The Crack #382 - November 2021 by The Crack

November 2021 #382

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 1

26/10/2021 15:48

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 2

26/10/2021 15:48

Publisher: Mandy Baxter Editor: Robert Meddes

rob@thecrackmagazine.com

Ad Sales: Deb Snell deb@thecrackmagazine.com

Eden Chapman-Maurice eden@thecrackmagazine.com

Listings Editor: Christie Alexander

TONGUE & GROOVE

CHOICE CUTS

Design: Rachel Childs

CONTRIBUTERS Gail Nina Anderson Cait Jobson Jennifer Lax Steve Long Kenzie Millar Diana Peterson Faith Richardson Degna Stone Leanna Thomson Scarlett Welch David Willoughby

THE CRACK Crack House Unit 2, Woods Pottery Stepney Bank Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 2NP thecrackmagazine.com 0191 2303038

Jackie & Shar, Marin Headlands, CA, 1993, Silver Gelatin Print. Phyllis Christoper’s Exhibition ‘Contacts’ BALTIC. 23.10.21 - 20.3.22

listings@thecrackmagazine.com

design@thecrackmagazine.com

COVER IMAGE

Trainers from Lidl, the Tory repsonse to Covid, Mae West, and Karen Carpenter.

Newcastle Noir, M’bro Diwali, Jessie Ware, Grace Petrie, Salad Fingers, Little Simz, The Offing, The Lulas, Lofts and more.

PULSE

HOW THE FUCK DID WE GET HERE?

PHYLLIS CHRISTOPHER

CONTENTS

CRACK STAFF

‘Phyllis Christopher: Contacts’ at BALTIC. See page 16

We love the illustrative paintings of Saffron Stott and think you will too.

“We’re almost at the end of 2021, still shell-shocked that we survived 2020 ...”

Do you fancy a four page look at photographer Phyllis Christopher’s stunning new show at BALTIC? Course you do.

WHAT & WEAR

WHAT’S ON

HOROSCOPES

Bucket hats are not just for summer; denim and more at Union; and some bags made out of pineapples...

Grab yourself a fistful of music, stage, queer, art, clubs, books and live stuff.

If you want spoilers for the month ahead, then this is the page for you.

Terry Jones: the DJ is playing Hoochie Coochie. See page 34

Saffron Stott: see more of her work on page 13

Gem Andrews is at The Globe. See page 58 www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 3

26/10/2021 15:48

tongUe&GROOVE

TORY

You can point to many reasons why this government’s handling of the pandemic has been particularly egregious, but number one on the charge sheet is that they never took it seriously from the get-go.

The National Covid Memorial Wall Photo: Gill Whisson

MORE CRACK This is our first print issue since March 2020. But during our time away, we haven’t just been wolfing down hob-nobs and watching old Bette Davis films (although we’ve done quite a bit of that too). We’ve totally rejigged our website and continue to stick new stuff up there including film and book reviews and plenty of other stuff besides. We’ve also been sending out our regular email newsletter, Little Crack, to 1000s of people each week (or fortnight). If you’re not yet on board with Little Crack then you should know that it contains previews of all the good things that are coming up in the north-east. (You can sign up for it by going to our website – thecrackmagazine.com – and clicking on ‘Free Updates’ in the top righthand corner. All you need then do is stick your email address into the pop-up box and you’ll be rewarded with untold goodies delivered to your inbox once a week (or fortnight).) As regards the print issue, we’ve spruced that up too. Hope you like it. 4

COST LIVES Boris Johnson has promised that a public inquiry into the government’s handling of the pandemic will begin next spring. He hasn’t yet said whether this “promise” will be one a lexicographer might recognise, or one of his more usual promises, such as: “There will never be a border in the Irish Sea.” Either way, we don’t need a public inquiry to tell us that right from the start this government’s initial strategy for the pandemic (rather like Donald Trump’s) was to simply just try and wish it away. When news of a deadly virus first emerged from China, in early 2019, Johnson thought it wasn’t serious enough to attend any one of five Cobra meetings - held at Downing Street - so a plan of action could be thrashed out. Indeed, the Prime Minister didn’t even mention the virus in public until he gave a speech in Greenwich, which was principally about the virtues of Brexit. Towards the end of the speech, almost as an aside, he said that he’d heard terrible stories – not about Covid deaths – but about how other countries were shutting down their entire economies. The United Kingdom, he said, would not do that. Instead, the country was “ready to take off its Clark Kent spectacles, leap into the phone booth and emerge with its cloak flowing as the supercharged champion of economic freedom.” Johnson gave that speech on 26 January 2020, but as time moved on, we could all see what was happening in places such as Italy, with their hospitals barely able to cope. In crude terms, we had a head start on most other countries: we could see what was coming. And yet Johnson still continued to prevaricate – determined to put profit before people – and allowed football matches, indoor concerts, and the Cheltenham Festival to go ahead. British exceptionalism, according to the Prime Minister, was going to save the day. Except, as we all now know to our cost, it didn’t.

WHAT IS THIS? Apparently it’s easier to get hold of a gallon of petrol than it is to bag yourself a pair of Lidl’s own-brand trainers. Why? By any measure, they’re an absolute abomination. There’s an episode of The Simpsons in which Homer is given free rein to design a car for a company that is being run by his long-lost brother. Homer – not a natural ﬁt for the “less is more” train of thought – really lets rip and kits out his dream car with extravagant tail ﬁns, bubble domes (yes, plural) and shag carpeting. Needless to say, ‘The Homer’ (“Powerful like a gorilla, yet soft and yielding like a Nerf ball”) swiftly becomes the ugliest car on the market and puts his brother’s company out of business. All of which brings us round to these trainers from Lidl. They look as though they have been designed by, if not Homer himself, then a bunch of primary school kids who have been asked to shout out what they’d like to see included in their dream pair of trainers. “Colours! Lots of colours!” What kind of colours? “Yellow!” What sort of yellow? “Bright yellow! And red!” What sort of red? “Bright red! And blue!” What sort of blue? “Bright blue!” What about the soles? “Big! And white! With massive grips!” Apparently the trainers have been such a hit with hipsters that Lidl have been selling out of them as soon as they hit the shelves. What these hipsters don’t realise, however, is that people won’t be looking at them in the street and saying, “Hey! That person really knows how to rock an anti-fashion look.” No. They’ll be looking at them and saying, “That person has got the wardrobe of a dickhead.” RM

Tory ministers are fond of stating: “The ﬁrst duty of government is to protect its citizens.” Indeed, it’s written on the homepage of the gov.uk website. But when it comes to the pandemic, this government have failed quite spectacularly in that task. Worse than useless? Of course. They’ve actually been lethal. RM

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 4

26/10/2021 15:49

Mae Is that a new box-set of Mae West’s classic Hollywood ﬁlms in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?

SPECIAL Is Karen Carpenter the best pop singer of all time. Discuss. (Or read ‘Why Karen Carpenter Matters’, a new analysis of her work being published by Faber & Faber this November.) I’m going to say it: Karen Carpenter IS the best pop singer of all time. Her vocals are as clear as a mountain stream, and she never has to resort to the showy, tonsil-battering gymnastics that powered the likes of Whitney or Maria. In ‘Why Karen Carpenter Matters, Karen Tongson interweaves the story of the singer’s rise to fame in the 1960s and 70s with her own trans-

Paciﬁc journey between the Philippines and Karen Carpenter’s home ground of Southern California. Tongson reveals why the Carpenters’ charttopping, seemingly white-washed musical fantasies of ‘normal love’ have profound signiﬁcance for her – as well as for other people of colour, LGBT+ communities, and anyone outside the mainstream culture. The book is the third in a new series from Faber & Faber, which also includes: ‘Why Marianne Faithful Matters’ and ‘Why Solange Matters’. RM Why Karen Carpenter Matters by Karen Tongson is published by Faber & Faber on 4 November.

Top-hatted man: “Great town, St. Louis. Were you born there?” Mae West: “Yes.” Top-hatted man: “What part?” Mae West: “Why, all of me.” Mae West’s film are littered with such lines (many of which she coined herself) but she was famous – make that infamous – before she even stepped in front of a camera. She began performing in amateur stage shows at the age of seven, and she made her first appearance on Broadway when she was only 20. And it was on Broadway that she staged ‘Sex’ (a play she wrote, produced and directed), which – despite being a commercial success – saw her charged with obscenity and time in jail. During her subsequent Hollywood career she continued to push at social mores and became one of the biggest box-office draws of the era. This new box-set collects together the ten films she made between 1932 and 1943, and it also includes a wealth of commentaries and documentaries. Final word to Mae: “When I’m good I’m very, very good, but when I’m bad, I’m better.” RM Mae West in Hollywood is released on 22 November by Powerhouse Films.

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 5

26/10/2021 15:49

C h o i c e cuts The Blonde Bombshell looked at himself in the mirror prior to his morning run. Mottled cerise shorts, faded yellow t-shirt and dirty (and when I say dirty, I mean grey) Stan Smith trainers circa 1978. Yeah, that will do, he thought. He looked like a day-old ice cream melted on a path, but he’d seen worse. The less said about the running the better. This was a party conference, so he wasn’t allowed out of the building to run on the streets, and even a visit to the hotel gym meant bodyguards. He couldn’t get on with running machines though, too fast,

Build back better? Not a chance this side of Covid too slow, his ungainly thump brought groans from some of the other sweaty occupants. Nasty Party members too. Where was their bloody respect? After ten minutes he staggered off, went back to his room, showered, changed into one of his many dark-blue baggy suits and ordered the full English. He couldn’t be seen to order a continental after all the shit he was currently aiming at the EU could he? That was his excuse, an excuse, nevertheless, that would have frustrated his personal doctor who thought his cholesterol levels were far too high. And then, of course, the second problem in choosing a full English is that he just couldn’t stop himself troughing the whole lot in two minutes flat. At which point The Latest Flame walks in. Oh, for fuck’s sake BB she roared – you’ve got egg all over your tie and lapels – don’t you ever learn - get changed. He immediately did as he was told: the morning of the leader’s speech wasn’t the time for a knock-down-dragout especially when he wasn’t certain he’d win let alone get away with a TKO. After another suit change, he went through the speech – he thought he’d better as he hadn’t written a word of it. God, there was a lot of bluster even for a bunch of policy nerds and wonks from conservative central office. Build back

better? Not a chance this side of Covid and Brexit – still, the great unwashed seemed to love all this stuff - he didn’t seem to be able to do anything wrong. Pity he couldn’t spend more time with them rather than Dum-dum ‘Handman’ Draab and Revolta ‘Hot-Stepper’ Grove who were constantly sniping about the sort of winky wanky detail he couldn’t give a fig about. And The Latest Flame? Well, she’d have to do for a couple more years. Bang out a few more (Tory) sprogs at least. He checked himself in the mirror again. Better be at his smartest before he went and met the party faithful, as he didn’t want The Latest Flame to have another go at him. But as he emerged from his room (with untucked shirt and uncombed hair) The Latest Flame emerged from somewhere, uncannily bang on cue, screamed again and went ahead in a total rage. Ah, well, at least he knew he’d get some love from everyone in conference, if no one else.

Diwali

A new Diwali festival is coming to Middlesbrough this November. We certainly don’t mind a bit of that. This family-friendly festival will include live entertainment, funfair rides, a shopping bazaar, workshops, a carnival parade and a Bollywood-themed firework finale. It’s being organised by Kash Patel Productions and the team who brought us Curry on Comedy and Middlesbrough Mela. Kash said: “Although Diwali is celebrated by many people here in Teesside, it is mainly behind closed doors either at home or places of worship. For the first time I’m delighted to announce that we can now celebrate Diwali in Middlesbrough on a large scale in the heart of town.” Get to it. Diwali Festival, Saturday 6 November, Centre Square, Middlesbrough, 12-6pm, free.

criminal The team behind Newcastle Noir are back with a mini-festival in early December. In an effort to bring us only the best in vicious garrottings, sly stiletto blades between our ribs, and any amount of femmes getting all fatale on our collective arses, Newcastle Noir are back in December with the kind of juicy line-up that is sure to send pulses a-racing. Among the celebrated authors getting involved are Ann Cleeves (pictured – responsible, of course, for the wonderful Vera series of novels), LJ Ross (international bestselling author of the DCI Ryan mystery series), Mari Hannah (multi-award winning author of the Kate Daniels series of police procedurals, among others), SJ Watson (author of ‘Before I Go To Sleep’), and more to be announced. Murder has never been such fun. Newcastle Noir, Sunday 5 December, Newcastle City Library, day passes £25, panel tickets £5. newcastlenoir.co.uk

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 6

26/10/2021 15:49

When I first read Benjamin Myers’s fine 2019 novel ‘The Offing’ I thought: this would make a brilliant play. And – what do you know! – it’s now just that and coming to Live Theatre for an extended run this November. Benjamin Myers is not afraid to get his hands dirty. In novels such as ‘Pig Iron’ and ‘Turning Blue’ he waded through huge swathes of literary murk. So when I picked up his 2019 novel, entitled ‘The Offing’, I thought I was in for something akin to a 1970s video nasty. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Like his previous works – also rooted in the north – the atmosphere of the story is enhanced by the natural world, but this time the feeling is one of uplift rather than oppression. The story is set in the aftermath of the Second World War and sees 16-year-old Robert Appleyard journeying, on foot, from his home in Durham to try and find work in Scarborough. He never gets there, however, as on his travels he encounters the bohemian and eccentric

drama

in The Offing

Dulcie Piper, who lives alone. She befriends him and opens up his eyes to the joys of art and literature, good food and wine. In return, he helps her lay to rest a ghost from the past. The director of this stage version, Paul Robinson, comments: “I first came across ‘The Offing’ when I heard Benjamin Myers talking to Jo Whiley on the BBC Radio 2 Book Club. By the end of the interview, I’d contacted Benjamin’s agent: I knew it would be perfect for the stage – wise and lyrically beautifully.” The play has been adapted by Janice Okoh (writer of Egusi Soup, Three Birds and The Gift) and will star James Gladdon, Cate Hammer and Ingvild Lakou. RM

The Offing, 3-27 November, Live Theatre, Newcastle, 7.30pm (mats. 6, 11, 13, 20, 25, 27 November 2pm and 14 & 21 November 4pm. There is also an audio described and captioned performance on 18 November and a BSL on 17 November). From £14. live.org.uk

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 7

26/10/2021 15:49

C h o i c e cuts Uncategorisable

You can’t pigeonhole Anna Meredith (it would be easier tring to explain Twitter to a cat). She’s playing Sage Gateshead this November. I first became aware of Anna Meredith when Radio 6 Music started playing her extraordinary ‘Nautilus’ track in 2016. An instrumental, it sounded like nothing I had ever heard before – frantic and yet ordered – a heart-attack that came with a side order of “Yes Please!” It was taken from her debut ‘Varmints’ album – which saw Meredith leaping headlong into the worlds of contemporary classical, art pop, electronica, ambient and experimental rock – and was greeted with widespread acclaim. Her follow-up, 2019’s ‘Fibs’, was another boundary-mashing release, which turned up the dial on her rock band’s dynamic power in order to create juddering, jittery symphonies that made a play for your heart, hips and head. She’s all set to bring her full orchestra show to Sage Gatehead in November, and I reckon it has every chance of being one of the real gigs of the year. GM Anna Meredith, Friday 12 November, Sage Gateshead, 8pm, £18.20. sagegateshead.com

Tyne Ware The wondrous Jessie Ware is back in Newcastle in early December to get the party season started with a back catalogue of songs that are designed to set rumps a-rotating. Jessie Ware’s ‘What’s Your Pleasure’ was the best album of 2020. There. I’ve said it. It was a release that distilled everything that was good about what she had done in the past, with one eye on super-slinky pop-soul, but with both hips shimmying determinedly in the direction of the dancefloor. It’s an album that conjures gleaming chrome, smoked glass and twitching, satin clad bottoms; an album that basks in the reflection of the mirror-ball; an album that invites you into a wonderland that thrums to the joys of neon-streaked synths and airy vocals – in short: it’s an album that throws the most extravagant shapes in front of the temple that is disco. It’s Ware’s fourth long-player and she has never sounded looser or up for fun as she does here (although, as long-term fans know, her back catalogue, including 2012’s brilliant ‘Devotion’ album are also

Close your eyes

Middlesbrough four-piece The Lulas exude sunny vibes and they’re bringing their exuberant funk-dunked pop to Westgarth Social Club this November. Released earlier this year The Lulas’ superb single ‘Think You’re Cool’ was a threeminute blast of everything that is good about them. It’s one of those, sod-you-I’m8

packed with a myriad of delights). These songs deserve to be heard live and I can’t wait to finally get to hear them up close and personal. RM Jessie Ware + Jodie Harsh, Sunday 5 December, O2 Academy, Newcastle, 7pm, From £32.85. academymusicgroup.com/ o2academynewcastle

ploughing-my-own-furrow type of affairs, and is bursting with fruity pop hooks and defiant lyrical concerns (“I didn’t dress up and I didn’t dress down, I’m wearing what I wear for a real good time”). It also has a swagger about it that is certain to leave you with a big daft smile splashed right across your chops. The band also know how to bring the funk, and they are not afraid to add a hot dollop of reggae to their mix (‘Pink Socks’). They didn’t start gigging until 2019 (a Battle of the Bands competition – which they won) but since then they have been selected to perform at Songs from Northern Britain – a showcase event hosted by Vic Galloway of BBC Radio 6. The band say: “We are super passionate about music, which comes across in our songwriting… We believe that spreading our joyful, vibrant music connects with audience across the globe as we speak about subjects that everybody can relate to.” I can get behind that. GM The Lulas + support, Saturday 27 November, Westgarth Social Club, Middlesbrough, 7pm, £7. skiddle.com

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 8

26/10/2021 15:49

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 9

26/10/2021 15:49

C h o i c e cuts

GRACE LOFTY

The Lofts opened at the back end of August with an ambition to become one of the north-east’s premier clubbing destinations. Looks like they’ve succeeded. This new, 1500 capacity ‘super-club’ features three separate rooms, a ground-breaking sound system from L-Acoustic, and a state-ofthe-art, fully immersive light and visual show. Its grand opening saw Pete Tong and the very excellent Horse Meat Disco christen the decks in fine style, and since then a whole raft of legendary nights have just piled up. This November the good times will keep coming, and I’m really looking forward to checking out Catz n Dogz (pictured – 12 November). The Polish duo are mega-stars throughout Europe with the biggest clubs in Berlin, in particular, going ga-ga for them. They’ll be supported by Mighty Mouse and Alex Virgo. Also looking tasty in November is Joel Corry (18 November), Eats Everything, Ferrick Dawn and Arielle Free (19 November), Jamie 3:26 (20 November), and The Shapeshifters and Melvo Baptiste (27 November). More details from the website, below. JL The Lofts, Newgate Street, Newcastle. theloftsne1.co.uk

Grace Petrie is one of the most impassioned folk singers the UK has produced in recent years, and she’s bringing her fiery solidarity to both Newcastle and Middlesbrough over the coming months. You may know Grace Petrie for the song ‘Black Tie’, which told every young queer person that ‘everything’s gonna be alright’. Or you may have heard her music on the Guilty Feminist podcast. For those who haven’t yet had the privilege, you should know that Grace brings politics into her songs by being outspoken about injustices and the current government’s divisive political ideology. However, her feel-good songs such as ‘Storm to Weather’ turn societal pain and suffering into hope for a better future through catchy sing-a-long tunes. Everything she writes, including her tweets, are funny, thoughtful and right on. Grace’s folk music makes you want to clap, laugh and sometimes sob. I wouldn’t be surprised if her song ‘Ivy’, the story of the birth of her niece, doesn’t end up with my whole generation popping out kids with that name. If you think I’m being slightly dramatic you obviously haven’t listened to her tunes. Already obsessed with Grace Petrie like I am – or in need of a new obsession? Her new album is out now. That gives you just enough time to listen to it on repeat before you see her in the north-east this November and December. CJ Grace Petrie: Monday 29 November, The Cluny, Newcastle, 7pm, £15. thecluny.com; Sunday 12 December, Middlesbrough Town Hall, 7.30pm, £18.50. middlesbroughtownhall.co.uk 10

ROCK

Bad Touch are a band from Norfolk who deal in the sort of rock that is all kinds of classic.

