusting beams, and playing the teasingly dark-natured V, the air got drunk less on butter and more on contrast. It’s one thing to skip along with Nielson over the popular glass-beaded Hunnybee but another to be subsumed. Where in the album, Nadja’s electric inflexions groove, in an open space they hem and break, rumbling against new corners, and the vocals are pulled beneath their indigo. Touring V, which is very much about this juxtaposed dance against the night, the effect couldn’t have been more apt. And when, finally, fan favourites were played and the sometimes hesitant crowd were less reluctant to move in unison, the catharsis of an album played in celebration of dancing despite the downpour of lockdown felt all the more palpable.

ARAB STRAP, NEV CLAY @ SAGE GATESHEAD (16.06.23)

Words: Ben Lowes-Smith

Nev Clay needs no real instruction as a 24-carat songwriter, and conducts himself with a Zen-like air of someone with little to prove. He only manages to shoehorn three songs into tonight’s set by virtue of his hilarious and endearing tendency to tell stories, all of which embody the warmth, humour and wisdom of his song writing. A touching tribute to Blackie Onassis is followed by a gorgeous version of Nine Dart Finish, and when Nev isn’t talking about his time working at the Sage, he gets in Cuddy’s Cave and a minor chord version of You Are My Sunshine. I am between welling up and laughing on more than one occasion. Tonight Arab Strap are celebrating the 25th anniversary of their album Philiophobia, a humorous and bleak set of songs with diary-entry levels of intimacy. Aidan Moffat caveats the juvenility of these songs, but the band – comprised exclusively of Aidan and Malcolm tonight – serve the record faithfully and respectfully. They really get into their groove in the encore, with rousing versions of The Fable Of The Urban Fox and The Shy Retirer. A special night, commemorating a special record by a special band.

BLUR @ O2 CITY HALL, NEWCASTLE (28.05.23)

Words: Zeinab Lenton

From the second Blur took the stage, it was clear that this was a band delighted to be playing together again, re-energised by making their first new music since 2015’s The Magic Whip. Opening with a new track is a baller move, but the crowd greeted St Charles Square with the same enthusiasm that would meet every song in the glorious pick-and-mix of a setlist.

And what a setlist! A selection of fan favourites, big hitters and lesser-known gems; Parklife, Song 2 and Beetlebum had the crowd singing along with unbridled enthusiasm, while deeper cuts like Young & Lovely and This Is A Low showcased the band’s versatility. There’s No Other Way, Tracy Jacks, Chemical World, Villa Rosie, Out of Time – the list goes on. Given the timing of the gig, the band even perform Bank Holiday, last played live in 1997! The temperature in the City Hall hits inferno levels and the crowd is in a frenzy.

Damon Albarn knows his audience and delights in entertaining, striking coquettish poses and goading the crowd. Bassist Alex James reminds us of his skill, cigarette dangling insouciantly from his lips throughout, while Dave Rowntree’s drumming provides a propulsive bedrock. Taking the lead on Coffee And TV, Graham Coxon is on great form, turning in a blistering solo and generally being a guitar legend all night. The band ended with an encore almost as mighty as the set that preceded it: Girls And Boys, recent single The Narcissist (to which the crowd knew every single syllable), Tender, For Tomorrow and The Universal.

We still hear a lot about Britpop – chart battles, romantic entanglements, rivalries – what these fail to capture was the world-beating brilliance Blur had, their almost preternatural ability to capture the mood of Britain. Tonight, pouring out of the venue, breathless and steaming in the evening chill, Newcastle was in no doubt that Blur still have every bit of the fire and magic that make them one of Britain’s best bands.

COME, THE EXES @ THE CLUNY 2, NEWCASTLE (24.05.23)

Words: Lee Fisher

Somehow I’d never seen The Exes properly before, which feels negligent, because they were a treat. They condense all that’s best out of wiry, angular guitar music of the last fifty years – from The Sonics to Wire to Sauna Youth to Billy Childish – into a set of short, snappy, witty songs. The rhythm section are taut, the shared vocals and on point harmonies work well, and Richard’s guitar work is a lot more intricate and inventive than is immediately apparent. A diffident guitar hero –who’d have thunk it?