The Bad Touch band members got together through a shared love of outfits such as Led Zeppelin, The Black Crowes, Free and Llynyrd Skynyrd, but their infectious blend of rock, country and blues was also influenced by the rolling countryside and hard-working folk around them. Their fourth studio album, ‘Kiss the Sky’, was released last year and greeted with widespread acclaim. It’s opener – and soon to be live favourite – ‘Come A Little Closer’ is a perfect example of what the band do so well, in that it barrels along on a wave of chainsaw, fuzzed-up guitars and thrumming bass. And the rest of the album is a real showcase for the band’s melodic chops, whether they’re throttling back (‘Strut’), bringing out the scorching ballads (‘See You Again’) or letting rip (‘Before I Die’). Brace yourselves. GM Bad Touch + Piston, Friday 19 November, The Cluny, Newcastle, 7.30pm, £12. thecluny.com

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 10

26/10/2021 15:50

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 11

26/10/2021 15:50

C h o i c e cuts big talent

The feeling of rust …is almost orgasmic. David Firth’s frankly horrifying series of cartoons ‘Salad Fingers’ pulled the rug out from beneath a whole generation of YouTube viewers in the 00s, and Firth himself will be on hand to explain himself when ARC in Stockton screens the full run of them. When somebody gets round to writing the history of viral internet sensations in the 21st century, then ‘Salad Fingers’ is surely to feature prominently in chapter one. The first episode of the animated series dropped in 2004 and followed the misadventures of a vaguely humanoid figure who appeared to have limp bits of lettuce for hands. Subsequent episodes opened up Salad Fingers’ apocalyptic world and introduced us to his finger puppets (yep!) Hubert Cumberdale, Jeremy Fisher and Marjory StewartBaxter. All 11 episodes of the series will be screened at ARC and its creator, David Firth, will be on hand to take part in a Q&A – after your mind has been melted all over again. And boy, do I have some questions. JL Salad Fingers and Q&A with David Firth, Friday 19 November, ARC, Stockton, 7pm, £10/£12. arconline.co.uk

Little Simz’ ‘Sometimes I Might be Introvert’ is destined to grace most Best Albums of 2021 lists and she’ll be banging out songs from it when she plays Newcastle in November. ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’ is Little Simz’ fourth album, but it was her third – the scorching ‘Grey Area’ – which really sent people’s collective cultural antennas a-twanging. It won Best Album at the both the Ivor Novello and NME Awards (and, to my mind, it should also have taken the Mercury Prize where it was nominated). Her new album has, if anything, widened her scope with tracks such as ‘Introvert’ adding huge orchestral flourishes to her sonic palette, along with choral flourishes and tumbling beats. Elsewhere she deploys grime and trappy beats and her flow remains languid yet commanding. Legendary figures such as Kendrick Lamar (who has said of her, “she might be the illest doing it right now”) and Lauren Hill have long been on board with Little Simz and now it seems that the rest of the world is beginning to catch up. JL Little Simz, Saturday 27 November, O2 Academy, Newcastle, 7pm, from £20.95. academymusicgroup.com/o2academynewcastle

Afternoon delight KIN Family Friendly gigs at the Tyne Bank Brewery have been a knockout success this year, and they’re back in November with two stellar acts playing from 1pm. Nice. Family friendly? I’ll let the organiser of KIN, Lorna Snowball (who had her second baby at the start of the first lockdown), explain: “You don’t stop loving live music when you have kids so I’m hoping these gigs can give people a slice of their old lives back. But just to make it clear, they’re gigs aimed at parents, not gigs aimed at kids. That’s an important distinction for me. But I’ve got lots of activities planned like soft play and crafts to keep the kids happy so the parents can enjoy some quality live music.” The first two KIN events went down a real storm, and November’s kneesup looks equally enticing with Talk Like Tigers (pictured) and Fell both playing. Talk Like Tigers are one of the best local outfits around and play the kind of sophisticated electro-pop that sends shivers up and down your spine, while Fell are a London based band who weave together pop dreaminess and sun-kissed psychedelia in the most pleasing of manners. If you’ve got kids, go; and if you haven’t, still go. DP

Pic: Samantha Orton 12

Fell + Talk Like Tigers, Sunday 14 November, Tyne Bank Brewery, 375 Walker Road, Byker, 1pm, £7.50 adults, £4 kids (under 2s free). Facebook. com/KINFamilyFriendlyGigs

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 12

26/10/2021 15:50

P U L S E

Stott Stott’s illustrative paintings are not studies from life but from memory. A collection of memories capturing both Newcastle Upon Tyne and the intimate conversations found within the city are brought to life through vibrant pinks and teal. The compositions result in a dreamlike depiction of the north-east, romanticising fond memories through exaggerated form and colour. Stott is available for commissions and prints and is bookable through email or Instagram. @Saffignonblanc / saffronstott30@gmail.com

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 13

26/10/2021 15:50

HOW THE FUCK DID WE GET HERE? We’re almost at the end 2021, still shell-shocked that we survived 2020. Some of us. Just. We’re still living through a pandemic and still reckoning with our past. Only now we have added pushback against populist politicians intent on starting phoney culture wars. The reckoning began, or rather resumed, with the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in the US. The whole world watched, just as they had when Eric Garner was murdered, same as they did when 12-year-old Tamir Rice was murdered for playing with a toy gun on a playground. The whole world was watching but this time we had time on our hands. The devastation of COVID-19 forced people to slow down, and we were just far enough into the pandemic to understand our own mortality. The fragility of our human bodies. We’d begun to see that our very existence was susceptible to forces outside our control. That we are not in control of whether we live or die. We saw for ourselves the audacity of a police officer who thought he could kneel on a man’s neck until the life drained from him, and that he could do so with impunity. It was this singular combination of circumstances that made us pay attention and, with our lives on hold, we had time to process and understand what we had seen. If you’re sick of reading about George Floyd and the racist structures that led to his death, spare a thought for the people whose skin colour means they have no choice but to live with the effects of racism every day. For us, it was no

surprise that protests in support of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement against racial injustice and inequality gained worldwide attention and elicited long-overdue promises to end racism. From the CEOs of huge corporations to sole traders and individuals, everyone (apart from the racists) pledged to do better. To take action. Most people’s action stopped at reading a few books. Some learned about Carl Linnaeus’ pseudo-scientific classification of the ‘varieties’ of humans in the 1750s, which placed people of African heritage with dark skin at the bottom and those of European heritage with pale skin at the top. This artificial division of the human race into sub-categories based on superficial physical differences gave birth to racism; the dehumanisation of non-Europeans created a justification for slavery and genocide. Maybe it’s this growing awareness, that race is a construct designed to subjugate and exploit vast sections of the human race, that made so many people realise that they need to do more than simply distance themselves from the racist behaviours of others. Standing by and refusing to intervene makes you an enabler of racism, which kind of makes you racist. If you want to fight against racism, you’ve got to be actively anti-racist.

For centuries, our beloved small island punched above its weight on the world stage. We were leading players in the making of history. We shaped the world. There’s no denying that. It’s fact. Just how we shaped the world is a murkier area. One of the enduring calls from the antiracism protests in the summer of 2020 was for us to finally acknowledge the reality of our history. To own it, to live with it, to learn from it. I say ‘us’ and ‘our’ because, although there are people who would deny my identity as an English woman because I have dark skin, the history of Britain is as much mine as it is anyone else’s born on these shores. The hot mess we’ve created as a nation has its roots in a complex history, particularly our refusal to embrace the citizens of Britain’s former empire as fully British. We’re living with the consequences of only ever telling a fraction of the story. We need to acknowledge our past so that we can begin to move past the shameful things we did in order to put the ‘great’ into Great Britain. The Industrial Revolution evolved over the course of 80 years and the wealth generated in the colonies paved Britain’s streets with metaphorical gold. The wealth that drove the mills came from plantations where barbarous practices

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 14

26/10/2021 15:50

and a steady supply of enslaved Africans, including those born into slavery, kept profit margins high. The Industrial Revolution was powered by steam and the profits generated from the sale of goods produced first by enslaved Africans and then by indentured labourers. It always comes down to the money. Rather than reinvesting wealth in the countries where the resources were harvested and produced, money was taken out of the colonies and brought to the motherland. Likewise, the wealth generated for the factory owners in Britain didn’t trickle down to the workers who had limited rights and limited life expectancies. Economic growth in the 18th century was dependent on slave labour in the colonies and the exploitation of the working class at home. Progress was achieved at the expense of people, and we shouldn’t pretend that it wasn’t. Another piece of obscured history, the contribution of African, Caribbean and Asian soldiers during WWI, was not well known until the centennial commemorations saw a significant rise in awareness of the Black presence during the First World War. The Mother Country called for help and the citizens of the British Empire responded. It must have felt like a kick in the teeth when those same soldiers were banned from marching alongside their white-skinned comrades-in-arms in the Peace March on 19th July 1919. The half-story told about why Caribbean people came to Britain in larger numbers following WWII means that many people don’t understand that members of the British Empire (as it still was at the time) were born British. When the Empire Windrush landed in 1948, the West Indians aboard weren’t ‘immigrants’, they were British citizens. This automatic citizenship could be seen as recompense for the global tragedy of the slave trade and the use of indentured labour across the colonies. It was a pretty good deal for the Mother Country. It cost Britain nothing to promise to treat the subjects of her Empire, including the ones with dark skins, as British citizens. The hostile environment instigated by the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government in 2012 and the subsequent Windrush scandal show how easily empty promises can be broken. You’d think we’d be tough enough as a country to live with the reality of our past but apparently not. To suggest that any aspect of British history is anything less than noble is to be accused of ‘doing

the country down’. Is there any other situation where a more detailed history is seen as an act of erasure instead of an honest retelling? Is rewriting history suddenly not allowed? History has always been written by the victors and it has always been re-evaluated as the years march on. Britain’s history, our history, has more than its fair share of atrocities. We must acknowledge that. We are shaped by our past, but the past isn’t all we are, isn’t all we can be. If we learn from the past, we can do better in the present and in the future. Those who have nothing to gain from challenging the status quo are too eager to conflate airbrushed history with historical fact. They don’t trust us. Maybe they suspect that being honest about the endeavours that made Britain ‘great’ risks bringing the whole edifice down. Maybe it would cause us to question the notion that Britain is, and always has been, a just and fair country. Maybe that’s what the likes of Boris Johnson and Robert Jenrick are scared of. That if we learn the unedited histories of our national heroes and heroines – the unpalatable things, the despicable things – then it won’t only be ‘woke liberals’ demanding that we stop elevating and celebrating them. That if we reassess the actions of our historical figures, we’ll somehow lose a sense of our national identity. Are we really that brittle? Are we really unable to withstand criticism? Are we that scared of what it might take to make amends, to repair the damage caused in service to Progress? Some politicians and media outlets would have us believe that our worth as a nation is found in symbols and signifiers rather than our actions. That statues unquestioningly represent the ‘great and the good’ and, once they’re erected, are here to stay. The people of Bristol didn’t want to tear down Edward Colston’s statue, but their decades-long struggle to get a plaque acknowledging Colston’s direct links to the transatlantic slave trade had failed. If the powers that be hadn’t constantly deferred the argument and quibbled over wording, he might still be on his plinth now. Language is important but we can get hung up on definitions, get side-tracked or made to believe that we’re talking at cross-purposes. We’re too scared of saying the wrong thing, too scared of being labelled or mislabelled. The term ‘white privilege’ is a case in point. It’s hard to argue that a white person living in social housing in an area of high deprivation, earning minimum wage

the hot mess we’ve created as a nation has its roots in a complex history

and struggling to make ends meet is ‘privileged’ if your understanding of privilege looks a lot like our current Prime Minister. But what additional challenges would they face if they were Black? Is privilege the right word when what we’re really talking about is the layer of protection that having white skin can give? If you remove that layer of ‘white armour’, what then? A wealthy person with Black skin can stave off the hardships of poverty, but their money won’t protect them from inequalities caused by systemic racism. We’re facing a precarious future so what do we have to lose by fighting for an anti-racist society? It’s not a zero-sum game. While we work to eradicate racism and racist structures, we can also fight against inequality, injustice and hatred wherever they rear their heads. The antiracism movement is about individual responsibility to bring about positive, collective change for a better world. It’s not hard work if we’re all sharing the load. Words: Degna Stone

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 15

26/10/2021 15:50

Buffalo Gal on the streets of San Francisco

Contacts: PHYLLIS CHRISTOPHER

Castro Street Fair, San Francisco, CA, 1989, Silver Gelatin Print 16

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 16

26/10/2021 15:50

orget our culture of anodyne, flavourless selfies and take this opportunity to focus on what photography can really do. It can take you there while holding you at arm’s length, make direct eye contact while offering you the bigger picture, demand your pin-point concentration on a single moment yet surround it with the glorious incidentals of life as she is lived.

ACT-UP Protest at Burroughs Welcome Pharmaceutical Company, Livermore, CA, 1989, Silver Gelatin Print

Phyllis Christopher is happily associated in my mind with The Crack and the North-East, but it takes an exhibition at BALTIC to remind me that she’s a Buffalo girl from New York State whose suburban roots in an industrial city chime closer to Gateshead than they do with the great adventure pictured here – San Francisco at the end of the 1980s. This was the moment when pleasure and protest were different sides of the same coin, when a sense of community meant being heard and being seen, and identity was an action-packed movement of inclusion and acceptance. www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 17

26/10/2021 15:50

Protest Against Anti-Gay Christian Fundamentalist Preacher Larry Lea, Halloween Night, San Francisco, CA, 1990, Silver Gelatin Print

It seems a world away, but there was a pandemic then too, as AIDS began to bite while AZT, the drug developed by Burroughs Wellcome Inc., remained prohibitively expensive. Cue assemblies and marches, banners and badges and, of course, police intervention that brooked no nuance of context or intention. One placard, “Robert Mapplethorpe is the Messiah”, reminds us that the pioneering chronicler of New York’s gay male scene, whose iconic sexual images had established an agenda of confrontation by their infiltration of mainstream photographic culture, died early in 1989. There was also a continuing crisis of identity, or maybe recognition. To be queer now involved being visible, a statement of glorious and unavoidable sexual fact, at a time when the strident strains of American conventionality were feverishly preaching suppression (not to say conversion) via the selfnegating combination of violence and prayer. But San Francisco had been the gay capital of the States for decades, so whatever queer affirmation now spurted into visibility in its bars, clubs and on the streets was guaranteed to be anything but discreet.

Dancers, Vogue Night, Club G Spot, San Francisco, CA, 1989, Silver Gelatin Print 18

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 18

26/10/2021 15:51

This exhibition reflects that moment, when identity was created simply by being part of it, an ardently cacophonous, ragged edged party that wasn’t going to close down for anybody. And in Christopher’s photographs (pegged up to develop in the bedroom/darkroom of her local apartment) the eye of the camera is a participant, a player as much as an observer. When the subject is a woman tackled to the ground by a cop, she still manages to make significant eye contact with photographer, camera lens and sympathy – we’re all part of this and it’s about us, not them. Casual moments of tenderness or passion are unembarrassed by the photographer’s observation, quirks of expression aren’t smoothed down or censored, and the orgiastic party energy that pushes pleasure to a point beyond control to a moment detached from past and future and defined only by the music and the laughter, is certainly beyond any inhibition. Indeed, looking at these images runs a soundtrack in the viewer’s head, of the beat and the riffs, the yells and shared jokes. They are, too, full of messages, stuck to guitars, written on placards, tattooed onto skin, scrawled on walls, as words spill urgently through this world of monochrome surfaces, scratching and modifying them, making a mark by mark-making. There is a cross culture of codes here, from Doc Martens to rhinestone bras, a collusive mixture of self-expression and dramatisation, especially where some of the subjects are overt performers (drag king Elvis Herselvis adjusts a quiff and emotes into a microphone). The power of performance, though, informs every glimpse of Christopher’s San Francisco, with all her subjects creating and playing out those roles that the time and place demanded and the camera recognised.

Alley South of Market, San Francisco, CA, 1997, Silver Gelatin Print

Words: Gail-Nina Anderson Phyllis Christopher: Contacts 23 October 2021 – 20 March 2022 BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art

IN CONVERSATION: PHYLLIS CHRISTOPHER Wednesday 8 December 6pm

Join artist Phyllis Christopher at BALTIC as she discusses her work with Laura Guy and Lizzie Homersham. FREE: Booking essential - www.baltic.art/tickets

Elvis Herselvis at Klubstitute, San Francisco, CA, 1991, Silver Gelatin Print www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 19

26/10/2021 15:51

what &

wear ON DENIM

Does Denim ever go out of fashion? (Answer: no.) And if you’re hankering after some of the best denim around then I suggest you give Union a whirl, pronto. There are very few outfits that don’t work with a good bit of denim, but finding the right fit can be hard graft. With 33 years of knowledge under his belt – pun intended – Geoff Brownless decided that Newcastle needed a bit of help with their denim mishaps of the past (looking at you Geordie Jeans) and opened Union Clothing in 1987. Since then they’ve gone from denim aficionados to stocking some of the best lifestyle brands that fashion has to offer, and have managed to create a shop that’s fashionable without being up itself. Some of their current brands include Redwing and Deux ex Machina, and even if denim’s not your thing (who are you kidding?) then you can still fill your wardrobe with some street stylesavvy threads. FR Union, 35 High Bridge, Newcastle. unionclothing.co.uk

NO PLASTIC?

The fashion industry is notoriously dreadful when it comes to sustainability, especially when it comes to the fabrics it uses. Thankfully there are some badass people around helping the biz move away from problematic materials and towards greener pastures. Leather has long been used because it’s versatile and durable but recently brands have moved away from it, choosing faux or ‘vegan leather’ instead. Which is great – except now there’s a shitload of plastic fabrics knocking about instead. But one company, Piñatex, has made an alternative – and they’ve made it out of pineapples. Yep, literally pineapples. (Or, more accurately, from their 40,000 tonnes of postharvest leaf waste.) Piñatex has also managed to eliminate all the damaging effects of usual production by avoiding using any additional land, pesticides or water as well. It might sound flimsy, but it’s still just as tough as regular leather and has successfully made everything from handbags to shoes. It even has the same texture, durability and appearance as its animal-based counterpart. With a lot of big brands starting to use it, it won’t be long before you’re rocking some of these produce-based kicks. FR If you’d like to know more about Piñatex then take yourself off to ananas-anam.com

BUCK-ET

Bucket hats are a summer staple, tossed aside when temperatures start to drop. But in the spirit of saying ‘fuck that’ to clothes you hardly wear, we’re declaring there’s a bucket hat for every season. Canvas bucket hats probably aren’t going to keep you warm, so branching out on your fabric choices will keep your head suﬃciently toasty. Everyone from ASOS to Prada are wheeling them out in shearling, corduroy and faux fur, and while we know the idea of donning a shearling bucket hat feels a bit 90s LL Cool J, brands like Stüssy and Carhartt have nailed cosy and trendy without looking like you’ve gone headlong into a 90s rap video. Next time you’re venturing out in the cold, give your beanie the night oﬀ and consider giving your favourite bucket hat the limelight a little longer. FR Seek: stussy.co.uk; carhartt.com

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 20

26/10/2021 15:51

Some action at Newcastle

Holly, 23 Job: Vintage Shop Purple cardigan Fave Colour: Teal

Kieran Job: Hospitality White flower trousers Best book: Berserk Manga

Victoria Job: Yoga Teacher Orange square trousers Fave Colour: Autumn colours

Jack, 31 Job: Tattoo artist Leopard print jacket Best book: 1984

Emma, 23 Job: Artist Red Converse, stripy socks Fave Colour: Rainbow

Sophie, 19 Job: Student Green flower jumper Best book: Wind in the Willows

Photography by Eden Chapman-Maurice www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 21

26/10/2021 15:51

i qui l

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 22

26/10/2021 15:51

Listings 24 MUSIC 32 LOCAL SCENE 34 CLUBS 36 ART 42 STAGE & EVENTS

Trunky Juno

Theatre/dance/opera/ kids/talks & shows

50 FILM 54 BOOKS 56 ALBUMS & SINGLES

Friday 12 November, 7pm Durham’s Trunky Juno shares much in common with Liverpool’s Pizzagirl in that they both make joyous music that is popheavy and laden with hooks galore. He also has a US college indie-rock vibe and fans of Father John Misty, MGMT and The Flaming Lips won’t be lobbing brickbats his way any time soon. His new EP ‘Good Dog’ is out now.

Full listings online: www.thecrackmagazine.com Upload your listings at: thecrackmagazine.com/addevent or email them to: listings/@thecrackmagazine.com

Surf Cafe, Tynemouth. surfcafetynemouth.co.uk, £8

Recommended

highlights

Harry Hill: Fight!

Havana Glasgow Film Festival Festival of Economics

8 – 29 November Comedian and television presenter Harry Hill talks about his new autobiography FIGHT! and shares photos and clips from his huge home movie collection. Featuring: Harry Hill Superfan Quiz – Prove that you are Harry’s biggest fan and win one of Harry’s artworks! Audience Q&A – your chance to interact with the self-styled Supervarmint™ yourself! Sterile Selfie – an opportunity to get a self-imposed photograph with the - FloppyCollared-Loon™ under strict Covid-19 safe conditions! Shelter in the sitting down position for over 1 hour!

16 – 21 November This annual festival is packed with the usual high quality mix of thought-provoking Cuban films, Cuban culture, discussion, debate and music. Highlights include a Friday dedicated to Cuba’s unique approach to sustainability and climate change, featuring shorts, documentaries and discussion. Elsewhere Rebecca Heidenberg, Director of Queens of the Revolution (pictured) will take part in a live streamed Q&A to discuss her portrait of a cultural centre that paved the road for LGBTQ+ rights in Cuba.

Touring London, Brighton, Tring, Cambridge, Nottingham, Maidenhead, Bristol, Birmingham, Milton Keynes, Cardiff, Glasgow and Manchester.

£15 / £7.50 passes allow access to all online films and events, with an additional cost of £0/£2/£4/£6/£8 for live events.

17 – 19 November In the annual Festival of Economics, economists and experts from around the world debate with each other – and their audiences – some of the key economic questions of our time. The programme includes a recording of the popular Talking Politics podcast; Will Page on adapting to disruption; Diane Coyle on how economics needs to change; Rory Cellan-Jones on the smartphone era; Meredith Crowley, George Magnus and Linda Yueh on the relationship between America and China; and a panel on the economics of household labour.

We The Curious, Anchor Road, 1 Millennium Square, Bristol, prices vary.

Coventry Biennial 2021: Hyper-Possible Until 23 January 2022 Opening as part of Coventry UK City of Culture the third Coventry Biennial HYPERPOSSIBLE will see more than 50 artists exhibiting in seven locations across Coventry and Warwickshire. Three historical art movements centred around the area - Art & Language, The BLK Art Group and Cybernetic Culture Research Unit - act as starting points for new commissions and artist selections.

Coventry Cathedral, Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Leamington Art Gallery & Museum, Rugby Art Gallery & Museum, The Old Grammar School and a new gallery for the city, located above HMV Empire Coventry.

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 23

26/10/2021 15:51

Music

TENTACLES

GIVE IT SOME The Welsh electronic musician and producer Kelly Lee Owens won raves for her debut album in 2017, and she topped those raves with last year’s even better follow up ‘Inner Song’. Imagine! Kelly Lee Owens likes to operate in the gap that exists between the chilly and the fuzzily warm, and that concept was pushed very much to the fore on last year’s brilliant ‘Inner Song’ album. It’s a release that saw her pushing precision beats, such as on opener ‘Arpeggi’, which cuts a path directly to your brain; but she also knows how to swivel your hips in the direction of the dancefloor too with straight-downthe-middle techno bangers such as ‘Melt!’ and ‘Night’ (both of which meld Owens’ ethereal vocals to juddering baselines). Other dancefloor winners include the likes of ‘Jeanette’, in which cascading synths rub shoulders with strident kick-drums. But it’s not all bang-bang-bang however – far from it. ‘On’ is introspective and trip-hoppy, while on ‘Corner of My Sky’ she is aided and abetted by John Cale, who lends his vocals to minimalistic synth patterns. I imagine these tracks are going to sound all kinds of thrilling in the live arena and we’ll all get the chance to find out when Lee Owens hits Newcastle this November. GM Kelly Lee Owens, Monday 22 November, St. Dominic’s Catholic Club, Crawhill Road, Newcastle, 7.30pm, £20. skiddle.com

The Ozric Tentacles continue to spread their other-worldly vibes throughout the land, which, hey, includes Stockton and Newcastle in early December. As a musical entity, did Ozric Tentacles actually ‘form’ or did the band members just swirl up together one evening to present the world with a throbbing presence that managed to worm its way into festival-goers consciousness (it’s the former – ed.). Who knows, but it happened during the solstice at the Stonehenge Free Festival back in 1983, and ever since then the band have become staples at Glastonbury (and other festivals), generally on stages that bend towards the more psychedelic side of things. Their trippy soundscapes pull

together all sorts of fruity strands (think: prog rock, psych and dance) and last year’s very fine ‘Space For Earth’ album saw them operating at the height of their powers. Written, programmed, recorded and produced by head honcho Ed Wynne these seven new tracks, spanning 45 minutes, were inspired by the Scottish hills, valleys and beaches that surround his studio and take listeners on a real journey of discovery. ‘This is space music for people from the Earth to enjoy,’ according to Ed. We’re not arguing. GM Ozric Tentacles: Thursday 2 December, Cluny 2, Newcastle, 8pm, £15. thecluny.com; Friday 3 December, The Georgian Theatre, Stockton, 8pm, £13. georgiantheatre.co.uk

READY! PEGGY! The London-based indie-folkpoppers Peggy Sue are back on the road and doing what they do best (i.e. regaling audiences with their tales of toxic relationships and bad behaviour in the most harmonious way possible). When Peggy Sue released their debut album ‘Fossils and Other Phantoms’ back in 2010, all sorts of people were ready to pigeonhole them under the nu-folk banner – a movement that gave us the likes of Mumford and Sons et al. But over the course of the subsequent decade – and a clutch of very fine albums, and tours with the likes of First Aid Kit and Jack White – Katy Young and Rosa Slade proved that they were very much their own thing. Their latest album – last year’s ‘Vices’ – was among the best received of their career and packed in 60s pop, surf guitars, tracks that were as soft as a whisper, tracks that knew when to get a wiggle on, slinky harmonies, strident harmonies, and bittersweet tales that were told in the lushest of manners. There’s a real push and pull to the album, with a tension between the positivity and the downbeat, and romances that soar and then crumble, and it makes for an entirely bracing listen. DP Peggy Sue, Friday 26 November, The Cluny, Newcastle, 7.30pm, £9. thecluny.com

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 24

26/10/2021 15:51

GIFT OF THE GAB

The awesome Gabrielle is (belatedly) celebrating the 20th anniversary of her chart-topping ‘Rise’ album this Autumn, which – hooray! – will see her playing Sage Gateshead. Of course, 1999’s ‘Rise’ album wasn’t the first we heard from Gabrielle. She actually topped the singles chart in 1993 with her classic debut single ‘Dreams’, and she also had top ten hits with the likes of ‘Going Nowhere’, ‘Give Me a Little More Time’ and ‘If You Ever’ (a duet with East 17). But, safe to say, the ‘Rise’ album is the real connoisseurs’ choice

of her work – a perfect melding of R&B, pop and soul – and it went on to achieve 4xPlatinum status. Not one to rest on her laurels, Gabrielle returned to the top ten once again with 2018’s ‘Under My Skin’ album – her highest charting release since ‘Rise’ – which saw her nab the Radio 2 Record of the Week. Of this latest tour she says: “I’m looking forward to performing songs from ‘Rise’ alongside lots of my other favourites and I could never end a show without playing ‘Dreams’. It’s going to be a big party.’ GM Gabrielle, Friday 12 November, Sage Gateshead, 7pm, from £30. sagegateshead.com

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 25

26/10/2021 15:51

Music dream-pop

tHe singer songwriter’s

Nerina Pallot has written tracks for the likes of Kylie Minogue, but she also has an enviable back catalogue of her own, which now runs to six albums’ worth. She’s in Newcastle this November to hit us up with her best tunes.

Advert here

When Nerina Pallot was a child she watched Kate Bush perform ‘This Woman’s Work’ on Terry Wogan’s TV show and thought, ‘That’s it – I’m going to do that.’ And she has. Over an illustrious career, which has included BRIT and Ivor Novello Award nominations, she has bowled us over with the kind of pop music that arrows straight to your heart. She’s not averse to a bit of sonic derringdo (see 2015’s ‘The Sound and the Fury’ album) but her last long-player (2017’s ‘Stay Lucky’) saw her returning to the kind of songcraft and heartfelt balladry that really made her name. From the gorgeous title track (a kind of love letter to her younger son, which on paper sounds like it might be a bit bleurgh, but is most deﬁnitely not) to ‘Come Back to Bed’ (the most tender paean to shagging you’re ever likely to hear) Pallot knows how to push all the buttons. JL Nerina Pallot, Tuesday 16 November, Wylam Brewery, Newcastle, 7.30pm, £18.50. wylambrewery.co.uk

Brummies JAWS have plenty of oomph to go with their spiralling psych-drenched dreampop sound and they’ll be giving it some when they play Sunderland in November. JAWS’s debut album ‘Be Slowly’ (released back in 2014) was a fine calling card for their spangled indie-pop, which reached up above the chimney pots and into the clouds. On ‘Simplicity’ (their second longplayer – released in 2016) they lobbed a certain amount of beef into the mix for a bolder sound that still managed to harness plenty of soaring melodies. It was on 2019’s ‘The Ceiling’, however, when they band really took flight. It’s a release that is packing real heat with plenty of Bombay Bicycle Club-like hooks welded to a full-force indie-rock sound that comes on like hurricane. It can be dark, it can be gritty, but if you enjoy being grabbed by the lapels and propelled into the stratosphere then you’re going to find much to enjoy here. GM JAWS, Tuesday 23 November, Independent, Sunderland, 7.30pm, £13.50. independentsunderland.com

music MONDAY• 1

avalancHe party – Feral garage-punk rock & roll. The Cluny 2, 34 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £9. vega – British melodic hard rock band. Riverside, 1 The Close, Quayside, Newcastle, NE1 3RQ, 0191 260 5001, 7pm, £16.50.

TUESDAY• 2

asHley Henry – South London

pianist with a wide range of inﬂuences. The Cluny, 36 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £13. Jane weaver – A truly independent and resilient female experimental songwriter / soundcarrier. The Georgian Theatre, Green Dragon Yard, Stockton on Tees, TS18 1AE, 01642 674115, 7.30pm, £13adv. ksi – An English video game commentator, comedian and rapper. Riverside, 1 The Close, Quayside, Newcastle, NE1 3RQ, 0191 260 5001, 7pm, £22. rutH lyon – Ruth sweeps from self-questioning piano ballads and lush string arrangements, to hands-in-the-air indie bangers. Alphabetti Theatre, St James Boulevard, Newcastle, NE1 4HP, 7.30pm, Pay what you feel. selF esteem – As Self Esteem, Rebecca Taylor has shaken oﬀ the shackles of her indie band past to become the unapologetic pop star she always wanted to be. Wylam Brewery, Palace of Arts, Exhibition Park, Newcastle, NE2 4PZ, 01661 853377, 7pm, £16.50. spinn – A four-piece from Liverpool who create their own kind of jangly guitar pop. The Cluny 2, 34 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £12. tHe elo eXperience – Sunderland Empire Theatre, High Street West, Sunderland, SR1 3EX, 0844 871 3022, 7.30pm, £26.

WEDNESDAY• 3

dappy – North London MC / vocalist from N-Dubz. Newcastle University Students Union, Kings Road, Newcastle, NE2 4NL, 0191 239 3900, 7pm, £16.50. Hanya – Indie upcomersfrom Brighton. Bobik’s, The Punch Bowl Hotel,

125 Jesmond Road, Newcastle, NE2 3JY, 0191 284 0490, 8pm, £8. Holding aBsence – An atmospheric melodic / post hardcore band from Cardiﬀ. Think Tank?, Digital, Times Square, Centre For Life, Newcastle, NE1 4EP, 0191 261 9755, 7pm, £15.40. Jarv is – The new project from Pulp icon Jarvis Cocker. Boiler Shop, 20 South Street, Newcastle, NE1 3PE, 7pm, £30.25.

tHe wasHBoard resonators

– Footstomping blues, ragtime, swing and folk music. The Globe, 11 Railway Street, Newcastle, NE4 7AD, 8pm, £10adv/£12otd/ Livestream from £7.50.

tHe weeknd: tHe aFter Hours tour – One of the most

remarkable, intriguing and soulful artists to emerge in recent years. Utilita Arena Newcastle, Arena Way, Newcastle, NE4 7NA, 0844 493 6666, 6pm, £45-£78.75. wednesday 13 – The frontman from Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13 and the Murderdolls. Riverside, 1 The Close, Quayside, Newcastle, NE1 3RQ, 0191 260 5001, 7pm, £20.

wHitney - Queen oF tHe nigHt

– Sunderland Empire Theatre, High Street West, Sunderland, SR1 3EX, 0844 871 3022, 7.30pm, £13.

THURSDAY• 4

Holly rees – An indie-rock

act based in Newcastle. Alphabetti Theatre, St James Boulevard, Newcastle, NE1 4HP, 7.30pm, Pay what you feel. nortHern live – The World’s Greatest and most authentic touring Live Band Northern Soul Show. The Forum Theatre, Queensway, Billingham, Stockton-onTees, TS23 2LJ, 01642 552 663, 7.30pm, £22.50.

roB lamBerti: a celeBration oF tHe songs and music oF george micHael

– Whitley Bay Playhouse, Marine Avenue, Whitley Bay, NE26 1LZ, 0844 248 1588, 7.30pm, £33.95. stay lunar – Head of Steam, 2 Neville Street, Newcastle, NE1 5EN, 7.50pm, £7. tHe small Fakers – Small Faces tribute band. Support from Who’s Who. The Cluny, 36 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7pm, £15. tHe yusseF dayes eXperience – The UKs most innovative drummer and producer. Wylam Brewery, Palace of Arts, Exhibition Park, Newcastle, NE2 4PZ, 01661 853377, 7pm, £20.

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 26

26/10/2021 16:11

Friday• 5

Amy Wadge – Grammy

Award-winning singer/ songwriter known for her collaborative writing efforts with artists such as Ed Sheeran, James Blunt, and Kylie Minogue. The Sage Gateshead, Gateshead Quays, Gateshead, NE8 2YR, 0191 443 4661, 8pm, £10.90. Average White Band – One of the best soul and funk bands in history, known for their mega-hit ‘Pick up the Pieces’. Tyne Theatre and Opera House, 111 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 4AG, 0844 2491000, Time tbc, £30.50-£45.50. Bootleg Blondie – The Forum Music Centre, Borough Road, Darlington, DL1 1SG, 01325 363 135, 7.30pm, £13. Ceitidh Mac – A transformative sound that puts a progressive twist on the alt.folk genre. Bobik’s, The Punch Bowl Hotel, 125 Jesmond Road, Newcastle, NE2 3JY, 0191 284 0490, 7.30pm, £8/£5. Chris Helme (Seahorses) – Frontman of 90s indie band Seahorses. Old Cinema Launderette, 38 Marshall Terrace, Gilesgate Moor, Durham, DH1 2HX, 0191 384 1412, 8pm, £22.

Henge - Fireworks Night Gig Party!

– Bringing you the gift of cosmic dross- a kind of music new to our world. Cobalt Studios Ltd, 10-16 Boyd Street, Newcastle, NE2 1AP, 07977 201596 / 0191 2323553, 8pm, £12.

Howlin’ Ric and The Rocketeers

– Vibrant and authentic rock and roll. The Globe, 11 Railway Street, Newcastle, NE4 7AD, 8pm, £10adv/£12otd/ Livestream from £7.50. Lucy Spraggan – A complex singer songwriter and emotive wordsmith. The Middlesbrough Empire, Corporation Road, Middlesbrough, TS1 2RT, 01642 253553, 7pm, £21.30.

Mercury - The Ultimate Queen Tribute – Whitley Bay

Playhouse, Marine Avenue, Whitley Bay, NE26 1LZ, 0844 248 1588, 7.30pm, £25.40. Nick Shoulders – New Orleans based ethereal honky tonkers. The Cluny 2, 34 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £17.50. Northering – Maisie May and Anna Hughes deftly weave together drones, samples and finger-style guitar with close-knit vocal interplay. Alphabetti Theatre, St James Boulevard, Newcastle, NE1 4HP, 7.30pm, Pay

what you feel. On Parole – Local duo Larry Page (guitar & vocals) and Steve Rudd (bass & vocals), following Last Orders, have spent some time Behind Bars and are now On Parole. The Exchange, 1 Howard Street, North Shields, NE30 1SE, 0191 258 4111, 4.45pm, Free.

Public Service Broadcasting

– Teaching the lessons of the past through the music of the future. O2 City Hall, Northumberland Road, Newcastle, NE1 8SF, 0844 811 2121, 7pm, £33.40adv.

Rob Lamberti - A Celebration Of The Songs And Music Of George Michael

– Middlesbrough Theatre, The Avenue, Linthorpe, Middlesbrough, TS5 6SA, 01642 815181, 7.30pm, £30.50.

Royal Northern Sinfonia: Nordic Magic – With a programme

that includes Sibelius’ Symphony No.3, Grieg’s Holberg Suite and Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto. The Sage Gateshead, Gateshead Quays, Gateshead, NE8 2YR, 0191 443 4661, 7.30pm, £39.50.

Sedgefield Rock & Blues Club: Ben Poole – One the most

exciting young Rock, Blues & Soul artists to come out of the UK for a long, long time! Sedgefield Parish Hall, Front Street, Sedgefield, County Durham, TS21 3AT, 7pm, £15. The Devout – Europe’s leading Depeche Mode experience. The Cluny, 36 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £13. The Drifters – Empire Theatre and Cinema, Front Street, Consett, DH8 5AB, 01207 218171, 7.30pm, £26. The Purnells – Teesside’s very own Theatrical Bluesy Rock purveyors of mayhem. The Georgian Theatre, Green Dragon Yard, Stockton on Tees, TS18 1AE, 01642 674115, 8pm, £7adv.

The Washboard Resonators

– Footstomping blues, ragtime, swing and folk music. The Radio Rooms, 95 Main St, Tweedmouth, Berwick-upon-Tweed, TD15 2AW, 6pm, £5.50.

Saturday• 6

Antarctic Monkeys – O2 Acad-

emy Newcastle, Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SW, 08444 772000, 6.30pm, £17.10adv. Armchairanarchists – Mark Carr aka Armchairanarchists welcomes you into Room 2021 to experience a live audio/ visual paradox of Love Hate and Stupidity.

Star & Shadow Cinema, 210 Warwick Street, Newcastle, NE2 1BB, 7pm, £5/£3. Baskery – The queens of banjopunk. The Globe, 11 Railway Street, Newcastle, NE4 7AD, 8pm, £10/livestream tickets £7.50-£20. Bugeye – A sequindrenched all-female four-piece. NE Volume Music Bar, 21d Yarm Lane, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 3DR, 7pm, £8. Cud – Leeds-based four piece who released 5 albums, 17 singles and several John Peel sessions. Riverside, 1 The Close, Quayside, Newcastle, NE1 3RQ, 0191 260 5001, 7pm, £16.50. Desperate Journalist – London post-punk outfit. Head of Steam, 2 Neville Street, Newcastle, NE1 5EN, 7.30pm, £10.

Elvana: Elvis Fronted Nirvana

– The Middlesbrough Empire, Corporation Road, Middlesbrough, TS1 2RT, 01642 253553, 7pm, £22. Engelbert Humperdinck – His unique voice has charmed millions of fans. O2 City Hall, Northumberland Road, Newcastle, NE1 8SF, 0844 811 2121, 7pm, £57.50. Imonolith – A hard hitting, 5 piece Canadian based Hard Rock/Metal band. Think Tank? Underground, Times Square, Scotswood Road, Newcastle, NE1 4EP, 7pm, £10. In My Time Of Dying – Little Buildings, 1 Ford Street, Newcastle, 7pm, £7.50. JLS – Multi BRIT and MOBO Award winning boy band. Utilita Arena Newcastle, Arena Way, Newcastle, NE4 7NA, 0844 493 6666, 6pm, £33.15-£61.90. Joel Culpepper – Joel has been described as ‘the UK’s answer to Andre 3000 and Frank Ocean’. The Cluny 2, 34 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm. Mercury – Tribute to Freddie Mercury and Queen. The Forum Theatre, Queensway, Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees, TS23 2LJ, 01642 552 663, 7.30pm, £23.

Music From The French Baroque

– Showcasing prestigious musicianship from across the country in one of the region’s finest acoustic settings. Queen’s Hall Arts Centre, Beaumont Street, Hexham, NE46 3LS, 01434 652 477, 2pm, £15. NCMS: Takács Quartet – One of the great chamber ensembles of our time. The Sage Gateshead, Gateshead Quays,

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 27

26/10/2021 16:11

Music Gateshead, NE8 2YR, 0191 443 4661, 3pm, £8-£25. Secret Affair – Secret Affair were at the forefront of the ‘Mod Revival’ movement. The Cluny, 36 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7pm, £20. Show of Hands – Folk supergroup. Gala Theatre, Millennium Place, Durham, DH1 1WA, 03000 266 600, 8pm, £27.50. The Magic of The Beatles – Empire Theatre and Cinema, Front Street, Consett, DH8 5AB, 01207 218171, 7.30pm, £21.50. The Muldoons – An indiemusic lover’s dream of jangly guitars, trumpets and sweet melodies. Bobik’s, The Punch Bowl Hotel, 125 Jesmond Road, Newcastle, NE2 3JY, 0191 284 0490, 8pm, £8/£5. Waves – Sunderland’s all new multi-venue music festival. featuring Club Paradise, Philth Like, bigfatbig and more tba. The Peacock, Independent, The Ship Isis, The Bunker and Live Lounge, Sunderland, 1pm, £10.

Sunday• 7

Bleak Soul & Tigress – Bleak Soul is the solo project of ex-As It Is guitarist Benjamin Langford-Biss. Tigress are a British rock band from Chelmsford. Cobalt Studios Ltd, 10-16 Boyd Street, Newcastle, NE2 1AP, 07977 201596 / 0191 2323553, 7.30pm, £8. Eaglesfest – Multi-venues festival featuring The Burning Hell, Baskery, Dressed Like Wolves, Tom Joshua, Gone Tomorrow, plus more tba. The Waiting Room, 9 Station Road, Eaglescliffe, Stockton on Tees, TS16 0BU, 01642 780 465, Time tbc, £25. East Coast Quintet – An exciting new North East band whose music draws on the likes of Mingus, Coltrane and Metheny. The Globe, 11 Railway Street, Newcastle, NE4 7AD, 7pm, £10adv/£12otd/ Livestream from £7.50. Imperial Wax – Plus support from TV Death. The Engine Room, Tanners Bank, North Shields, Tyneside, NE301JH, 07470695351, 6.30pm, £10. Nihiloxica – One of electronic music’s most extraordinary & original acts. . Cobalt Studios Ltd, 10-16 Boyd Street, Newcastle, NE2 1AP, 07977 201596 / 0191 2323553, 7pm, £9-£13.

Real Lies – London electronic group. The Cluny 2, 34 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7pm, £8. The Frankland String Quartet – Playing “Nice

to see you“ - William Marsey and String quartet in A minor, opus 13. - Mendelssohn. The Globe, 11 Railway Street, Newcastle, NE4 7AD, 3pm, £10adv/£12otd/ Livestream from £7.50.

sam slatcher: the Wandering Gig – This wandering gig

starts outside Durham Cathedral and ends at Witton Gilbert. Durham Cathedral, Chapter Office, Palace Green, Durham, DH1 3EH, 2pm, £12.

Monday• 8

Area Eleven – Think

Tank?, Digital, Times Square, Centre For Life, Newcastle, NE1 4EP, 0191 261 9755, 7pm, £15.

Deacon Blue - Cities of Love 2021

– O2 City Hall, Northumberland Road, Newcastle, NE1 8SF, 0844 811 2121, 7pm, £37.35adv. Matthew Halsall – A trumpeter whose unflashy, soulful playing radiates a thoughtful beauty. Wylam Brewery, Palace of Arts, Exhibition Park, Newcastle, NE2 4PZ, 01661 853377, 7pm, £21.45. Sarah McQuaid – One of the most instantly recognisable voices in current music. The Lightship, South Harbour, Blyth, Northumberland, NE24 3PB, 07929616703, 7pm, £14. STEPS – Enduring pop legends. With special guest Sophie Ellis-Bextor. Utilita Arena Newcastle, Arena Way, Newcastle, NE4 7NA, 0844 493 6666, 6.30pm, £41.85-£113.85. The Drifters – Whitley Bay Playhouse, Marine Avenue, Whitley Bay, NE26 1LZ, 0844 248 1588, 7.30pm, £32.15. Tom Bright – The Cluny 2, 34 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £9. Venus Grrrls – Ethereal and tenacious, Venus Grrrls are an all girl rock band from Leeds. Head of Steam, 2 Neville Street, Newcastle, NE1 5EN, 7.30pm, £9.50.

Tuesday• 9

Emma Johnson & Martin Roscoe

– Playing with clarinettist Emma is one of the UK’s best loved pianists Martin Roscoe. Alnwick Playhouse, Bondgate Without, Alnwick,

Northumberland, NE66 1PQ, 01665 660550, 7.30pm, £18/19-30 year olds £6/Under 18s Free. Gone Tomorrow – Support from Reardon Love, Meagre Demeanour, EMU. NE Volume Music Bar, 21d Yarm Lane, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 3DR, 8pm, £5. Ishmael Ensemble – Bristol based, multi instrumentalist, producer and DJ Pete Cunningham, fusing jazz composition with electronic music. The Cluny 2, 34 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £11. Jodie Nicholson – Singersongwriter with a core of delicate melodies and soft instrumentation. Alphabetti Theatre, St James Boulevard, Newcastle, NE1 4HP, 7.30pm, Pay what you feel. One Night In Dublin – The Wild Murphys play a thrilling mix of traditional and contemporary tunes. Tyne Theatre and Opera House, 111 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 4AG, 0844 2491000, 7.30pm, £22.50. Osees – Ferocious, far out, off-kilter and totally in your face. San Francisco based Psych-Punk rockers. Boiler Shop, 20 South Street, Newcastle, NE1 3PE, 7pm, £tbc. Porridge Radio – A post-punk 4-piece inelegantly knotting together vicious, furious emotional outpour with beautifully melodic pop songs. The Cluny, 36 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7pm, £11. The Elvis Years – The Forum Theatre, Queensway, Billingham, Stockton-onTees, TS23 2LJ, 01642 552 663, 7.30pm, £24.50. Too Many Zooz – Making organic music, which they call “Brasshouse“. Wylam Brewery, Palace of Arts, Exhibition Park, Newcastle, NE2 4PZ, 01661 853377, 7pm, £24.75.