I’ll never stop feeling personally embarrassed when brilliant bands cross oceans to play to a handful of people, so I was mentally blushing throughout tonight’s Come set. How so few people turned out to see one of the foundational nineties guitar bands is a mystery but Come didn’t seem to care – they were fantastically good. I’d enjoyed them live back in 199-whatever, but they were monumental tonight. I think I understood what they were doing better now too – a cursed blues crawl, equal parts Sonic Youth, Birthday Party and what PJ Harvey was then just becoming. They didn’t say much, just blasted through a set high on chiming, interlocking guitars and heavy rhythms, and Thalia Zadek still sounds like a harbinger of something dreadful.

GIRLI, NIMMO, BIGFATBIG, THE TIMEWASTERS @ POP RECS LTD., SUNDERLAND (27.05.23)

Words: Damian Robinson

Kicking off a seriously strong line-up, indie rock trio The Timewasters start with a flurry of blazing, spiky guitars and heavy bass lines. Latest single Heartbreaker from their recent EP steals an impressive set full of messages about the importance of both self-love and the need to be politically aware. A quick handover to local stars bigfatbig maintains the evening’s momentum; the band have absolutely mastered their blend of art rock and punky-fuelled funk which is evident on tonight’s performance of Wrong Place, Wrong Time and Shut Up!, which both blend brash guitars with bouncing, funky bass lines. New song, and the set’s standout, Fine, is even further evidence of a serious band with serious potential.

Electronic duo Nimmo offer the most alternative elements of the night – combing Eurthymics styled dance floor electronics with the most lovely complimentary vocals you’re likely to hear. Standout track, You Better Mean It, is the centrepiece in a set full of pulsing electronic beats, gorgeous layered vocals and narratives about love on the dance floor.

An impressive evening is rounded off by headliner girli, whose upbeat take on poppy electro, mixed with rollocking breakbeat breakdowns, is fierce from the word go. Though perhaps not hitting the vocal highs of their recorded work, girli’s forceful delivery and intense performance combine to produce a set that perfectly blends hard beats with raw emotional insight into societal pressures accelerated by social media. girli’s set provides the perfect end to a roster of artists who all deliver intensely personal messages about personal identity, the importance of acceptance and the value of personal relationships.

COMFORT, FASHION TIPS, M-G DYSFUNCTION, SORORITY GRRRLS @ THE CUMBERLAND ARMS, NEWCASTLE (28.05.23)

Words: Lee Fisher

An inspired co-pro from some of the best Tyneside promoters about, this stacked bill was pure queer delight. Sorority Grrrls were impossibly young, gloriously fierce and really not fucking about. Maybe they’ve not quite broken free of their influences yet, but when those influences are a roll-call of all the best feminist punk bands, that’s not so bad. M-G Dysfunction was absolutely intriguing, his mirror shades and cap projecting strong early Coil/Whitehouse energy and his short, chaotic

(but probably not really) set was a collision of backing tracks, spoken word, crooning and simultaneous deconstruction. One minute he’s dedicating a breakbeat tune to all the junglists, the next dismissively pointing out that jungle is a dead genre. I was too busy laughing (At him? With him? Fuck knows) to take many notes.

My first time seeing Fashion Tips and they were a blast. I expected the high-energy synth-driven disco punk but it was much radgier than I anticipated, their avowedly anxiety-driven sound mixing New York 1980, Olympia 1990 and – absolutely – Newcastle right now into a slashing, crashing, screaming delight! Esme is turning into one of the most watchable performers in the city and Fashion Tips will run and run. Finally, Comfort, who came freighted with a fair amount of critical acclaim and deserve it all. Nathalie is an unstoppable force, delivering blistering queer politics and unashamed fierce sexuality in a strong Aberdeen accent over electro punk backing tapes and brother Sean’s surprisingly jazz-inflected drums. Comfort were musically smart and abrasive, Nathalie is utterly compelling upfront, the whole set was a thrill.

RITUALS @ THE GROVE, NEWCASTLE (04.06.23)

Words: Leigh Venus

Delivering serious riffs and songwriting since 2018, Rituals were snapped up by Marshall Records recently for new single Living Blind. Yet, as serious as they are about the art of Heavy Fucking Metal, their live shows are self-deprecating riots. The night saw the band arrive to Mark Knopfler’s Why Aye Man, a crunchingly lairy music video get filmed for upcoming tune Cataclysm, and devil banger frontman Lewis MacRae setting new world records for both headbanging and calling the audience daft cunts, in that endearing way only Geordies can manage. Kicking off with the title track from debut EP Awake, the four lads brought a Saturday night crowd to a sold-out Sunday night show on their home turf, blowing the place up with Turn Away From The Sun, In Devastation and Blinding To Me, before a naughty Rage Against The Machine detour with Bulls On Parade, before Oceans Subside and Snake’s Head closed the whole thing out.