Wednesday• 10

Ben Caplan – Caplan

re-appropriates ancient sounds and themes with a decidedly contemporary twist. The Cluny 2, 34 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £12.50. Beth Hart – Soulful blues-rock singer from Los Angeles. O2 City Hall, Northumberland Road, Newcastle, NE1 8SF, 0844 811 2121, 7pm, £tbc. Buzzcocks – English punk rock band. The Cluny, 36

Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £20. Declan O’Rourke – Gosforth Civic Theatre, Regent Farm Road, Newcastle, NE3 3HD, 0191 284 3700, 8pm, £18. Four - Jazz – Cool jazz from the 1930s to the 1960s. The Exchange, 1 Howard Street, North Shields, NE30 1SE, 0191 258 4111, 7pm, Free. Georgia May – A soulful vocalist, born and raised in Newcastle with Nigerian roots. Alphabetti Theatre, St James Boulevard, Newcastle, NE1 4HP, 7.30pm, Pay what you feel. Madeleine Peyroux – The Sage Gateshead, Gateshead Quays, Gateshead, NE8 2YR, 0191 443 4661, 7.30pm, £35.20-£46.20.

Thursday• 11

Darren Hayman – Former Hefner front man. Old Cinema Launderette, 38 Marshall Terrace, Gilesgate Moor, Durham, DH1 2HX, 0191 384 1412, 8pm, £15. Easy Life – O2 Academy Newcastle, Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SW, 08444 772000, 7pm, £22.70. False Heads – East London three-piece playing lofi psych/garage grooves. NE Volume Music Bar, 21d Yarm Lane, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 3DR, 7pm, £8. Green Ribbons/Cath & Phil Tyler – Green Ribbons

is a project dedicated to the celebration of unaccompanied song. Cath & Phil Tyler are an Anglo-American folk duo. The Cumberland Arms, James Place Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE6 1LD, 7.30pm, £10. Heidi – A 19 year old singer-songwriter from North Shields. Alphabetti Theatre, St James Boulevard, Newcastle, NE1 4HP, 7.30pm, Pay what you feel. Higher Power – Hardcore punk from Leeds. Support from Static Dress. The Cluny, 36 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £10adv. Sheelanagig – A quintet with a well-stocked armoury of stringed instruments added with the rhythmic energy of flute and drums and a bagful of joint-jumping tunes. The Globe, 11 Railway Street, Newcastle, NE4 7AD, 8pm, £12. The Elvis Years – Whitley Bay Playhouse, Marine Avenue, Whitley Bay,

NE26 1LZ, 0844 248 1588, 7.30pm, £28.10. The Macc Lads – The alt-punkrock and self-proclaimed rudest, crudest, lewdest, drunkest band in Christendom. The Middlesbrough Empire, Corporation Road, Middlesbrough, TS1 2RT, 01642 253553, 7pm, £20. The Magic Of Motown – The Forum Theatre, Queensway, Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees, TS23 2LJ, 01642 552 663, 7.30pm, £27/£25. Wayward Sons – Riverside, 1 The Close, Quayside, Newcastle, NE1 3RQ, 0191 260 5001, 7pm, £11.

Friday• 12

Anna Meredith – A composer,

producer and performer of both acoustic and electronic music. The Sage Gateshead, Gateshead Quays, Gateshead, NE8 2YR, 0191 443 4661, 8pm, £18.20. Anti-Nowhere League – An infamous group of hardcore punk rock anarchists. The Georgian Theatre, Green Dragon Yard, Stockton on Tees, TS18 1AE, 01642 674115, 8pm, £13adv. Balter – A contemporary folk quartet who have emerged from the music scene in Newcastle. The Globe, 11 Railway Street, Newcastle, NE4 7AD, 8pm, £10adv/£12otd/ Livestream from £7.50. Beccy Owen – A queer, neurodiverse artist with a spell-binding stage presence and pianobased songs that are overflowing with lyrical intelligence. Alphabetti Theatre, St James Boulevard, Newcastle, NE1 4HP, 7.30pm, Pay what you feel. Classic Clapton – Alnwick Playhouse, Bondgate Without, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 1PQ, 01665 660550, 7.30pm, £17.

Darlington RnB Club: Redfish Blues Band – The Forum Music

Centre, Borough Road, Darlington, DL1 1SG, 01325 363 135, 7.30pm, £12. Dead Men Walking – Gosforth Civic Theatre, Regent Farm Road, Newcastle, NE3 3HD, 0191 284 3700, 7.30pm, £25. Drug Store Romeos – Warm but sprightly, the trio employ a small army of vintage synths to create pillowy canvases on which to fall into. Cobalt Studios Ltd, 10-16 Boyd Street, Newcastle, NE2 1AP, 07977 201596 / 0191 2323553, 8pm, £11.

Fastlove - A Tribute to George Michael – O2 City Hall,

Northumberland Road,

Newcastle, NE1 8SF, 0844 811 2121, 7pm, £31.50adv.

Flash: Tribute to Queen

– O2 Academy Newcastle, Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SW, 08444 772000, 6.30pm, £18.75adv. Gabrielle – One of the UK’s most successful singersongwriters. The Sage Gateshead, Gateshead Quays, Gateshead, NE8 2YR, 0191 443 4661, 7pm, £30-£107.90.

George Hinchcliffe’s Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain

– Whitley Bay Playhouse, Marine Avenue, Whitley Bay, NE26 1LZ, 0844 248 1588, 7.30pm, £31.05. George O’Hanlon – Think Tank? Underground, Times Square, Scotswood Road, Newcastle, NE1 4EP, 7.30pm, £6. Glass Caves – Think Tank?, Digital, Times Square, Centre For Life, Newcastle, NE1 4EP, 0191 261 9755, 7pm, £11.

Go Your Own Way - The Fleetwood Mac Legacy – The Forum

Theatre, Queensway, Billingham, Stockton-onTees, TS23 2LJ, 01642 552 663, 7.30pm, £24.50. Hallan – Head of Steam, 2 Neville Street, Newcastle, NE1 5EN, 7.30pm, £9. Holy Moly & The Crackers – Riotous party music for the masses. The Cluny, 36 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £15. Lucy Hoile – A cellist from Newcastle performing solo cello works by J.S. Bach and Benjamin Britten. The Lit & Phil, 23 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SE, 0191 2320192, 1pm, Free.

Millie Manders & The Shut Up – Raw punk fusion

than you can shake a stick at. The Cluny 2, 34 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £7.50. Rick Astley – Utilita Arena Newcastle, Arena Way, Newcastle, NE4 7NA, 0844 493 6666, 6pm, £30.90-£55.65. The Howlers – London’s Desert Rockers. NE Volume Music Bar, 21d Yarm Lane, Stockton-onTees, TS18 3DR, 7.30pm, £5. The Skids – Punk band known for their 1979 hit ‘Into the Valley’ . Boiler Shop, 20 South Street, Newcastle, NE1 3PE, 7pm, £25.30. The Stylistics – One of the most Legendary Soul Artists of all time. Middlesbrough Town Hall, Albert Road, Middlesbrough, TS1 2QJ,

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 28

26/10/2021 16:11

01642 729 729, 7.30pm, £37.

The Wandering Skald Presents.... Johnny Cash: The Man in Black

– Tribute to Johnny Cash with Nathan Rutherford and full band. The Radio Rooms, 95 Main St, Tweedmouth, Berwickupon-Tweed, TD15 2AW, 7.30pm, £5. Trunky Juno – Lo-fi frontman has always looked to deliver a multifaceted and eclectic aesthetic to his music. Surf Cafe, Grand Parade, Palace Buildings, Tynemouth, North Shields, NE30 4JH, 7.30pm, £9.

Saturday• 13 Be Charlotte – Her

songwriting prowess is beyond her years, her singing voice is flawless and she also raps and beatboxes. Think Tank? Underground, Times Square, Scotswood Road, Newcastle, NE1 4EP, 7pm, £8.80. Classical Immersion – Premiering a new format, the audience on bean bags will enjoy an informal, relaxed evening of music, with breathtaking, hypnotic music. The Sage Gateshead, Gateshead Quays, Gateshead, NE8 2YR, 0191 443 4661, 8pm, £10-£15. Demagoda + The Vessel – Little Buildings, 1 Ford Street, Newcastle, 7pm, £7.50. Parastatic – Bobik’s, The Punch Bowl Hotel, 125 Jesmond Road, Newcastle, NE2 3JY, 0191 284 0490, 7.30pm, £8. Plastic Glass – Infectious guitar music to the masses. Independent, 27/28 Holmeside, Sunderland, SR1 3JE, 0191 5689770, 7pm, £7. Polar States – A dark pop rock band based in Liverpool. The Globe, 11 Railway Street, Newcastle, NE4 7AD, 7.30pm, £7. Ralph McTell – A singer songwriter of international acclaim. Alnwick Playhouse, Bondgate Without, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 1PQ, 01665 660550, 7.30pm, £27. Saint Raymond – Riverside, 1 The Close, Quayside, Newcastle, NE1 3RQ, 0191 260 5001, 7pm, £18.70. Spilt Milk – A combination of anthemic guitar lines, intimate lead vocals, and socially aware lyrics. The Georgian Theatre, Green Dragon Yard, Stockton on Tees, TS18 1AE, 01642 674115, 7.30pm, £6adv.

The House And Garage Orchestra

– An expanded live band with Brass and String

sections re-imagine your favourite House & Garage tunes like never before! Globe Theatre, 153A High St, Stockton, TS18 1PL, 7pm, From £23.65. The South – An impressive 9 piece band who feature former members of The Beautiful South. Gala Theatre, Millennium Place, Durham, DH1 1WA, 03000 266 600, 7.30pm, £25. The Undercover Hippy – Drum and Bass MC turned singer-songwriter Billy Rowan. The Cluny 2, 34 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £12. Think Floyd – The Forum Theatre, Queensway, Billingham, Stockton-onTees, TS23 2LJ, 01642 552 663, 7.30pm, £25. U2 2 – KU Bar, Prince Regent Street, Stockton, TS18 1DB, 01642 860068, 8pm, £11adv.

Ultimate Bowie - Changes One Bowie Tour – The Forum Music

Centre, Borough Road, Darlington, DL1 1SG, 01325 363 135, 7.30pm, £13.

Sunday• 14

An Evening With Ian Siegal – One of the most compelling blues songster’s. Gosforth Civic Theatre, Regent Farm Road, Newcastle, NE3 3HD, 0191 284 3700, 8pm, £15. Baby Strange – The newest evolution of punk rock’n’roll. NE Volume Music Bar, 21d Yarm Lane, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 3DR, 7.30pm, £8. Groovetrain – Soul, Funk, Pop & a touch of Rock all performed by pro musicians!! Hoochie Coochie, 54 Pilgrim Street, Newcastle, NE1 6SF, 0191 222 0130, 5.30pm, £15. Ig Henneman and Ab Baars with Faye MacCalman – The

Globe, 11 Railway Street, Newcastle, NE4 7AD, 8pm, £10adv/£12otd/ Livestream from £7.50.

One Night of Elvis - Lee ‘Memphis’ King – Sunderland Empire

Theatre, High Street West, Sunderland, SR1 3EX, 0844 871 3022, 7.30pm, From £24.

Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons – Independent, 27/28

Holmeside, Sunderland, SR1 3JE, 0191 5689770, 7pm, £22.50. The LaFontaines – The LaFontaines Think Tank?, Digital, Times Square, Centre For Life, Newcastle, NE1 4EP, 0191 261 9755, 7pm, £10.

The Men They Couldn’t Hang – Acoustic pop of

the highest quality. Wylam Brewery, Palace

of Arts, Exhibition Park, Newcastle, NE2 4PZ, 01661 853377, 7.30pm, £18.15.

Monday• 15

Felix Rabin – A singer-

songwriter and gifted guitarist. The Cluny 2, 34 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £12. Gaye Bykers On Acid – Leaders of the short-lived ‘grebo’ scene. Think Tank?, Digital, Times Square, Centre For Life, Newcastle, NE1 4EP, 0191 261 9755, 7pm, £19.80.

Headie One: Edna Live - The Tour – The ‘King Of Drill’.

O2 Academy Newcastle, Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SW, 08444 772000, 7pm, £25.50adv. Pip Blom – Amsterdam’s beamy-grinned, indie-pop powerhouse. Independent, 27/28 Holmeside, Sunderland, SR1 3JE, 0191 5689770, 7.30pm, £10. Willy Mason – The Cluny, 36 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £16.50.

Tuesday• 16

Chubby & The Gang – A west

London punk troupe. Independent, 27/28 Holmeside, Sunderland, SR1 3JE, 0191 5689770, 7pm, £12. Everyone You Know – Multitalented sibling duo Think Tank?, Digital, Times Square, Centre For Life, Newcastle, NE1 4EP, 0191 261 9755, 7pm, £13.25.

Hannah Moule & The Moulettes

– The Cluny 2, 34 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7pm, £14. Nerina Pallot – A gifted singer/songwriter who writes soulful lyrical songs woven with passionate sentiments. Wylam Brewery, Palace of Arts, Exhibition Park, Newcastle, NE2 4PZ, 01661 853377, 7.30pm, £20.35. Seasick Steve – O2 City Hall, Northumberland Road, Newcastle, NE1 8SF, 0844 811 2121, 7pm, £28.90adv.

The Utopia Strong / Teeth Of The Sea – The Cluny, 36

Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 8pm, £15.

Wednesday• 17

Black Midi – Uncompromising but still melodic: strap yourself in for the experimental sound of maverick four-piece black midi. Wylam Brewery,

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 29

26/10/2021 16:11

Music Palace of Arts, Exhibition Park, Newcastle, NE2 4PZ, 01661 853377, 7pm, £16.50. Fur – The Cluny 2, 34 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £8. Imogen – Imogen’s live show includes synth undertones, gorgeous brass and contemporary drums, complimenting her trademark melancholic piano. The Cluny 2, 34 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £9. Lewsberg – Rotterdam’s answer to The Velvet Underground. Bobik’s, The Punch Bowl Hotel, 125 Jesmond Road, Newcastle, NE2 3JY, 0191 284 0490, 7pm, £8. Rebecca Lou – Trashy punk with doom guitars and heavy leather jackets. Head of Steam, 2 Neville Street, Newcastle, NE1 5EN, 7pm, £9.90.

Thursday• 18

Blazin’ Fiddles – One of the world’s most prolific fiddle groups. The Maltings, Eastern Lane, Berwick-upon-Tweed, TD15 1AJ, 01289 304005, 7.30pm, £22/£19.50. Cockney Rejects – Formed in the late 70s in East London as an answer to the art school punk that had dominated the scene up until then. Newcastle University Students Union, Kings Road, Newcastle, NE2 4NL, 0191 239 3900, 7pm, £17.50. Emma Stevens – British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Old Cinema Launderette, 38 Marshall Terrace, Gilesgate Moor, Durham, DH1 2HX, 0191 384 1412, 8pm, £16.50. FFS Bowie – Hoochie Coochie, 54 Pilgrim Street, Newcastle, NE1 6SF, 0191 222 0130, 8.30pm, £8. GCT Jazz Club: Hailu Mergia – An innovative Ethiopian accordionist, keyboardist and bandleader. Gosforth Civic Theatre, Regent Farm Road, Newcastle, NE3 3HD, 0191 284 3700, 7.30pm, £15. Hayseed Dixie – An American group who started out as an Appalachian style tribute to AC/DC. Wylam Brewery, Palace of Arts, Exhibition Park, Newcastle, NE2 4PZ, 01661 853377, 7pm, £20.35. Man of Moon – A two piece psychedelic rock band. Independent, 27/28 Holmeside, Sunderland,

SR1 3JE, 0191 5689770, 7.30pm, £10. Marie Marx – Support from Jenny Lascelles + Two Wiseguys. NE Volume Music Bar, 21d Yarm Lane, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 3DR, 6.30pm, £5.

Barrett – Gem Andrews

Gateshead, Gateshead Quays, Gateshead, NE8 2YR, 0191 443 4661, 7.30pm, £5-£39.50. Sam Fender – Utilita Arena Newcastle, Arena Way, Newcastle, NE4 7NA, 0844 493 6666, 6pm, £30.95. Stereo MC’s – The MCs play the hits plus some fresh material, full of funky lo-fi beats and melodic raps. Riverside, 1 The Close, Quayside, Newcastle, NE1 3RQ, 0191 260 5001, 7pm, £22.

King of Pop: The Legend Continues

Royal Northern Sinfonia Norrington Presents: Dr Haydn’s London Academy – The Sage

The Australian Pink Floyd Show

– O2 City Hall, Northumberland Road, Newcastle, NE1 8SF, 0844 811 2121, 6.30pm, £33.95adv. The Snuts – Middlesbrough Town Hall, Albert Road, Middlesbrough, TS1 2QJ, 01642 729 729, 7.30pm, £14.50.

What’s Love Got To Do With It? A Tribute To Tina Turner – Globe

Theatre, 153A High St, Stockton, TS18 1PL, Time tbc, From £13.

Friday• 19

10CCLO – A 10CC and ELO

tribute. The Forum Music Centre, Borough Road, Darlington, DL1 1SG, 01325 363 135, 7.30pm, £tbc.

Absolute Bowie - Greatest Hits – O2 Academy

Newcastle, Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SW, 08444 772000, 6.30pm, £18. Amelia Coburn – Amelia’s songs are richly evocative, poetic and delivered in a unique, highly expressive, jazz and folk inflected voice. Old Cinema Launderette, 38 Marshall Terrace, Gilesgate Moor, Durham, DH1 2HX, 0191 384 1412, 7.50pm, £16.50. Brave Exhibitions Festival – Three day festival featuring Part Chimp, Petbrick, Blom, Gnod, Nuha Ruby Ra, Bonnacons of Doom, Deep Tan, Andrew Hung and many more. The Cluny, 36 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7pm, Day ticket £15-£20/ Weekend ticket £40. Daytime TV – Formerly Hunter & The Bear. Think Tank?, Digital, Times Square, Centre For Life, Newcastle-, NE1 4EP, 0191 261 9755, 7pm, £12.10.

Gem Andrews + Serious Sam

writes Americana and folk music with an honesty and rawness that takes the listener by surprise. Support from Serious Sam Barrett. The Globe, 11 Railway Street, Newcastle, NE4 7AD, 8pm, £10adv/£12otd/ Livestream from £7.50.

– Michael Jackson tribute. Whitley Bay Playhouse, Marine Avenue, Whitley Bay, NE26 1LZ, 0844 248 1588, 7.30pm, £27.10. L.A. Peach – Combining character-led story telling with a penchant for 70’s pop & 80’s new wave. Bobik’s, The Punch Bowl Hotel, 125 Jesmond Road, Newcastle, NE2 3JY, 0191 284 0490, 7.30pm, £8/£5. Lee J Toby – Expect a mix of intricate electric and acoustic guitar melodies. The Exchange, 1 Howard Street, North Shields, NE30 1SE, 0191 258 4111, 8pm, Free. Moon Wax – Karma Coast, 6 Percy Park Road, North Shields, NE30 4LY, 7.30pm, £8adv. Music Against Knife Crime – Featuring Dressed Like Wolves, Alastair James, Charlotte Grayson and Moodbay. NE Volume Music Bar, 21d Yarm Lane, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 3DR, 6pm, £5. New Tyneside Orchestra – With a programme comprised of well known Russian composers from the Romantic period. Jesmond United Reform Church, Burdon Terrace, Jesmond, NE2 3AE, 8pm, £10/Conc £8/unwaged £4. Omar – One of the greatest soul music talents in the UK. Hoochie Coochie, 54 Pilgrim Street, Newcastle, NE1 6SF, 0191 222 0130, 9pm, £25.

Sedgefield Rock & Blues Club: Eliana Cargnelutti – Eliana is

the new hope of italian rock blues. Sedgefield Parish Hall, Front Street, Sedgefield, County Durham, TS21 3AT, 7pm, £15. Thank You for the Music – ABBA tribute. O2 City Hall, Northumberland Road, Newcastle, NE1 8SF, 0844 811 2121, 7pm, £23.25adv. The Quireboys – The Sage Gateshead, Gateshead Quays, Gateshead, NE8 2YR, 0191 443 4661, 8pm, £26.40.

The Teesside ARChetypes: Everyman – Wildcats of

Kilkenny frontman Mike McGrother shares songs, stories and observations revealing the often hidden, forgotten but still (extra)ordinary people

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 30

26/10/2021 16:11

and events of the Tees. Arc, Dovecot Street, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 1LL, 01642 525 199, 8pm, £10.

Saturday• 20

44th Brass In Concert Championship – Featuring

ten outstanding bands. The Sage Gateshead, Gateshead Quays, Gateshead, NE8 2YR, 0191 443 4661, 1pm, £29.70-£38.50.

A Salute to Humphrey Lyttelton – Celebrating

the 100th anniversary of Humphrey Lyttelton’s birth and to showcase his wonderful life, times and music. Black Swan Bar, Newcastle Arts Centre, 69 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SG, 8pm, £18. Awayday Gigs – Featuring Social Room and The Wainstones. KU Bar, Prince Regent Street, Stockton, TS18 1DB, 01642 860068, 7pm, £11. Billy Mitchell & Bob Fox – Two of the UK’s best known and loved singers. Alnwick Playhouse, Bondgate Without, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 1PQ, 01665 660550, 7.30pm, £18.50. DITZ – Forward-thinking noise rock/post-punk. Independent, 27/28 Holmeside, Sunderland, SR1 3JE, 0191 5689770, 7.30pm, £9.

Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes

– High octane punk rock. O2 Academy Newcastle, Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SW, 08444 772000, 7pm, £32.20. Human Holiday – Indie rock band from the North East. Bobik’s, The Punch Bowl Hotel, 125 Jesmond Road, Newcastle, NE2 3JY, 0191 284 0490, 7.30pm, £8/£5. Laura Currie – Singer, songwriter and multiinstrumentalist from Dumfries. Arts Centre Washington, Biddick Lane, Fatfield, Washington, NE38 8AB, 0191 219 3455, 7.30pm, £10/£7.50.

Magnitude Live: Single By Sunday – A pop Rock band

from Glasgow. The Globe, 11 Railway Street, Newcastle, NE4 7AD, 7.30pm, Free.

Martin Stephenson & The Daintees

– Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the classic album Salutation Road,. The Sage Gateshead, Gateshead Quays, Gateshead, NE8 2YR, 0191 443 4661, 8pm, £25.60.

Newcastle Bach Choir Concert – St George’s Church, Jesmond, St George’s Close, Newcastle, NE2 2TF, 0191 281 1659,

7.30pm, £16/£20. Plastic Glass – Support from Ocean Floor + Jack Rasmussen. NE Volume Music Bar, 21d Yarm Lane, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 3DR, 6.30pm, £tbc. Skerryvore – Scottish band creating a ‘Trad-rock’ fusion for the 21st Century. Wylam Brewery, Palace of Arts, Exhibition Park, Newcastle, NE2 4PZ, 01661 853377, 7pm, £26.40. Slade UK – The Forum Music Centre, Borough Road, Darlington, DL1 1SG, 01325 363 135, 7pm, £13.

Songs From Northern Britain #6 Feat Declan Welsh & The Decadent West – The sixth instal-

ment of the Teesside and Scottish Showcase. The Georgian Theatre, Green Dragon Yard, Stockton on Tees, TS18 1AE, 01642 674115, 1.30pm, £15adv. The Greatest Love of All – Whitney Houston tribute. Whitley Bay Playhouse, Marine Avenue, Whitley Bay, NE26 1LZ, 0844 248 1588, 7.30pm, £33.85.

The Ronnie Scott’s All Stars Present ‘The Ronnie Scott Story – A unique evening

celebrating one of the world’s most famous jazz venues. Middlesbrough Town Hall, Albert Road, Middlesbrough, TS1 2QJ, 01642 729 729, 7.30pm, £25. Wargasm – Anarcho electro-punk duo who make angry songs for sad people. Reds Bar, 2 Sandyford Road, Newcastle, NE1 8SB, 0191 227 4757, 7pm, £10.

WorldService Project + Roller Trio – Cobalt Studios Ltd, 10-16 Boyd Street, Newcastle, NE2 1AP, 07977 201596 / 0191 2323553, 6.30pm, £10.

Sunday• 21

Billy Mitchell & Bob Fox – Two of the UK’s

best known and loved singers. Queen’s Hall Arts Centre, Beaumont Street, Hexham, NE46 3LS, 01434 652 477, 7.30pm, £16.

Bradley Creswick’s Western Swingfonia – The Globe,

11 Railway Street, Newcastle, NE4 7AD, 8pm, £10adv/£12otd/ Livestream from £7.50.

Fastlove - A Tribute to George Michael – Sunderland

Empire Theatre, High Street West, Sunderland, SR1 3EX, 0844 871 3022, 7.30pm, £22.50.

Pygmy Twylyte - Frank Zappa Tribute – The Georgian

Theatre, Green Dragon Yard, Stockton on Tees, TS18 1AE, 01642 674115, 7pm, £10adv.

Shunyata Improvisation Group + Paul Taylor – An afternoon of ground breaking

fresh improvisation with performances from the extra-ordinary acoustic quartet. The Globe, 11 Railway Street, Newcastle, NE4 7AD, 2pm, £8/£6.

Monday• 22

Kelly Lee Owens – A quixotic blend of body-moving beats and introspective songwriting that garnered numerous accolades from the music press. St Dominics Catholic Club, Crawhall Road, (opposite The Tanners), Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2BX, 7.30pm, £22.25adv. Ren Harvieu – A darkly enigmatic singer with a supple, yearning voice and bent toward mixing ‘60s pop, soul, and modern alt-rock. The Cluny, 36 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £14.

Tuesday• 23

Admiral Fallow – A Scottish

group gathered round the precocious talent of the young, foot-stamping, faintly maniacal singer/ songwriter Louis Abbott. The Cluny, 36 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 8pm, £12. Bess Atwell – A young singer, songwriter and guitarist. The Cluny 2, 34 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £11. Courteeners – O2 City Hall, Northumberland Road, Newcastle, NE1 8SF, 0844 811 2121, 7pm, £40.15adv. Freya Beer – Freya distils her disparate influences through a gothic soul and devil-may-care spirit that dares to dream in the darkness. Bobik’s, The Punch Bowl Hotel, 125 Jesmond Road, Newcastle, NE2 3JY, 0191 284 0490, 7.30pm, £8/£5. JAWS – Birmingham dream-pop four-piece. Independent, 27/28 Holmeside, Sunderland, SR1 3JE, 0191 5689770, 7.30pm, £13.50. Sam Brookes – Head of Steam, 2 Neville Street, Newcastle, NE1 5EN, 7.30pm, £12. The Rifles – A band who burst onto the UK music scene in 2006 with their attitude-laden debut ‘No Love Lost’. Wylam Brewery, Palace of Arts, Exhibition Park, Newcastle, NE2 4PZ, 01661 853377, 7pm, £24.75.

Wednesday• 24

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 31

26/10/2021 16:11

Music

Music Abstract Orchestra play MF Doom – Performed by

Fantarrow Oh! My eyes! I hate these migraine-inducing press pics. But Sunderland’s Faye Fantarrow can hit us up with any kind of image she likes if she keeps making alt-indiepop as good as her latest single ‘Noughties’. “I wanted Noughties to be a completely fun track that was a nod towards 2000’s babies. I also wanted all the nostalgic clichés and ironies of Gen Z to be acknowledged and celebrated within the track.” That’s Faye Fantarrow’s take on ‘Noughties’, her recent single which has had me positively cooing with delight. It’s a track that melds propulsive rhythms, acoustic guitar work and Fantarrow’s

Komparrison Hey Komparrison! Why the funny spelling? A ‘K’ instead of a ‘C’? Two ‘Rs’? Krrazy! But they’re a band who only recognise one set of rules in this goddamn dirty world: theirs.

distinctive vocals to super-fine effect. It was pulled together by legendary northeast producer John Ashton (who has toured as a musician and sound engineer with the likes of Arctic Monkeys and Tame Impala) and he’s added just the right amount of danceable shimmer and swagger to really make it shine. The track is a wonderful follow up to ‘Kola Kisses’ (released earlier this year), which, again, managed to combine strummy guitars and skippy beats in a way that arrowed straight to your heart. Fantarrow nabbed the prestigious Alan Hull Award for Songwriting earlier this year and I reckon that won’t be the last award this talented 19-year-old picks up. DP Seek: facebook.com/fayefantarrowmusic

When I first clocked a picture of this north-east five-piece, I was in two minds about sort of music they would play. It was either going to be straight up and down classic rock (the kind your mum used to listen to when she was shaking her perm back in the 1980s), or that shouty, growling into a bucket stuff. It’s neither. They play indiepop that is all sugar rushes (with none of that nasty saccharine aftertaste), which also has a nice bit of edge. Case in point is last single ‘Bubblegum’, which uses a gorgeous, Lily Allen-like melody, to tell a tale of a relationship that is on the fizzle. The band have been likened to Rex Orange County and Declan McKenna (i.e. on their press release) but they also remind me of noughties indie-rockers The Long Blondes in that they have the requisite amount of snap to go with all those swoony bits. They played their first ever gigs earlier this year (at the Tyne Bank Brewery and the sold-out MUNRO festival) to much acclaim and it’s sure bet they’ll be hitting us up with more good stuff in the months to come. DP Seek: facebook.com/komparrison

a 16 piece orchestra plus MC’s & Vocalists. Wylam Brewery, Palace of Arts, Exhibition Park, Newcastle, NE2 4PZ, 01661 853377, 7pm, £19.80.

Barry Steele and Friends - The Roy Orbison and Traveling Wilburys Songbook – Whitley

Bay Playhouse, Marine Avenue, Whitley Bay, NE26 1LZ, 0844 248 1588, 7.30pm, £27.65. Eagles of Death Metal – Newcastle University Students Union, Kings Road, Newcastle, NE2 4NL, 0191 239 3900, 7pm, £26.40. Four - Jazz – Cool jazz from the 1930s to the 1960s. The Exchange, 1 Howard Street, North Shields, NE30 1SE, 0191 258 4111, 7pm, Free. Harriet Rose – A unique Americana sound with a blend of powerhouse vocals and catchy guitar hooks. The Cluny, 36 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £10.

Joshua Burnside + Matt Dunbar & the Autonomous Collective + Philip Jonathan – The Engine

Room, Tanners Bank, North Shields, Tyneside, NE301JH, 07470695351, 7pm, £8.

Marti Pellow - The Greatest Hits Tour – Globe Theatre,

153A High St, Stockton, TS18 1PL, 7.30pm, From £38.65. Sleaford Mods – Nottingham’s electro-punk duo are charged more than ever. O2 Academy Newcastle, Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SW, 08444 772000, 7pm, £27.75adv.

Thursday• 25

Beach Riot – A Brighton fuzz

pop four piece. Surf Cafe, Grand Parade, Palace Buildings, Tynemouth, North Shields, NE30 4JH, 8pm, £8.80. Bugzy Malone – One of the UK’s brightest independent grime and UK rap talents. O2 Academy Newcastle, Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SW, 08444 772000, 7pm, £23.75adv. Girli – An English singer, songwriter and rapper. The Cluny, 36 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £10. John Murry – The Cluny 2, 34 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £14. Junodream – Alternative Bristol based five-piece band. Think Tank?, Digital, Times Square, Centre For Life, Newcastle, NE1 4EP, 0191 261 9755, 7pm, £10.

Leifur James – Londonbased producer and multi-instrumentalist. St Dominics Catholic Club, Crawhall Road, (opposite The Tanners), Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2BX, 8pm, £12. Mark Burgess - Chameleons – The Chameleons legendary front man. Old Cinema Launderette, 38 Marshall Terrace, Gilesgate Moor, Durham, DH1 2HX, 0191 384 1412, 8pm, 320. Red Hot Chilli Pipers – A fusion of traditional Scottish music and rock/ pop Anthems.Whitley Bay Playhouse, Marine Avenue, Whitley Bay, NE26 1LZ, 0844 248 1588, 7.30pm, £32.05. Sam Lee: Old Wow Tour – An acclaimed, awardwinning inventive singer, a folksong collector and conservationist. Gosforth Civic Theatre, Regent Farm Road, Newcastle, NE3 3HD, 0191 284 3700, 7.30pm, £17.50.

Friday• 26

Boyzlife – Boyzone meets

Westlife. Middlesbrough Town Hall, Albert Road, Middlesbrough, TS1 2QJ, 01642 729 729, 7.30pm, £35.

Chris James & Martin Fletcher Band (Blues) – The Globe,

11 Railway Street, Newcastle, NE4 7AD, 7pm, £10. Cock Sparrer – One of the most influential streetpunk bands. Boiler Shop, 20 South Street, Newcastle, NE1 3PE, 7pm, £25.30.

Electric Jalaba + Grey Tapes – Electric Jalaba play

traditional songs weaved amongst enormous infectious grooves, analogue effects and warped guitars. Support from local legends Grey Tapes. Cobalt Studios Ltd, 10-16 Boyd Street, Newcastle, NE2 1AP, 07977 201596 / 0191 2323553, 8pm, £9-£13. Elvana: Elvis Fronted Nirvana – O2 Academy Newcastle, Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SW, 08444 772000, 7pm, £23.25adv. Livewire: The AC/DC Show – Whitley Bay Playhouse, Marine Avenue, Whitley Bay, NE26 1LZ, 0844 248 1588, 7.30pm, £22.60. Pave The Jungle – Entrenched around guitarist/singer Rachael Whittle’s swaggering, off-kilter yet decidedly arena-sized compositions, Pave The Jungle formed in Newcastle in early 2019. Little Buildings, 1 Ford Street, Newcastle, 7pm, £8. Peggy Sue – 1920s rhythms, haunting vocals and gently twisting melodies. The Cluny 2, 34 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle,

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 32

26/10/2021 16:12

NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £9. Riverside Ragas: Swati Natekar – A very special concert, including classic Bollywood songs, popular Ghazals and tribute to Ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh. The Sage Gateshead, Gateshead Quays, Gateshead, NE8 2YR, 0191 443 4661, 8pm, £6-£12. Sam Sweeney Band – The swagger and groove of traditional English music with the huge sound, flare and energy of the Celtic and Scandinavian music scenes. Gosforth Civic Theatre, Regent Farm Road, Newcastle, NE3 3HD, 0191 284 3700, 7.30pm, £17. Skinny Lister – Folk rock’s rowdiest rabble. The Cluny, 36 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £15.

The Jesus Bolt + T.E Yates + Gerard Starkie (solo) – The Engine

Room, Tanners Bank, North Shields, Tyneside, NE301JH, 07470695351, 7pm, £9. Vandebilt – Electro-dancepop outfit. Independent, 27/28 Holmeside, Sunderland, SR1 3JE, 0191 5689770, 7.30pm, £10. Waco – Brightly-clad London quartet Waco meld ‘70s rock influences with punk, psych and even gospel. Think Tank?, Digital, Times Square, Centre For Life, Newcastle, NE1 4EP, 0191 261 9755, 7pm, £10.

Saturday• 27

Aladdinsane – Bowie tribute.

KU Bar, Prince Regent Street, Stockton, TS18 1DB, 01642 860068, 7pm, £13.20adv. East Coast Swing Band – A 20 piece band featuring saxes, trumpets, trombones, clarinets, keyboards and full rhythm section. The Exchange, 1 Howard Street, North Shields, NE30 1SE, 0191 258 4111, 7.30pm, £5.

Jumpin’ Hot Club Presents: Frazey Ford – Vancouver artist

Frazey Ford is revered for her soulful voice, captivating live show, and immersive lyrical storytelling. Gosforth Civic Theatre, Regent Farm Road, Newcastle, NE3 3HD, 0191 284 3700, 8pm, £15adv. Little Simz – Pioneering hiphop artist. O2 Academy Newcastle, Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SW, 08444 772000, 7pm, £20.95adv.

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Carpets – The Georgian

Theatre, Green Dragon Yard, Stockton on Tees, TS18 1AE, 01642 674115,

8pm, £10adv. The Christians – Renowned for an endless string of soulful yet socially aware hits in the 80s. Arc, Dovecot Street, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 1LL, 01642 525 199, Time tbc, From £22.50. The Firrenes – S The Georgian Theatre, Green Dragon Yard, Stockton on Tees, TS18 1AE, 01642 674115, 7.30pm, £7adv.

The George Michael Legacy

– The Forum Theatre, Queensway, Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees, TS23 2LJ, 01642 552 663, 7.30pm, £24.50/£22.

The Heimatdamisch Bavarian Oompah Band – The Cluny, 36

Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £20. The Magic of Motown – O2 City Hall, Northumberland Road, Newcastle, NE1 8SF, 0844 811 2121, 6.30pm, £38.40adv.

The Rock Orchestra by Candlelight – An orchestral

reimagining of the Rock and Metal genres in stunning, candlelit surroundings. Sunderland Empire Theatre, High Street West, Sunderland, SR1 3EX, 0844 871 3022, 7.30pm, £26.75. The Smyths – The Forum Music Centre, Borough Road, Darlington, DL1 1SG, 01325 363 135, 7.30pm, £15. Tired Of Fighting – Little Buildings, 1 Ford Street, Newcastle, 7pm, £8. UK Subs – One of the most consistently and visibly successful punk bands. Support from Chaos 8. Independent, 27/28 Holmeside, Sunderland, SR1 3JE, 0191 5689770, 7pm, £13adv. Ultimate Bowie Acoustic – The Cluny 2, 34 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7.30pm, £10.

Sunday• 28

Emma Johnson’s Gravy Boat – A contemporary

jazz quintet. The Globe, 11 Railway Street, Newcastle, NE4 7AD, 8pm, £10/livestream tickets £7.50-£20. Punk Rock Factory – High energy, punk rock powerhouses. Newcastle University Students Union, Kings Road, Newcastle, NE2 4NL, 0191 239 3900, 7pm, £16.50. Rachel Sermanni – Fresh faced Scottish folk favourite. The Cluny 2, 34 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7pm, £14.

Sambroso All Stars present The Buena Vista – Leading Cuban musicians perform one of the most iconic

albums in living memory. Wylam Brewery, Palace of Arts, Exhibition Park, Newcastle, NE2 4PZ, 01661 853377, 7pm, £19.25.

The People’s Requiem – Operatic passion,

religious grandiosity, and powerful emotions are all hallmarks of Verdi’s Requiem. The Sage Gateshead, Gateshead Quays, Gateshead, NE8 2YR, 0191 443 4661, 4pm, £25-£39.50.

The Rocket Man - A Tribute to Sir Elton John – Sunderland

Empire Theatre, High Street West, Sunderland, SR1 3EX, 0844 871 3022, 7.30pm, £23. UB40 – Globe Theatre, 153A High St, Stockton, TS18 1PL, 8pm, From £42.65.

Yuko Araki & Daisy Dickinson: A/V Show – Yuko Araki is

a multi-instrumentalist composer from Tokyo. Daisy Dickinson is a London-based director/visual artist. The Cluny 2, 34 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7pm, £10.

Monday• 29

BlackWaters – A loud and raucous young Indie-punk four-piece. Head of Steam, 2 Neville Street, Newcastle, NE1 5EN, 7pm, £8. Grace Petrie – A folk singer, songwriter and activist. The Cluny, 36 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 0191 230 4474, 7pm, £15. Sacconi Quartet and Emma Abbate (piano) – Performing

Shostakovich, Elgar and Rachmaninov. Queen’s Hall Arts Centre, Beaumont Street, Hexham, NE46 3LS, 01434 652 477, 7.30pm, £17.50/£8 student. Shed Seven – Acclaimed York five piece and one of the leading lights of Britpop. O2 Academy Newcastle, Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SW, 08444 772000, 7pm, £32.85adv.

Tuesday• 30

Emma Abbate & The Sacconi Quartet – Performing

Shostakovich, Elgar and Rachmaninov. Alnwick Playhouse, Bondgate Without, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 1PQ, 01665 660550, 7.30pm, £17/19-30 year olds £6/under 18s Free. Red Snapper – Dark funk, hip-hop, dub, psychedelic surf, afro-jazz and beautiful, fragile soundscapes. The Cluny, 36 Lime Street, Ouseburn, Newcastle, NE1 2PQ, 7.30pm, £17.50.

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 33

26/10/2021 16:12

cLuB PREViEWs It was when Nina Kraviz was studying dentistry in Moscow that she fell prey to the delights of house music, and now she’s one of the most in demand DJs in the world.

HOW MANY

RUSSIAN DENTISTS CAN YOU NAME?

Good Call? Super Call more like…

DECKS

SORTED!

She’s now a producer, occasional vocalist, and super-hot DJ, but it all started for Nina Kraviz in Moscow where she was studying dentistry. The Russian capital was where she fell in love with house music and she would go on to play regularly at Moscow’s Propaganda Club. She was also brieﬂy part of a trio called MySpaceRocket who released ‘Amok’,

The very excellent Call Super is making his debut at the Cobalt Studios this November, which is your cue to get hot under the collar. Call Super is the moniker of London/ Berlin-based DJ and musician Joseph Richmond, a fella who has carved out his own place in the landscape of electronic music. His debut album ‘Suzi Echo’ was one of the real stand-outs of 2014 and had the likes of Pitchfork frothing: “One of the most evocative sound worlds that the genre has seen”.

The incredible Hannah Wants will be doing the biz at the next House Grooves in Houghton-leSpring this November. Dance Generation have sold out their two previous shows at Durham’s Rainton Arena and they’ll be looking for the hat-trick with House Grooves, where Hannah Wants will be turning things up to 11. Wants ﬁrst bubbled to real prominence in 2014 when she picked up the Best Breakthrough DJ

Two of the UK’s most respected DJs – Terry Jones (pictured) and Craig Smith – are teaming up once again. Hooray! Oh, man! We’ve missed these nights! But now they’re back, Back, BACK! Every quarter, the venerable pair of Terry Jones and Craig Smith, like to get together to shake the very foundations of Hoochie Coochie, and now they’re back in the groove and ready to do it all over again. Jones was a resident of the Southport

a lean house track that was remixed by UK DJ legend Greg Wilson. Kraviz then went solo and issued a handful of tracks, including ‘Ghetto Kraviz’, which would go on to prove and enduring club track. She’s now a regular on DJ Magazine’s Top 100 DJs list and she also nabbed the Best Female Artist (Underground) at the 2018 International Dance Awards. When she plays Newcastle she will be supported by Blackhall & Bookless, Chad, Luke Scott, Nord, Aoife. GM Ape-X & Jaunt: Nina Kraviz, Friday 26 November, Digital, Newcastle, 10pm-4am, from £20.25. yourfutureisdigital.com

His second release, 2017’s ‘Arpo’ was similarly lauded with DJ magazine slapping it with their coveted Album of the Year rosette. Call Super is also revered as a DJ and is known for sets that combine hypnotic intensity with sheer musical breadth. He will be supported by Becky Woodcock for a night that will push house and techno into many new and interesting directions. DP Loﬁ: Call Super & Becky Woodcock, Saturday 27 November, Cobalt Studios, Newcastle, 10pm-3am, £16.65. skiddle.com

title at the DJ mag awards, as well as Mixmag’s Best Breakthrough DJ, and she now has a huge following throughout Europe (and beyond) with fans eager to lose themselves in her high-energy sets. At this House Grooves night she will be supported by Defected in the House resident DJ Sam Divine. JL House Grooves, Saturday 13 November, Rainton Arena, Houghton-le-Spring, Durham, 6pm-2am, £15. skiddle.com

Weekender for over 25 years and these days he continues to entertain audiences around the UK, not least with his own gigs, Come On Over and Back to the Village. Smith, meanwhile, held a 10 year residency at The Honeycomb in Edinburgh. Dig out your best dancing trousers for a night of soul, soulful house, funk and Afrobeat. DP Terry Jones & Craig Smith, Friday 12 November, Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle, 7pm-1am, £5. hoochiecoochie.co.uk

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 34

26/10/2021 15:52

CLUB one offs Friday• 5

DnB Allstars Presents: Bou, Benny L, Pola & Bryson & more

– Digital, Times Square, Newcastle, NE1 4EP, 0191 2619755, 10pm, £tbc. Remember, Remember – A night of Old Skool and Anthems. Hedworth Hall, 35 Dean Road, South Shields, Tyne & Wear, NE33 4EA, 0191 456 3112, 8pm, From £10.

WHQ & Ape-X presents Floating Points - All Night Long – A

true club favourite and one of the very best electronic musician’s of modern times. World Headquarters, Curtis Mayfield House, Carliol Square, Newcastle, NE1 6UQ, 0191 2813445, 11pm, From £20.

Saturday• 6

Club 30-80 goes BANG! – Club

30-80 for people over 30 who don’t go clubbing but still like to dance. Prohibition Cabaret Bar, 25 Pink Lane, Newcastle, NE1 5DW, 7pm, £7. DJ (Cadi) – CADI plays a variety of bass-driven funky house - drawing on her influences from RnB to Hip Hop and Garage. Alphabetti Theatre, St James Boulevard, Newcastle, NE1 4HP, 7.30pm, Pay what you feel. Full Force // SPFDJ – Cosmic Ballroom, Stowell Street, Newcastle, NE1 4XQ, 0191 232 0860, 11pm, From £17.85. Glam Slam 2: A Prince Party – The biggest Prince tunes plus a full-length concert set by The Starr Company. The Georgian Theatre, Green Dragon Yard, Stockton on Tees, TS18 1AE, 01642 674115, 7.30pm, £12.50.