A week later, the band performed to their biggest crowd yet at Download Festival, beating hundreds of other groups in a massive public vote through Kerrang! Radio. Essential, unputdownable, boasting killer graphic design and their own beer (new collab Riff Juice 5% pale ale was bev of choice at the Grove gig), if you’re even mildly metal-adjacent it’s time you got Rituals on your radar.

MELVINS @ BOILER SHOP, NEWCASTLE (02.06.23)

Words: Lee Fisher

Some line-up jiggery-pokery meant that instead of arriving too late to see Lars Ulrich’s nepo-babies, I arrived too late to see Nathalie Stern, which is a damn shame, although I’m assured she was reliably excellent, even in a slightly strange slot. Melvins – as all the older folk in the crowd were keen to point out (excitedly, and probably drunkenly) – hadn’t played Tyneside in almost three decades and there was an expectant buzz (no pun intended). And Melvins did exactly what Melvins do – a solid 70-odd minutes of bubblegum sludge, switching from the lysergic cough mixture crawl of the early material to the Cheap Trick/ Kiss-fuelled FM radio later style. This was a 40th anniversary tour so we got tracks from Bullhead (including a phenomenal encore of Boris) right through to the recent Bad Mood Rising. They rocked hard, looked great (well, Buzz looked like Miriam Margolyes, but she’s a magazine cover star now right?), and Dale Crover is still an absolute beast behind the kit. Despite all this, it left me a little cold – it felt over-rehearsed, a bit shiny, lacking the down-tuned horror of their best stuff – and nobody should be doing Beatles covers this fair into the 21st Century. But I’m prepared to accept I’m on my own with this – the crowd loved it and I’m a grumpy bastard.

BILLIE MARTEN @ THE CLUNY, NEWCASTLE (23.05.23)

Words: Andrew Thompson

It’s been nine years since the first time I saw Billie Marten, back when she still used her real surname and her guitars were almost the same size as she was. If some artists’ rise to notoriety is meteoric then hers has been more tectonic, glacial even. But to maintain steady, near constant progress over nearly a decade is remarkable. You cant help but feel Marten is aware of this career arc. Having played at Cluny 2 a year or so ago she jokes as she tunes up for the first song “we made it upstairs, look at us eh!”; along with her distinctive timbre, self deprecation and affable charm have long been her hallmarks. Marten is touring her fourth full-length studio album Drop Cherries which, somewhat fittingly, is a steady evolution from her last. More developed, less predictable chord progressions and ever-so-slightly sinister string arrangements on opener Just Us are case in point. You’d be forgiven for forgetting the depth of her back catalogue given Marten’s still so young, but a mini all-request solo set containing a song from each of her last three albums (Milk And Honey, She Dances and Aquarium) are sharp reminder.

Marten’s band rejoin her on stage for Garden of Eden, before a crowd participation rendition of Liquid Love draws the night to a close. On a night where the crowd never warmed to the same extent the weather did, as is sadly so often the case for Newcastle gigs in the week, I took comfort knowing Marten will be back around. In a slightly bigger room, to a slightly bigger crowd, with a slightly better catalogue of songs to take requests from.

A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS, CAMILLA SPARKSSS @ STAR AND SHADOW CINEMA, NEWCASTLE (26.05.23)

Words: Lee Hammond

The Star and Shadow is littered with posters advertising just how loud and how spectacular tonight’s show is anticipated to be. As support artist Camilla Sparksss takes to the stage, this is a full-on aural assault from the off, thumping beats from her vinyl backing tracks peppered with the odd keyboard riff. As her lyrics pierce through, it’s the perfect way to warm up for tonight’s headliners.

A Place To Bury Strangers immediately kick into action, making abundantly clear that the posters were far from hyperbole. The energy oozes from the stage as guitars are swung, drums hammered and basslines delivered that feel like a punch in the chest. Ripping through a searing set that includes Ego Death, Deadbeat and You Are The One, it’s their time spent improvising in the crowd which proves to be the most exciting element of the night.

All three band members stay tight together as the crowd clamber over them, continuing to produce the most enthralling jam, undeterred. Retreating back to the stage for the latter part of their set, drummer Sandra Fedowitz moves to the front as the band explode into Have You Ever Been In Love to close out their set. This intense track closes off an incredible show that leaves ears ringing and minds melted!