Heavy Salad Presents LSB & DRS – Two heavyweights

of the drum and bass scene. World Headquarters, Curtis Mayfield House, Carliol Square, Newcastle, NE1 6UQ, 0191 2813445, 11pm, £8-£14.

Municipal // Legowelt Live + Dollkraut – Cobalt Studios

Ltd, 10-16 Boyd Street, Newcastle, NE2 1AP, 07977 201596 / 0191 2323553, 10.30pm, £15. On The Corner w/ DJ DaGu – Jazz/ Funk/Hip-Hop. The Globe, 11 Railway Street, Newcastle, NE4 7AD, 10.30pm, Free. Re:Peel – Inspired by the spirit of the great John Peel. With DJs Ruth & Richard. The Ship, Stepney Bank, Newcastle, NE1 2PW, 7pm, Free.

Todd Terje (3 hour set) / Man Power / Sassa Wylie – Mr.

Disco himself. Support from Man Power + Sassa

Wylie. Boiler Shop, 20 South Street, Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, NE1 3PE, 8pm, £24.75.

Sunday• 7

80’s Soul Weekender Sunday –

Recapture the vibe of the era. Hoochie Coochie, 54 Pilgrim Street, Newcastle, Tyne And Wear, NE1 6SF, 0191 222 0130, 4pm, Free.

Friday• 12

Reasons To Be Cheerful with Jayda G & Ruby Savage – World

Headquarters, Curtis Mayfield House, Carliol Square, Newcastle, NE1 6UQ, 0191 2813445, 11pm, £12-£18.

Terry Jones & Craig Smith - Residents special! – Anyone

on the scene knows these two fantastic humans & excellent DJ’s. Hoochie Coochie, 54 Pilgrim Street, Newcastle, Tyne And Wear, NE1 6SF, 0191 222 0130, 8pm, £5.

Saturday• 13

Cats & Chickens R&B Club –

Stompin’ & poundin’ dance music from the 50s and 60s. The Globe, 11 Railway Street, Newcastle, NE4 7AD, 10pm, Free. (DJ) Paula – Expect funk, soul, and Motown. Alphabetti Theatre, St James Boulevard, Newcastle, NE1 4HP, 9.30pm, Pay what you feel. Grindhouse Rock Night – Playing all the well known classics. Reds Bar, 2 Sandyford Road, Newcastle, Tyne & Wear, NE1 8SB, 0191 227 4757, 10pm, £6.

Motion Sickness: 10 Years of Flexout Audio – Huge night of Drum & Bass incoming. World Headquarters, Curtis Mayfield House, Carliol Square, Newcastle, NE1 6UQ, 0191 2813445, 11pm, £tbc.

Stereo 45 Presents: genesis Chapter. 160 – Headliners

Scar Duggy & Funktional will be supported by Nectax, Renok 9, Sketchy Rida & Intra. Cobalt Studios Ltd, 10-16 Boyd Street, Newcastle, NE2 1AP, 07977 201596 / 0191 2323553, 9pm, £5-£10.

The Lofts Present Catz n Dogs, Mighty Mouse, Alex Virgo – The Lofts, Newgate Street, Newcastle, NE1 5RE, 10pm, £10/£5 student.

Thursday• 18

This Is The Gate Presents Joel Corry – Multi-talented

modelling and media personality and professional club DJ. The Lofts, Newgate Street, Newcastle, NE1 5RE, 10pm, From £10.

Friday• 19

The Lofts Present Eats Everything, Ferrick Dawn, Arielle Free – Eats Everything is a prolific remixer, DJ, Producer, label owner and radio host. The Lofts, Newgate Street, Newcastle, NE1 5RE, 10pm, £10/£5 student.

Saturday• 20

Dilate w/ Voltage, Inja, Crissy Criss, MC Tazo + more – Support

from Hexa, Kastro & Danox. Cosmic Ballroom, Stowell Street, Newcastle, NE1 4XQ, 0191 232 0860, 10.30pm, From £16.75adv.

RTBC x Us & Them - Palms Trax, Man Power, Ruf Dug + More – World Headquarters, Curtis Mayfield House, Carliol Square, Newcastle, NE1 6UQ, 0191 2813445, 11pm, £12-£18.

Technocity’s Broad:cast (Techno) – The Globe, 11 Railway Street, Newcastle, NE4 7AD, 10.30pm, Free.

The Lofts Present Jamie 3:26 – Man of the moment

Jamie 326 + more to be announced. The Lofts, Newgate Street, Newcastle, NE1 5RE, 10pm, £10/£5 student.

Sunday• 21

Trevor Nelson’s Soul On Sunday

– Wylam Brewery, Palace of Arts, Exhibition Park, Newcastle, Tyne & Wear, NE2 4PZ, 01661 853377, 7pm, From £15.

Friday• 26

Ape-X & Jaunt Presents: Nina Kraviz – Plus Blackhall &

Bookless, Chad, Luke Scott, Nord, Aoife. Digital, Times Square, Newcastle, NE1 4EP, 0191 2619755, 10pm, £28.12.

Gunfinger Sounds w/ Upgrade, Critical Impact, Thorpey, NuBass and More – A two floor bass music extravaganza. World Headquarters, Curtis Mayfield House, Carliol Square, Newcastle, NE1 6UQ, 0191 2813445, 11pm, Tickets otd.

The Craig Charles Funk & Soul Club – Northumbria

University, Sandyford Road, Newcastle, NE1 8ST, 0191 2274757, 10pm, From £18.50.

Saturday• 27

Dub Inna Pub – One of Newcastle’s longest running Reggae/Dub nights, in a new home! The Globe, 11 Railway Street, Newcastle, NE4 7AD, 10pm, Free. The Lofts Present The Shapeshifters, Melvo Baptiste

– A very special night of disco and house. The Lofts, Newgate Street, Newcastle, NE1 5RE, 10pm, £10/£5 student.

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 35

26/10/2021 16:12

ART IF YOU Q U I LT I T,

THEY WILL COME

‘Northern Country Quilts: In Celebration of New Acquisitions’ celebrates the quilting traditions of northern England. This ﬁne exhibition showcases historical and contemporary quilts that are among the ﬁnest examples of the craft acquired by the Bowes Museum over the last 20 years. North Country quilts have been made throughout the region for over 200 years, with characteristics including patterns being stitched through the layers, subtly creating softly

Peter Quinn’s watercolours are coming to the Gallagher & Turner gallery in Newcastle.

Watercolour windows MAKE YOUR MIND GO

POP

THE EYES 36

“Painting starts with a walk. Walking is suitably slow: bicycles or cars speed you to your destination too eﬃciently… I will have a small sketchbook with me and a camera. I may use paints but more likely pens or an automatic pencil, to scribble an impression. I use a digital camera and take many photographs to aid recall and to give some idea of colour, texture and detail.” Peter Quinn is attracted to the urban and

‘Print Goes Pop’ at the Hatton Gallery? Yes please! This exhibition expands on stories told in ‘Pioneers of Pop’ (which was exhibited at the gallery in 2017) but focuses on the screenprinting method that was popular with artists at the time. Some of the best-known works in the exhibition are Richard Hamilton’s ‘My Marilyn’, which will be shown alongside several works from Andy Warhol’s ‘Marilyn’ series,

‘Portrait of an Artist’ is a major survey of 20th century British portraiture, which you can see at Newcastle’s Laing Art Gallery. I’d rather look at a painting of a person’s face than any other subject I could name. People are by far the most interesting things I know and there’s a whole bunch of them at this far-reaching exhibition, which includes over 85 oil paintings, drawings and prints. It includes works from David

sculptured surfaces. Contemporary textile artists now reference this tradition within their work, which is reﬂected in the exhibition. Other examples include a 19th century stripy quilt (made by Hannah Hauxwell’s grandmother, no less), whole cloth, pieced and chintz quilts, as well as coverlets and much more. GM Northern Country Quilts: In Celebration of New Acquisitions, until 9 January, The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle. thebowesmuseumorg.uk

the out-of-the-way, and his paintings oﬀer a brightly-coloured and personal response to the world that he sees around him. He might hone in on a jumble of pots and plants, or a packed shop display, or he might widen his focus to take in an elegant avenue or a busy boat yard. But whatever subject matter he alights upon, all his works have that real smack of seeing the world afresh. GM Peter Quinn: Voyages, until 20 November, Gallagher & Turner, St. Mary’s Place, Newcastle. gallagherandturner.co.uk

and Roy Lichtenstein’s ‘Brushstrokes’ (pictured). Another highlight of the exhibition is a group of 18 works from Eduardo Paolozzi’s ‘Bunk!’ series, which is rarely exhibited in such large numbers. The show will also explore how the screenprinting technique has been used in innovative ways by leading artists that weren’t considered Pop such as Bridget Riley and Gillian Ayres. JL Print Goes Pop, until 29 January, Hatton Gallery Newcastle. hattongallery.org.uk

Foggle (that’s his ‘Portrait of the Artist’s Future Wife’ – 1920 – pictured), Sir William Orpen, Hilda Carline, Evelyn Dunbar, Winifred Knights, William Roberts, and Gilbert Spencer – as well as a host of other modern British artists – and follows ﬁve themes: The Artist’s Studio, Self-Portraits, The Artist’s Entourage, Portraits of Artists by Artists, and Allegories of Creation. GM Portrait of an Artist, until 26 February, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle. laingartgallery.org.uk

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 36

26/10/2021 15:52

Art exhibitions Arc

Dovecot Street, Stocktonon-Tees, 01642 525 199 Home: Revisited (until 13th November 2021). Free. Since exploring concepts of Home in their exhibition in March and April this year, Lizzie Lovejoy has come back to the question of what we can call home and is looking at it through the lens of movement. Is home truly in one place, or can home travel with you? Collaborating with a range of Northern creatives, this exhibition will share 15 different sketchbook journeys, as well as a range of wall art exploring our northern home as well as how that links to our Northern identities.

Arts Centre Washington

Biddick Lane, Fatfield, Washington, 0191 219 3455 Art by Post Exhibition (until 27th November 2021). Free. The Southbank Centre’s landmark Covid-19 initiative Art by Post celebrates the power of creativity in a touring exhibition of more than 600 pieces of artwork created in lockdown. The exhibition - both physical and digital - showcases artworks from the Art by Post community of 4,500 participants from across the UK who were at risk from social isolation and digital exclusion during the pandemic, and highlights the positive impact of art and creativity on health and wellbeing.

Bailiffgate Museum

14 Bailiffgate, Alnwick, Northumberland, 01665 605 847 Jose Snook : In Memoriam (until 28th November 2021). £4/conc £3/5-16 year olds £1/under 5s Free. In Memoriam responds to the unfolding ecological catastrophe of the 6th Extinction. The exhibition includes two series of work: Resurrection and Imposters. Resurrection focuses upon endangered mammals and takes inspiration from animal bio-banks or frozen zoos. Imposters explores the replacement of lost species of plants and animals with synthetic replicas, and uses techniques that mimic vintage photographs.

BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art

South Shore Road, Gateshead Quays, Gateshead,

0191 4781810

Ad Minoliti: Biosfera Peluche / Biosphere Plush (until 8th

May 2022). Free. Minoliti uses feminist and queer theory to generate alternative interpretations of painting, design, architecture, art history and visual language. Minoliti’s work has been influenced by the work of the Argentinian constructivist avant-garde groups Arte Madí - founded in 1944 to express the reality of modern life through non-figurative concrete art and a playful approach to painting and the Asociación Arte Concreto-Invención, also initiated in 1944, they embraced purist modernist aesthetics whilst creating paintings on irregular shaped canvases.

Phyllis Christopher: Contacts

(until 20th March 2022). Free. Contacts is an intimate glimpse at lesbian community in San Francisco in the ‘90s through the archive of photographer Phyllis Christopher. Belonging to a politicised tradition of documentary photography, Christopher’s handprinted and tinted images reflect how the camera participated in the performance of queer identities and feminist politics in the club and in the streets. Amid the connected crises of HIV/ AIDS and gentrification, Christopher and her collaborators answered the historic absence of representations of lesbian life with an abundance of images showing acts of sexual intimacy and public protest - a community defiantly taking up space and taking care of their own. Sutapa Biswas: Lumen (until 20th March 2022). Free. This major solo exhibition by Sutapa Biswas will span the artist’s extensive career. Biswas was a vital contributor to the Black Arts Movement in Britain and to shifting understanding of postwar British art. Biswas’ works visually disrupt, challenge and reimagine our present time.

Discovery Museum

(Closed on all Bank Holidays) Blandford Square, Newcastle, 0191 2326789 In Times of Emergency (until 22nd February 2022). Free. In times of national emergency or crisis the Ministry of Defence can provide British Army

assistance to support the civil authorities. This exhibition looks at how The Light Dragoons - and its antecedent regiments - have been deployed in this way and how that role has changed overtime. Using a mixture of imagery, objects and quotes from serving soldiers, the exhibition covers emergencies like the Fire Brigade Union Strikes of 2002, the flooding in 2015 and 2019 and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Making Waves: Turning up the volume on Tyneside’s hidden history (until 27th

March 2022). Free. An exploration of sound including the science of sound, technology, social impact and design. Sounds featured in the exhibition tell a rich story of the diverse history of our region. Featuring recordings digitised as part of the British Library Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project - which has preserved sound recordings that were at risk of being lost forever.

Durham Cathedral

Chapter Office, Palace Green, Durham, 0191 386 4266 Museum of the Moon (until 11th November 2021). Free. During your visit this autumn see Durham Cathedral in a whole new light, as Luke Jerram’s Museum of the Moon illuminates the nave. Experience the installation during normal opening hours.

Gala Gallery

Gala Theatre, Millennium Place, Durham

Oh I do like to be....by Diane Watson (until 6th November 2021). Free. Artist Diane Watson, uses hundreds of plastic items, found washed up on north east beaches, to create artworks designed to highlight the scale of pollution in our oceans. This free exhibition showcases intricate pieces created using a wide range of discarded objects such as plastic bottle lids, fishing line, tampon applicators, lighters and children’s toys.

Gallagher & Turner

30 St Mary’s Place, Newcastle, 0191 261 4465 Open Exhibition (until 22nd January 2022). Free. Gallagher & Turner present their second open exhibition, which will once again showcase the abundance of cultural tal-

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 37

26/10/2021 16:12

Art ent, and feature artworks submitted by artists from across the North East. Peter Quinn: Voyages (until until 20th November 2021). Free. Attracted to the urban and the out-of-the-way, Peter Quinn’s paintings offer a brightly-coloured, personal response. Often the subject presents itself: a busy boat yard, an elegant avenue, a jumble of pots and plants on a doorstep or a packed shop display. Peter’s watercolours are produced back in his studio in Newcastle: pencil drawings followed by a haphazard, experimental painting technique.

Gateshead central library Prince Consort Road, Gateshead, 0191 4338420 Open Exhibition (until 8th January 2022). Free. An exhibition of work by textile artists from the Fusion group.

Granary Gallery

Dewar’s Lane, Berwickupon-Tweed, 01289 330 999 QUILTS: Resurgence (until 6th February 2022). Free. The rich heritage of British and American quilts has been a huge inspiration and of great importance to the development and growth of the contemporary quilt, as we know it today. Resurgence explores the revival of quilt making, taking inspiration from historic practice and showcasing the wealth of contemporary work that has developed over the last four decades as it moves beyond the usual conventions and boundaries of its traditional roots and emerges as an expressive, communicative art form.

Hancock Gallery

2 Jesmond Road West, Newcastle, 0191 241 0442 The Way We Saw It (until 15th January 2022). Free. A solo exhibition of work by Colorado based artist, Noelle Phares. Through the examination of the tension between organic and synthetic, Noelle Phares’ paintings combine landscape elements such as canyons, mountains and desert plains, juxtaposed against structural geometry, creating beautifully fractured architectural landscapes that explore the ever-encroaching presence of humanity into previously pristine

untouched spaces.

Hartlepool Art Gallery

The Tourist Information Centre, Church Square, Hartlepool, 01429 869706

Hartlepool Art Club’s 74th Annual Exhibition (until 5th January

2022). Free. This popular and exciting exhibition includes representative and experimental work in a variety of techniques and subject matter. Together with the gallery gift shop it provides the opportunity to purchase a beautiful original Christmas gift.

Northern Festival of Illustration: Graduate Alumni Exhibition and Monkey Trail (until 28th November 2021). Free. As part of the festival, Hartlepool Art Gallery will be exhibiting a small display of works created by the Northern School of Art’s Class of 2020 illustration graduates. These are graduates who sadly never got to exhibit their work as their final degree show was cancelled. They will also be showcasing a small number of unique fibreglass monkey sculptures which have been decorated by the community with paint, collage, clothes or any other creative way people thought of! The monkeys are part of 35 sculptures which form the Monkey Trail around the town!!

Hatton Gallery

The Quadrangle, University of Newcastle, 6 Kensington Terrace, Newcastle, 0191 208 6059 Print Goes Pop (until 22nd January 2022). Free. This exhibition will explore artists’ use of the screen-print technique during the Pop era and beyond. It will showcase collection works by artists including Richard Hamilton and Eduardo Paolozzi alongside important loans from national collections, including seven works from Warhol’s iconic Marilyn series, and extraordinary lesser-known prints by artists including Parviz Tanavoli.

Laing Art Gallery

New Bridge Street, Newcastle, 0191 278 1611 Lindisfarne Gospels (until 31st December 2021). Admission charges apply. The most spectacular surviving manuscript from Anglo-Saxon England will be at the heart of an exhibition at the Laing Art Gallery

exploring the meaning of the Lindisfarne Gospels in today’s world. The manuscript recounts the four gospels that tell the story of Jesus and his teachings. Created in Lindisfarne on Holy Island, sometime between the death of the Northumbrian monk St Cuthbert in 687, for whom it was written, and that of its original scribe Eadfrith in 722, the book represents the golden age of design and craftsmanship in Northumbria and has survived in almost perfect condition for over one thousand years. New Perspectives: Outside In (until 1st May 2022). Free. Since January 2021, the Laing Art Gallery’s young people’s group L-INK, have come together online to engage in a process of creative collaboration with the aim of co-curating a new display. The resultant exhibition here reflects the varied discussions had between the group as they explored issues surrounding identity in relation to domestic spaces within the confines of their own homes. Two new acquisitions by the artist Mike Silva provide the central inspiration for the exhibition. Significant pieces included within the exhibition include those by Linder Sterling, Eduardo Paolozzi, and a curious work by an unknown artist long held within the archives and never-before displayed in the gallery. Portrait of an Artist (until 26th February 2022). £7/conc £6/under 12s Free. A new exhibition from renowned art dealers, Liss Llewellyn. Comprising over 85 oil paintings, drawings and prints, the exhibition offers audiences an opportunity to step into the inner world of the artist, shedding light on their personal lives and creative processes. Over 50 artists from the late 19th century to the 1940s are represented, including Evelyn Dunbar, Albert de Belleroche, Winifred Knights, Alan Sorrell and William Strang. WOW: Women Only Works on Paper (until 4th December 2021). Free. Running concurrently with Challenging Convention, the Laing is also exhibiting WOW: Women Only Works on Paper, a display of over 50 watercolours and pastels complemented by etchings and screenprints. The

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 38

26/10/2021 16:12

Gateshead central library Prince Consort Road, Gateshead, 0191 4338420 Open Exhibition (until 8th January 2022). Free. An exhibition of work by textile artists from the Fusion group.

Granary Gallery

Hancock Gallery

untouched spaces.

Hartlepool Art Gallery

The Tourist Information Centre, Church Square, Hartlepool, 01429 869706

Hartlepool Art Club’s 74th Annual Exhibition (until 5th January

Hatton Gallery

Laing Art Gallery

New Bridge Street, Newcastle, 0191 278 1611

New Perspectives: Outside In (until 1st May 2022). Free. Since January 2021, the Laing Art Gallery’s young people’s group L-INK, have come together online to engage in a process of creative

collaboration with the aim of co-curating a new display. The resultant exhibition here reflects the varied discussions had between the group as they explored issues surrounding identity in relation to domestic spaces within the confines of their own homes. Two new acquisitions by the artist Mike Silva provide the central inspiration for the exhibition. Significant pieces included within the exhibition include those by Linder Sterling, Eduardo Paolozzi, and a curious work by an unknown artist long held within the archives and never-before displayed in the gallery. Portrait of an Artist (until 26th February 2022). £7/conc £6/under 12s Free. A new exhibition from renowned art dealers, Liss Llewellyn. Comprising over 85 oil paintings, drawings and prints, the exhibition offers audiences an opportunity to step into the inner world of the artist, shedding light on their personal lives and creative processes. Over 50 artists from the late 19th century to the 1940s are represented, including Evelyn Dunbar, Albert de Belleroche, Winifred Knights, Alan Sorrell and William Strang. WOW: Women Only Works on Paper (until 4th December 2021). Free. Running concurrently with Challenging Convention, the Laing is also exhibiting WOW: Women Only Works on Paper, a display of over 50 watercolours and pastels complemented by etchings and screenprints. The artists Winifred Knights, Ithell Colquhoun, Annie French, Lucy Kemp-Welch, Thérèse Lessore, Hilda Carline and Paule Vézelay are all represented, as well as other accomplished but lesser-known female artists working in the first part of the 20th century.

life science centre

Centre for Life, Times Square, Newcastle, Cleveland, 0191 243 8210 gaia (ongoing). £15/£11 concessions/child aged 5-17 £8/under 4s Free/ family £34. It’s wowed audiences across the globe and now you too can marvel at Gaia - a stunning, seven-metre recreation of Planet Earth, and one of only five permanent exhibits in the world. Created by British artist, Luke

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 38

26/10/2021 16:19

Art artists Winifred Knights, Ithell Colquhoun, Annie French, Lucy Kemp-Welch, Thérèse Lessore, Hilda Carline and Paule Vézelay are all represented, as well as other accomplished but lesser-known female artists working in the first part of the 20th century.

life science centre

Mima

Centre Square, Middlesbrough, Cleveland, 01642 931232 Chemical CIty (until 4th April 2022). Free. A major thematic exhibition on the histories and legacies of synthetics production in the Tees Valley and new, sustainable material innovations. Moving image from North East Film Archives and historic images animate the area’s social life and changing landscape. Contemporary artworks by Katarina Zdjelar, Annie O’Donnell, and Onya McCausland look at labour, myth and memory, gender, internationalism, and sustainability.

Museum of Archaeology

Museum of Archaeology, Palace Green Library, Palace Green, Durham, County Durham, 0191 334 2932

Hidden Stories from the River Wear: Exploring 1000 years of Durham history (until 4th June

2022). Free. This exciting new online exhibition explores the collection of Gary Bankhead, an underwater archaeologist. Since 2007, Gary has been diving under Elvet Bridge in Durham, gathering over 13,500 objects dating from as early as the 12th century! In 2008, Gary created the ‘Dive into Durham’ project, which aimed to research and catalogue the River Wear collection. Explore a small selection

of Gary’s objects up close alongside interviews with Gary himself and beautiful illustrations which help to bring the collection and their stories to life.

Museum of Archaeology Gallery

(until 4th June 2022). Free. Enjoy this new special exhibition exploring the rich prehistoric and Roman archaeology of Durham. Come to the family-friendly gallery, and discover the rich archaeological history of Durham from prehistoric times until the 21st century.

National Glass Centre

Liberty Way, Sunderland, 0191 5155555 NGC Glass Prize (until 13th March 2022). Free. NGC Glass Prize is a European glass prize delivered by the National Glass Centre which features the work of over 40 artists who work in Europe. Re-Purpose (until 3rd April 2022). Free. Taking an item that has already served one purpose and using it to create something new can add depth, history and human connection to the new object being made. This approach is not only positive in environmental terms, but it can also alter how we consider repurposed objects, often elevating them above the value they held in their original life. This exhibition presents work by a number of artists who work with items made in glass and ceramics. In different ways they each re-purpose objects that have been broken, used, discarded or previously seen as a waste product.

Newcastle Arts Centre 67 Westgate Road, Newcastle, 0191 261 5999

Gallery for Contemporary Art. Hough is an Irish artist and the title of this work is taken from a poem by Seamus Heaney. In Hough’s film, a female bog body is uncovered at the site of a dig that awakens her from her sleep. She talks to an archaeologist tasked with recovering her from the earth. She tells of her own fate, and her premonition for our environment. The race to save this bog body is also a story about the race to save ourselves from ecological collapse and inevitable extinction.

Stuart Whipps: The Carboniferous Epoch (until 2nd January

2022). Free. Stuart Whipps’s 14 minute film ‘The Carboniferous Epoch’ examines how the North East’s new towns especially Peterlee - built during the optimism of post-war Britain - have become landscapes of either mass consumption or high unemployment in a single generation. The film is part of a series each examining different new towns.

Oriental Museum

Elvet Hill, (off South Road), Durham, DH1 3TH, 0191 334 5694,

Jericho: An Ancient City Revealed (until 10th June

2023). Free. Pioneering archaeologist Dame Kathleen Kenyon (1906-1978) excavated at the site of Ancient Jericho and established it as one of the oldest cities in the world. This exhibition explores the significance of Kenyon’s work, life and death in Ancient Jericho and the importance of the site in archaeological history.

Taxila in Focus: 100 years since Marshall (16th

c/o National Glass Centre, Liberty Way, Sunderland, 0191 515 5555

January 2022). Free. The ancient cities and monuments of the Taxila Valley form a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Pakistan. The focus of excavations by the British archaeologist, Sir John Marshall in the early 20th century, these investigations were recorded in a detailed photographic archive. This exhibition focuses on the ancient site of Taxila, around 32 kilometres from Pakistan’s federal capital, Islamabad. Taxila, translated by many as ‘city of cut stone’, was a cosmopolitan settlement and a major trading hub.

2022). Free. Patrick Hough’s new film ‘The Black River of Herself’ premieres at Northern

December 2022). Free. An installation by sculptor and photographer Sarah Danays. Danays

Exhibition ‘Jed Buttress: Boy Detective’ (until 13th

November 2021). Free. Jed Buttress is an award-winning artist and talented creative who works with sculpture, installation and digital media. Explore peculiar objects and interesting facts from aliens to vampires!

Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art

Patrick Hough: The Black River of Herself (until 9th January

Uterine Dreams: Sculptor, Heal Thyself (until 18th

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 39

26/10/2021 16:12

Art Jerram, the exhibition uses detailed NASA imagery of the Earth’s surface to provide a unique opportunity to view our planet floating in three dimensions.

Mima

Museum of Archaeology

Museum of Archaeology, Palace Green Library, Palace Green, Durham, County Durham, 0191 334 2932

Hidden Stories from the River Wear: Exploring 1000 years of Durham history (until 4th June

Museum of Archaeology Gallery

National Glass Centre

Liberty Way, Sunderland, 0191 5155555 NGC Glass Prize (until 13th March 2022). Free. NGC Glass Prize is a European glass prize delivered by the National Glass Centre

which features the work of over 40 artists who work in Europe. Re-Purpose (until 3rd April 2022). Free. Taking an item that has already served one purpose and using it to create something new can add depth, history and human connection to the new object being made. This approach is not only positive in environmental terms, but it can also alter how we consider repurposed objects, often elevating them above the value they held in their original life. This exhibition presents work by a number of artists who work with items made in glass and ceramics. In different ways they each re-purpose objects that have been broken, used, discarded or previously seen as a waste product.

Newcastle Arts Centre 67 Westgate Road, Newcastle, 0191 261 5999

Exhibition ‘Jed Buttress: Boy Detective’ (until 13th

Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art

c/o National Glass Centre, Liberty Way, Sunderland, 0191 515 5555

Patrick Hough: The Black River of Herself (until 9th January

2022). Free. Patrick Hough’s new film ‘The Black River of Herself’ premieres at Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art. Hough is an Irish artist and the title of this work is taken from a poem by Seamus Heaney. In Hough’s film, a female bog body is uncovered at the site of a dig that awakens her from her sleep. She talks to an archaeologist tasked with recovering her from the earth. She tells of her own fate, and her premonition for our environment. The race to save this bog body is also a story about the race to save ourselves from ecological collapse and inevitable extinction.

Stuart Whipps: The Carboniferous Epoch (until 2nd January

2022). Free. Stuart Whipps’s 14 minute film ‘The Carboniferous Epoch’ examines how the North East’s new towns especially Peterlee - built during the optimism of

post-war Britain - have become landscapes of either mass consumption or high unemployment in a single generation. The film is part of a series each examining different new towns.

Oriental Museum

Elvet Hill, (off South Road), Durham, DH1 3TH, 0191 334 5694,

Jericho: An Ancient City Revealed (until 10th June

Taxila in Focus: 100 years since Marshall (16th

Uterine Dreams: Sculptor, Heal Thyself (until 18th

December 2022). Free. An installation by sculptor and photographer Sarah Danays. Danays is an internationally exhibited artist whose work is inspired by gesture and antiquities - notably broken ones. Uterine Dreams has been inspired by two small objects from the Oriental Museum’s collections: an Egyptian New Kingdom pottery piece showing a postpartum mother and her child, and a Greco-Roman travertine fragment of a female torso. These ancient objects, conduits across millennia, lose none of their meaning or sentiment between the time of their manufacture and their twenty-first century re-viewing.

Palace Green Library

Palace Green, Durham, 0191 334 2932

The DLI Collection Gallery: Courage, Comrades, Community

(until 11th March 2022).

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 39

26/10/2021 16:19

Art is an internationally exhibited artist whose work is inspired by gesture and antiquities - notably broken ones. Uterine Dreams has been inspired by two small objects from the Oriental Museum’s collections: an Egyptian New Kingdom pottery piece showing a postpartum mother and her child, and a Greco-Roman travertine fragment of a female torso. These ancient objects, conduits across millennia, lose none of their meaning or sentiment between the time of their manufacture and their twenty-first century re-viewing.

Palace Green Library

Palace Green, Durham, 0191 334 2932

The DLI Collection Gallery: Courage, Comrades, Community

(until 11th March 2022). Free. The Durham Light Infantry (DLI) has a special place in the story of County Durham. From its beginning in 1758 as John Lambton’s 68th Regiment of Foot, the DLI has been present at some of the most important events in world history. From fighting the armies of Napoleon to helping defeat Hitler, the actions of the regiment’s soldiers have helped shape the world we know today. The DLI Collection Gallery tells the history of the regiment through the stories of the soldiers who made it.

Preston Park Museum

Yarm Road, Eaglescliffe, Stockton-on-Tees, 01642 527375 Behind the Seams (until 19th February 2022). £5/£3. This exhibition will be showcasing a whole new range of iconic costumes from well-loved film and TV shows, as well as welcoming back some fan-favourite pieces. The exhibition will be showcasing original costumes worn by the stars on screen, as well as replicas of the original designs, from TV shows including The Crown, Fantastic Beasts, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, It’s a Sin, Judy, Rocket Man, Shakespeare in Love and James Bond.

Queen’s Hall Arts Centre

The Walker family have always been depicted as quintessentially English in the book, film and TV versions of the story; but what is not so widely known is that Ransome modelled his characters on the Altounyans, an Anglo-Armenian family from Aleppo, Syria. Swallows and Armenians reinstates the cultural diversity of the children who inspired Ransome with this touring exhibition of contemporary multimedia works by Babayan and historic paintings from the family’s own collection.

Prospect Us (until 25th November 2021). Free. Prospect Us explores the social, emotional and political impact of commodification of land, rapid urban development and studentification in Newcastle. Through art, satirical games and discussion we’ll examine the power imbalance between landowners, developers, long-term residents and students.

Side Gallery

5-9 Side, Quayside, Newcastle, 0191 2322208

Eruptions: A Decade Of Creation

2 Buddle Street, Wallsend, 0191 278 4217 Take a Closer Look (until 4th December 2021). £4.95/ conc £2.95/under 16s Free. There are over 600 artefacts on display in Segedunum’s Museum, many of them small, every-day items. This exhibition features photographs that look at some of the finer decoration or texture of 20 of these objects to reveal details perhaps easily overlooked on a first viewing. The images sometimes also show the damage or decay that has affected the objects after being in the ground for 1800 years.

(until 6th February 2022). Free. Eruptions is Indian transmedia artist and activist Poulomi Basu’s (b.1983, Calcutta) first major international solo exhibition. The immersive installation of VR, film and photography will showcase the development of Basu’s participatory practice between 2009 and 2021. Shown together for the first time, the gallery and cinema will showcase her acclaimed projects: Blood Speaks: A Ritual Of Exile, Centralia and To Conquer Her Land; which engage with issues of gender, caste and class to expose both the marginalisation and the strength of women and indigenous communities in South Asia.

Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Book

South Shields Museum & Art Gallery

Segedunum Roman Fort

30 Lime Street, Ouseburn Valley, Newcastle, 0300 3301095

Shifter of Shapes: exploring The Lost Spells by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris

(until 31st December 2021). £6.50. The Lost Spells is a moving, joyful treasure of a book by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris, creators of The Lost Words. This immersive exhibition experience invites visitors to step into nature, witnessing its power to amaze, console and bring joy. At the heart of the exhibition is Red Fox - ‘Shifter of shapes and garbage-raider .... Messenger, trickster, curfew-breaker’. See Jackie’s original paintings and recite Robert’s poems to bring Fox and his fellow creatures to life on the pages of our magical living book.

Shieldfield Art Works

(open selected Saturdays 1pm - 4pm), Formerly The Holy Biscuit, Opposite The Biscuit Factory, 1 Clarence Street, Shieldfield, Newcastle, 0191 447 6811

Ocean Road, South Shields, 0191 211 5599

Tyne & Tide: John Peace‚- selected North East paintings (until

7th May 2022). Free. This November a major exhibition of the art works of the late John Peace, a leading artist in the North East, will open at South Shields Museum & Art Gallery. Peace studied at the South Shields School of Art from 1949-51, then at Leeds before gaining a place at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. He had a lifelong career in painting, as well as teaching art, and produced hundreds of paintings, many of which captured the landscape and aspects of social life in the changing region around him.

Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens

Mowbray Gardens, Burdon Road, Sunderland, 0191 5532323 Where We Are Now (until 14th November 2021). Free. Where We Are Now explores the experiences of the last

year through artwork, community response and Sunderland resident’s photography. The exhibition has been developed in collaboration with Sunderland based community groups, the Art Champions, Creative Age, Older Womxn Artists’ Collective, the Pharmacy School at the University of Sunderland and Young Carers. These community groups, have worked alongside the team at Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens to select and interpret artworks from the Arts Council Collection, opening discussion on themes including, isolation, community, family, nature, systems of care, self care, illness and loss. Artists in the exhibition include: Vanley Burke, Patrick Caulfield, Elizabeth Frink, Sunil Gupta, David Hockney, David Shrigley and Barbara Walker.

The Biscuit Factory

16 Stoddard Street, Newcastle, 0191 2611103 Janine Burrows (until 14th November 2021). Free. A celebration of her Northumberland heritage, this is Janine Burrows’ largest and most diverse exhibition to date, taking in painting, decorative sculpture and neverbefore exhibited pencil sketches. Juliet E P Gibbs (until 28th November 2021). Free. Winner of the Contemporary Young Artist Award 2019, fine artist Juliet returns to The Biscuit Factory for a solo show with a collection examining the contrast between the organic and the man-made.

The Bowes Museum

Barnard Castle, County Durham, 01833 690606

North Country Quilts: In Celebration of New Acquisitions

(until 9th January 2022). Adult: £15.50/Conc: £13.50/Family pass: £17.50/Student day: £6/ Young people: £5/Carers & under 5’s free. This exhibition will celebrate the quilting traditions of northern England by showcasing historical and contemporary quilts that are among the finest examples of the craft acquired by the Museum in the last 20 years. Entry to this exhibition is by a separate timed gallery ticket, which can be booked at no extra cost when booking your admission to the Museum.

Paul Scott: New American Scenery (until 1st January 2022). Adult: £15.50/

Conc: £13.50/Family pass: £17.50/Student day: £6/Young people: £5/Carers & under 5’s free. Explore the latest ceramic works by this contemporary Cumbrian artist, featuring historical transferwares that have been updated for today’s audience, telling modern stories based on his trips around America. Visitors will be able to see the contrasts between the old and new shapes and forms, and think about decoration and what it means.

Regeneration by Martin Kinnear

(until 27th February 2022). £15.50/Over 60s £13.50/Students £6/Young people £5. The International award-winning Northern artist Martin Kinnear has produced Regeneration in response to the COVID pandemic. It’s a powerful and moving take on the year the World came to a halt, about what happens when plans are cancelled, futures are placed in doubt and the life-affirming power of change. It’s about beauty and hope and the restorative power of contemplation and features a 16-foot high animation at its centre, inspired by High Force waterfall in Teesdale.

The Common Room

Neville Hall, Westgate Road, Newcastle

Digging Deep: Miners of African Caribbean Heritage (until 1st

November 2021). Free. A new exhibition uncovering the hidden histories of miners and engineers of colour in the North East and beyond. The exhibition includes personal stories and memories from miners, portraits, artworks and creative writing which draw attention to the diversity of the North East’s mining industry, contrasting with typical narratives surrounding mining communities.

The Exchange

1 Howard Street, North Shields, Tyne & Wear, 0191 258 4111

Jack and Bill and the Fogrunt Amulet (until 1st

how the Fogrunt Amulet falls into the hands of the apparently insignificant Kitty Flaps and of the sordid events that transpire. Stuffed with crotchless pants, rubber vaginas, onanist apothecaries and dongers turned to stone, ‘the Fogrunt Amulet’ is a unique warning about the rot that pornography causes to the social imagination.

The Foyer Gallery

Open only on performance nights, People’s Theatre, Stephenson Road, Newcastle, 0191 2655020

Painterly Connections: Dave Barden & Mike Jarvis (until 3rd

December 2021). Free. Dave Barden and Mike Jarvis have enjoyed a mutual fascination with the practice of painting over many years. Both artists have a natural connection through this shared and diverse work and their extended dialogue has resulted in their first exhibition together at the People’s Theatre. The selection of work is designed to highlight the distinctive approaches to painting adopted by Dave and Mike. An underlying curiosity about the world is at the core of the pieces on show, whether from direct observation or from a particular memory recalled and relived.

The Masham

27 Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough

Exchange - Past, Present and Future (until 27th

November 2021). Free. This exhibition will shine the spotlight on the buildings, people and activities of Exchange Square in Middlesbrough when it opens in September. Exchange - Past, Present and Future, organised by Navigator North, will feature archival material, images and artefacts that reveal the past, present and future of the unique area of the town. Exhibits will include: A focus on the former Royal Exchange building, which once stood in the heart of the town’s Victorian commercial and financial district; Commerce House, a banking institution dating back to 1872; The soon-to-be 140-year-old statute of Henry Bolckow, an industrialist who led the development of Middlesbrough as an ironmaking town and was its first mayor; An introduction to the newly

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 40

26/10/2021 16:13

Art Free. The Durham Light Infantry (DLI) has a special place in the story of County Durham. From its beginning in 1758 as John Lambton’s 68th Regiment of Foot, the DLI has been present at some of the most important events in world history. From fighting the armies of Napoleon to helping defeat Hitler, the actions of the regiment’s soldiers have helped shape the world we know today. The DLI Collection Gallery tells the history of the regiment through the stories of the soldiers who made it.

Preston Park Museum

Queen’s Hall Arts Centre

Beaumont Street, Hexham, 01434 652 477 Swallows and Armenians (until until 20th November 2021). Free. Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons is a classic book about children having adventures on a lake. The Walker family have always been depicted as quintessentially English in the book, film and TV versions of the story; but what is not so widely known is that Ransome modelled his characters on the Altounyans, an Anglo-Armenian family from Aleppo, Syria. Swallows and Armenians reinstates the cultural diversity of the children who inspired Ransome with this touring exhibition of contemporary multimedia works by Babayan and historic paintings from the family’s own collection.

Segedunum Roman Fort

2 Buddle Street, Wallsend, 0191 278 4217 Take a Closer Look (until 4th December 2021). £4.95/ conc £2.95/under 16s

Free. There are over 600 artefacts on display in Segedunum’s Museum, many of them small, every-day items. This exhibition features photographs that look at some of the finer decoration or texture of 20 of these objects to reveal details perhaps easily overlooked on a first viewing. The images sometimes also show the damage or decay that has affected the objects after being in the ground for 1800 years.

Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Book

30 Lime Street, Ouseburn Valley, Newcastle, 0300 3301095

Shifter of Shapes: exploring The Lost Spells by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris

Shieldfield Art Works

(open selected Saturdays 1pm - 4pm), Formerly The Holy Biscuit, Opposite The Biscuit Factory, 1 Clarence Street, Shieldfield, Newcastle, 0191 447 6811 Prospect Us (until 25th November 2021). Free. Prospect Us explores the social, emotional and political impact of commodification of land, rapid urban development and studentification in Newcastle. Through art, satirical games and discussion we’ll examine the power imbalance between landowners, developers, long-term residents and students.

Side Gallery

5-9 Side, Quayside, Newcastle, 0191 2322208

Eruptions: A Decade Of Creation

(until 6th February 2022). Free. Eruptions is Indian transmedia artist and activist Poulomi Basu’s (b.1983, Calcutta) first major international solo exhibition. The immersive installation of

VR, film and photography will showcase the development of Basu’s participatory practice between 2009 and 2021. Shown together for the first time, the gallery and cinema will showcase her acclaimed projects: Blood Speaks: A Ritual Of Exile, Centralia and To Conquer Her Land; which engage with issues of gender, caste and class to expose both the marginalisation and the strength of women and indigenous communities in South Asia.

South Shields Museum & Art Gallery Ocean Road, South Shields, 0191 211 5599

Tyne & Tide: John Peace‚- selected North East paintings (until

Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens

Mowbray Gardens, Burdon Road, Sunderland, 0191 5532323 Where We Are Now (until 14th November 2021). Free. Where We Are Now explores the experiences of the last year through artwork, community response and Sunderland resident’s photography. The exhibition has been developed in collaboration with Sunderland based community groups, the Art Champions, Creative Age, Older Womxn Artists’ Collective, the Pharmacy School at the University of Sunderland and Young Carers. These community groups, have worked alongside the team at Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens to select and interpret artworks from the Arts Council Collection, opening discussion on themes including, isolation, community, family, nature, systems of care, self care, illness and loss. Artists in the exhibition include: Vanley Burke, Patrick

Caulfield, Elizabeth Frink, Sunil Gupta, David Hockney, David Shrigley and Barbara Walker.

The Biscuit Factory

The Bowes Museum

Barnard Castle, County Durham, 01833 690606

North Country Quilts: In Celebration of New Acquisitions

Paul Scott: New American Scenery (until 1st January

2022). Adult: £15.50/ Conc: £13.50/Family pass: £17.50/Student day: £6/Young people: £5/Carers & under 5’s free. Explore the latest ceramic works by this contemporary Cumbrian artist, featuring historical transferwares that have been updated for today’s audience, telling modern stories based on his trips around America. Visitors will be able to see the contrasts between the old and new shapes and forms, and think about decoration and what it means.

Regeneration by Martin Kinnear

(until 27th February 2022). £15.50/Over 60s £13.50/Students £6/Young people £5. The International award-winning Northern artist Martin Kinnear has

produced Regeneration in response to the COVID pandemic. It’s a powerful and moving take on the year the World came to a halt, about what happens when plans are cancelled, futures are placed in doubt and the life-affirming power of change. It’s about beauty and hope and the restorative power of contemplation and features a 16-foot high animation at its centre, inspired by High Force waterfall in Teesdale.

The Common Room

Neville Hall, Westgate Road, Newcastle

Digging Deep: Miners of African Caribbean Heritage (until 1st

The Exchange

1 Howard Street, North Shields, Tyne & Wear, 0191 258 4111

Jack and Bill and the Fogrunt Amulet (until 1st

December 2021). Free. Stuckist artist Doctor Colin Cameron returns with his new exhibition. ‘Jack and Bill and the Fogrunt Amulet’ is part of an attempt by The Brothers Grime to reinvigorate enthusiasm for epic poetry as a popular cultural art form. Set in faraway Cloudland during the reign of King Wobblyknobble, it tells of how the Fogrunt Amulet falls into the hands of the apparently insignificant Kitty Flaps and of the sordid events that transpire. Stuffed with crotchless pants, rubber vaginas, onanist apothecaries and dongers turned to stone, ‘the Fogrunt Amulet’ is a unique warning about the rot that pornography causes to the social imagination.

The Foyer Gallery

Open only on performance nights, People’s Theatre, Stephenson Road, Newcastle, 0191 2655020

Painterly Connections: Dave Barden & Mike Jarvis (until 3rd

December 2021). Free. Dave Barden and Mike Jarvis have enjoyed a

mutual fascination with the practice of painting over many years. Both artists have a natural connection through this shared and diverse work and their extended dialogue has resulted in their first exhibition together at the People’s Theatre. The selection of work is designed to highlight the distinctive approaches to painting adopted by Dave and Mike. An underlying curiosity about the world is at the core of the pieces on show, whether from direct observation or from a particular memory recalled and relived.

The Masham

27 Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough

Exchange - Past, Present and Future (until 27th

The NewBridge Project

Shieldfield Centre 4 - 8, Clarence Walk, off Stoddart St, Newcastle

Blazing New Worlds - The NewBridge Project’s 11th Birthday (until 28th January 2022). Free. Blazing New Worlds is a programme of commissions, events and workshops at The NewBridge Project which celebrates its 11th Birthday. Throughout the programme they will be releasing a series of open calls and funding opportunities, commissions by the artists Graeme Hopper (Grassi Art) and Cassie Thornton,

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 40

26/10/2021 16:19

Art appointed Exchange Artist in Residence, Layla Khoo.

The NewBridge Project

Shieldfield Centre 4 - 8, Clarence Walk, off Stoddart St, Newcastle

The Old Low Light

Clifford’s Fort, North Shields, Tyne & Wear, 0191 257 4506 That’s Women’s Work (until 31st December 2021). Free. An exhibition about the important role of women in fishing and maritime industries over time, looking at the changing roles of women in these industries over the past 150 years. The exhibition will include stories about: The journey of the “herring girls“ who every year from early summer to late autumn followed the fishing fleet down the east coast, from northern Scotland, stopping at ports to clean and cure the catch; The lives of local fishwives who packed creels with fish, sometimes weighing as much as six stone which they carried on their back, to sell door to door or at local markets; How women whose husbands were at sea coped with tragedy and hardship and the support provided by the Fishermen’s Mission; and lots more.

The Witham

3 Horsemarket, Barnard Castle, County Durham, 01833 631 107

Barnard Castle & Teesdale Art Society (until 27th

November 2021). Free. Barnard Castle & Teesdale Art Society return to The Witham for their 2021 Exhibition, including their Lockdown art, much of it inspired by the local landscape.

Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery Carlisle Street, Carlisle, Cumbria, 01228 618718 Artful Ways (until 6th

November 2021). Adults £10, under 18s Free. A brand new Arts Council funded project bringing people together across Cumbria in an exciting celebration of creativity and connection as the county emerges from lockdown. The exhibition at Tullie House will showcase artwork created during a month of activity across the county.

Hidden Natural Histories by Eleanor Chaney (until 31st

December 2021). Adults £10, under 18s Free. A project which explored the hidden or harder to see histories of the objects and their collectors in the Tullie House Nature Collection. Asking - Could digital interventions create a space to ask new questions and tell more stories? Eleanor is inspired by the stories of the female naturalists who contributed to the Tullie House collection. Using paper sculpture, animation and film making she explores their work, and through it discusses the social barriers faced at the time.

New Light Prize Exhibition

(until until 6th November 2021). Adults £10, under 18s Free. New Light was established in 2010 to celebrate and promote Northern art. This biennial Prize Exhibition is now one of the UK’s largest and most celebrated open exhibitions. The exhibition brings together over 125 pieces of contemporary art, showcasing well-known and emerging artists.

Ushaw College

Durham, 0191 334 5119

Durham Art Group - A Display of Works (until 22nd

February 2022). Free. Members of the Durham Art Group have combined to create an engaging exhibition of their talented work. Many of the artworks on show are up for sale, if you would like to make a purchase, please enquire at the reception desk. Echoes and Highlights (until 21st November 2021). Adults £9/Children (5-18) £6/Under 5s Free. A visual journey highlighting the rejuvenation and reinvention of Ushaw as a hub of artistic, creative and cultural activity. By spending time with artists from the newly created studios, the staff and the volunteers who give their time to keep the place running smoothly and those who

have historic family and community connections, this project echoes the past which inspires the present and future of Ushaw Historic House & Gardens.

Ushaw Studio Artists - Traces

(until 7th November 2021). Adults £9/Children (5-18) £6/Under 5s Free. Ushaw is home to a diverse collection of artists and creative businesses. Its studio spaces are occupied by painters, illustrators, writers, musicians, silversmiths and conservators. All of these designers and makers add a tangible atmosphere of creativity and enterprise to Ushaw’s historic and architecturally significant buildings. The studio artists have chosen to respond to Ushaw’s buildings and landscape for their second annual show. Traces, featuring the work of 13 of the creatives based here, reflects the history and architecture of the buildings and provides an insight into the flora and fauna of the wider estate. Featuring oils, watercolours, etchings, multiples and jewellery, the majority of the works are for sale which can be purchased here at Ushaw.

MADE IN THE NORTH EAST JEWELLERY, GIFTS AND ART www.the glamorousowl.com theglamorousowl@gmail.com 0770 101 8657 • 0191 261 7283 the glamorous owl 2 @ theglamorousowl The glamorous owl

2 and 5 Old George Yard, High Bridge, Newcastle NE1 1EZ

Various Venues in County Durham

Lumiere Festival (from 18th November 2021 until 21st November 2021). Free - booking required. Lumiere 2021 will reimagine the historic contours of county and city, politics and society, through dramatic installations, spellbinding projections and quiet and poignant works, showcasing the infinite possibilities of light art in all its forms. Highlights include a newly-commissioned work in collaboration with Durham University, New Writing North and leading international poets, whose illuminated words will be projected onto Durham Castle; a video-mapped journey from reflection to celebration on Durham Cathedral’s facade; and Lumiere’s first online interactive artwork that allows anyone to take part from wherever they are.

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 41

26/10/2021 16:13

Art and a residency with Slack’s Radio.

The Old Low Light

The Witham

3 Horsemarket, Barnard Castle, County Durham, 01833 631 107

Barnard Castle & Teesdale Art Society (until 27th

November 2021). Free. Barnard Castle & Teesdale Art Society return to The Witham for their 2021 Exhibition, including their Lockdown art, much of it inspired by the local landscape.

Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery Carlisle Street, Carlisle, Cumbria, 01228 618718 Artful Ways (until 6th November 2021). Adults £10, under 18s Free. A brand new Arts Council funded project bringing people together across Cumbria in an exciting celebration of creativity and connection as the county emerges from lockdown. The exhibition at Tullie House will showcase artwork created during a month of activity across the county.

Hidden Natural Histories by Eleanor Chaney (until 31st

December 2021). Adults £10, under 18s Free. A project which explored the hidden or harder to see histories of the objects and their collectors in the Tullie House Nature Collection. Asking

- Could digital interventions create a space to ask new questions and tell more stories? Eleanor is inspired by the stories of the female naturalists who contributed to the Tullie House collection. Using paper sculpture, animation and film making she explores their work, and through it discusses the social barriers faced at the time.

New Light Prize Exhibition

Ushaw College

Durham, 0191 334 5119

Durham Art Group - A Display of Works (until 22nd

buildings. The studio artists have chosen to respond to Ushaw’s buildings and landscape for their second annual show. Traces, featuring the work of 13 of the creatives based here, reflects the history and architecture of the buildings and provides an insight into the flora and fauna of the wider estate. Featuring oils, watercolours, etchings, multiples and jewellery, the majority of the works are for sale which can be purchased here at Ushaw.

Various Venues in County Durham

MADE IN THE NORTH EAST JEWELLERY, GIFTS AND ART www.the glamorousowl.com theglamorousowl@gmail.com 0770 101 8657 • 0191 261 7283 the glamorous owl 2 @ theglamorousowl The glamorous owl

2 and 5 Old George Yard, High Bridge, Newcastle NE1 1EZ

Ushaw Studio Artists - Traces

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 41

26/10/2021 16:19

STAGE previews ahoy!

Pic: Pamela Raith Photography

Janet Plater’s latest ‘Haddock & Chips’ is currently touring the region and winning raves. Janet Plater has penned another winner in the shape of ‘Haddock & Chips’ for the redoubtable CaroleW Productions. The action is set during a busy night at Frankie’s Chippy, which is packed out with lasses heading out on the town, as well as all the usual regulars. But when reports start coming in of a little girl gone missing, the community must pull together to find her

Jenny Eclair has got three dates in the region in early December.

Fancy an

Eclair?

Bard!

Is it fair to call Jenny Eclair a national treasure yet? A comedian, actress and novelist, she was also the only person to ever make Loose Women vaguely watchable (and her stint on Grumpy Old Women was a joy to behold). It’s her stand-up shows that really give her scope to cut loose, however, and she’ll be doing exactly that when she brings ‘Sixty! (FFS!)’ our way. ‘The Face of Vagisan’ will be confronting a new decade of decrepitude

This boozy bunch are barrelling into Newcastle this November. The gist? Each night, one carefully selected cast member is charged with drinking for four hours prior to showtime. Then, the remaining sober cast members are forced to fight their way through the show while incorporating, rectifying, justifying and generally improvising round their inebriated cast mate. The tipsy troupe have been performing their shows to rapturous acclaim for ten plus years with audiences going ga-ga for performances

before it’s too late. Both funny and heartwarming, the play is a timely work about community and how we can find hope in humanity. Haddock & Chips: 3 Nov, The Witham, Barnard Castle; 4 Nov, Arts Centre, Washington; 5 Nov, The Maltings, Berwick; 7 Nov, Wetheral Community Village Hall; 9 Nov, Ushaw Historic House, Durham; 10 Nov, Saltburn Community Centre; 11-13 November, The Exchange, North Shields. carolewproductions.com

(her words, not mine…) and moaning about the fact that it now takes her 20 minutes of scrolling down to find her date of birth when she’s filling in online forms. Shoud she celebrate or crawl into a hole… Find out when she hits the region in early December. DP Jenny Eclair: Friday 3 Dec, The Witham, Barnard Castle, 7.30pm, £20, thewitham. org.uk; Saturday 4 Dec, Alnwick Playhouse, 7.30pm, £22, alnwickplayhouse.co.uk; Sunday 5 Dec, Queen’s Hall, Hexham, 7.30pm, £20, queenshall.co.uk.

that can, and have, included foul language, partial nudity, full nudity, simulated acts of a sexual nature, attempted singing, full contact wrestling and “tongue stuff”. Romeo and Juliet is considered one of the bard’s real classics. Add a significant amount of booze and what can possibly go right… GM Shit-faced Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, Wednesday 24 November, Tyne Theatre & Opera House, Newcastle, 8pm, £20.50. tynetheatreandoperahouse.uk

Sleep? you won’t for a week Welcome to Sleepy Hollow. Population 436. You may never leave... ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’, by the American author Washington Irving, has been an enduring classic of horror literature ever since it was first published just over 200 years ago. The gothic tale sees Ichabod Crane entering an eerie world of secrets and unsettling tradition as he arrives in Sleepy Hollow to become the town’s teacher. While quickly finding friendship with the town patriarch and his spirited daughter,

his presence is now wholly welcome. But not all is as it seems, for Ichabod Crane harbours his own dark secret: he is not in Sleepy Hollow by chance… This version – which unleashes one of the most terrifying monsters from the entire horror canon, the Headless Horseman – stars Coronation Street legends Wendi Peters and Bill Ward and was penned by Philip Meeks. GM The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Tuesday 16-Saturday 20 November, Darlington Hippodrome, 7.30pm, from £16.50. darlingtonhippodrome.co.uk

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 42

26/10/2021 15:52

STAGE theatre Alnwick Playhouse

Bondgate Without, Alnwick, Northumberland, 01665 660550

An Experiment With An Air Pump

– 3rd - 5th: 7.30pm, £11/£7. 1799 - On the eve of a new century, the house buzzes with scientific experiments, furtive romance and farcical amateur dramatics. 1999 - In a world of scientific chaos, cloning and genetic engineering, the cellar of the same house reveals a dark secret buried for 200 years.

Alphabetti Theatre

St James Boulevard, Newcastle

10 Things to Do in a Small Cumbrian Town by Hannah Sowerby – 23rd Nov - 11th

Dec: 7.30pm, Pay what you feel. A one-woman comedy drama set in Penrith, Cumbria. All Jodie wants to do is kiss a woman, but the only one available in Penrith seems to be her friend’s Mam....

Arc

Dovecot Street, Stockton-on-Tees, 01642 525 199 Retake, Remake! – 9th: 7pm, Pay what you decide. The Lawnmowers Theatre Ensemble present Retake, Remake!, a show where the actors take back films made about learning disabled and disabled people but without learning disabled or disabled actors.

Arts Centre Washington

Biddick Lane, Fatfield, Washington, 0191 219 3455 Educating Rita – 19th - 20th: 2pm, 7.30pm, £10. Willy Russell’s funny, witty and charming play about a difficult social transition.

Haddock and Chips by Janet Plater – 4th: 7.30pm, £9/£7.50 conc/£5 student. It’s a busy night at Frankie’s Chippy, as always. From lasses heading out on the town, to those just passing through and the regulars who have been coming here for years. But when reports start coming in of a little girl gone missing, the community must pull together to find her before it’s too late.

Provoked to Madness by the Brutality of Wealth – 11th:

7.30pm, £9/£7.50 conc/£5 student. a homeless hostel ‘support worker’ once said ‘what dya need books for yr homeless?’. our

revenge was thirteen years of reading, graduating from the open university, 2016. this highly visual performance is all about asking questions, regaining our voices, ‘rewriting the future.’

– 19th - 21st: 2pm, 6pm, 7.30pm, £15. Take your seats as Tom Bales and Caroline Sabiston invite you on a journey through musical theatre history.

Darlington Hippodrome

1-4 Saltwell View, Gateshead, 0191 4781499 The Signalman – 8th - 13th: 7.15pm, Pay what you want. This one-act play explores the terror and climaxes which exist in the original short story by Charles Dickens.

(formerly Darlington Civic Theatre), Parkgate, Darlington, 01325 405405 A Christmas Carol – 23rd 24th: 8pm, £14.50. Guy Masterson recreates Scrooge, Marley, the Fezziwigs, Tiny Tim et al in an enchanting, visceral performance that will dazzle and linger long in the memory. Beyond The Barricade – 10th: 7.30pm, £14.50-£29.50. Over two hours of the best of Broadway and the West End, ending of course with a stunning finale from Les Mis. Rock Of Ages – 23rd - 27th: 2pm, 2.30pm, 7.30pm, £15.50-£43. The hilarious musical comedy lavished with over 25 classic rock anthems.

The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow

– 18th - 20th: 2.30pm, 7.30pm, £16.50-£36.50. When Ichabod Crane becomes the teacher in Sleepy Hollow, he arrives with a sense of wonderment. What he doesn’t realise is that he is about to unleash the very devil himself - the Headless Horseman, a creature doomed for eternity to seek a terrifying revenge.

Empire Theatre and Cinema

Front Street, Consett, 01207 218171 Treasure Island – 27th - 31st: 10am, 11am, 12.30pm, 3pm, 4.30pm, 6.30pm, £17/£15. Take a trip to the swashbuckling ‘Yo-Ho-Ho’ panto Treasure Island, packed full of adventure, magic, dazzling costumes, hilarious characters and a modern twist on the traditional story.

Gala Theatre

Millennium Place, Durham, 03000 266 600 Robin Hood – 24th Nov - 9th Dec: 10am, 11am, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, 5pm, 7pm, £10. More fun and mayhem from your favourite panto family, as they all head for Sherburn Forest to tell the tale of heroic outlaw Robin Hood.

Laurels

212 Whitley Road, Whitley Bay

From Hammerstein to Hamilton

Little Theatre

Live Theatre

27 Broad Chare, Quayside, Newcastle, 0191 232 1232 The Offing – 3rd - 27th: 2pm, 4pm, 7.30pm, £14£28/concessions from £14. In a Britain slowly emerging from the horrors of the Second World War, 16-year-old Robert Appleyard sets out on an adventure - he leaves his Durham home to head South, where he hopes to find work. But a chance encounter with the bohemian and eccentric Dulcie Piper will change his path forever.

Middlesbrough Theatre

The Avenue, Linthorpe, Middlesbrough, 01642 815181 A Christmas Carol – 23rd 25th: 12.45pm, 6.45pm, £17.50/Under 16s £12. On Christmas Eve, the most magical night of the year, the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is whisked away on a terrifying journey through the past and into the future, accompanied by three fearsome ghosts determined to make him realise the true meaning of Christmas. Twinkle – 10th - 13th: 7.30pm, £12/£11. Arriving at a provincial theatre to find himself relegated to a dingy basement dressing room, Harold reflects on humorous and serious aspects of his professional life as he puts on his makeup and gets ready to play Widow Twanky.

Whistle, And I’ll Come To You

– 4th: 7.30pm, £16. Professor Parkins imagines her holiday on the East Anglian coast will be a relaxing antidote to the rigours of college life.... but when a little light digging uncovers a long-buried bronze whistle, with a cryptic inscription, her carefree sabbatical transforms itself into a

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 43

26/10/2021 16:13

STAGE ghastly nightmare, the consequences of which will haunt her forever.

Middlesbrough Town Hall

Albert Road, Middlesbrough, 01642 729 729 Circus Of Horrors – 15th: 7.30pm, £25.50-£30.50. Revamped and Rockin’ will include an amazing phantasmaglorious amalgamation of acts, driven by a rock n roll sound scape, a show that will have you sat on the edge of your seat when not falling off it with laughter. Mad About The Musicals – 6th: 6.45pm, £21. 2 hours of songs from the greatest musicals brought to you by Michael Courtney, his fabulous cast of singers and live band. The Bonbons Cabaret – 7th: 7.30pm, £14.50/£10.50. Step through the doors and who knows who you will meet. Will it be your hosts, drag trio Bonnie and The Bonnettes? Will it be our starlet on the rise singer/songwriter MXYM? Will it be the lip-syncing, burlesque babe that is Mama Rhi?

The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – 11th:

7.30pm, £16. The critically-acclaimed Pantaloons Theatre Company present their horrifically innovative take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s murky tale of murder, mystery and transmogrification!

Northern Stage

Barras Bridge, Newcastle, 0191 2305151 GAZE – 25th - 26th: 2pm, 7pm, £tbc. Following two women on their journeys to discovering their identities. Alice Guy Blaché, the first real-life female filmmaker, is desperate for artistic license as her film career is burgeoning in the late 19th century, but faces countless barriers and betrayal. Rose, a modern day film student, is grappling with her mental health in her battle to find a sense of purpose in her life.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

– 27th - 30th: 10am, 2pm, 7pm, From £10. Harrietta Rabbit was just a normal girl from a normal family (well, as normal as families get). That is until a job offer arrives for Harrietta, in the form of a letter slid underneath the door on a cold winter’s night, she is to become the Sorcerer’s Apprentice....

Queen’s Hall Arts Centre

Beaumont Street, Hexham, 01434 652 477

Hello & Goodbye – 2nd - 3rd:

7.30pm, £12. Port Elizabeth, 1960s: brother and sister Johnnie and Hester have not seen each other in years. When Hester returns to claim the birthright she believes is hers, the stage is set for a moving, poetic, punchy drama

Royalty Theatre

25 The Royalty, off Chester Road, Sunderland, 0191 567 2669

RENT - The Musical

– 4th - 6th: 2.30pm, 7.30pm, £12/£14. The story of a group of artists struggling to survive and create a life in Lower Manhattan’s East Village in the 1990s under the shadow of HIV/AIDS. The show contains mild language and adult themes.

St Cuthberts Church

Norham, Berwick-onTweed

Bojangles - Dracula in Space

– 20th: 7.30pm, Adult £9/Child £4. In an action packed journey of physical theatre, comedy and genrespanning music, this internationally acclaimed string quartet blast into the cosmos to meet a mysterious benefactor who makes them a curious proposition.

Sunderland Empire Theatre

High Street West, Sunderland, 0844 871 3022 9 to 5 the Musical – 9th 13th: 2.30pm, 7.30pm, £13. Dolly Parton’s smash-hit musical is the most fun you’ll have in the theatre all year. Coming to you direct from London’s West End, expect a rip-roaring score by the Queen of Country herself! Gangsta Granny – 17th - 20th: 7pm, 1.30pm, 10.30am, 2.30pm, From £13. It’s Friday night and Ben knows that means only one thing - staying with Granny! But what Ben doesn’t know is that Granny has a secret.

The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe – 30th Nov - 4th

Dec: 7pm, £13. Step through the wardrobe this winter into the magical kingdom of Narnia for the most mystical of adventures in a faraway land.

The Customs House

Mill Dam, South Shields, 0191 4541234 Rapunzel – 24th Nov - 8th Dec: Times(s) tbc, From £10.75. Join Dame Bella, her hapless son Arbuthnot and the gang

back in Cooksonville for another Adventure.

The Exchange

1 Howard Street, North Shields, Tyne & Wear, 0191 258 4111

Fire & Water: The Thomas Brown Story – 1st - 6th: 7.30pm,

£9-£12. The story of the fifteen year old whose heroic actions in salvaging vital Enigma code documents from a sinking German U-Boat, helped shorten World War 11 by several months. Haddock and Chips – 11th - 13th: 7.30pm, £12. Brenda and Bob are managing with one staff member down. It’s a busy night. From a lorry driver passing through to a lass heading out on the town, all of human life is here. A policeman arrives with news of a missing child and the community rises to the cause. Yarns From Hyem – 25th: 7.30pm, £6-£7.50. A top team of regional actors, directors and producers bring to life four beautiful and hilarious plays from critically acclaimed and emerging local writers

The Forum Theatre

Queensway, Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees, 01642 552 663

Not Lady Chatterley’s Lover

– 3rd: 7.30pm, £23. This laughter-filled parody of the classic D.H. Lawrence novel will bring you high drama, high comedy and highly-raised eyebrows.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

– 16th - 17th: 10.30am, 1.30pm, 4.30pm, £13. This critically acclaimed production of The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show features a menagerie of 75 lovable puppets, faithfully adapting four of Eric Carle’s stories.

The Maltings

Eastern Lane, Berwickupon-Tweed, 01289 304005 Haddock and Chips – 5th: 8pm, £14.50/£13. It’s a busy night at Frankie’s Chippy, as always. When reports start coming in of a little girl gone missing, the community must pull together to find her before it’s too late.

The People’s Theatre

Stephenson Road, Heaton, Newcastle, 0191 265 5020

The Flint Street Nativity

– 23rd - 27th: 7.30pm, £15/£13. Miss Horrocks’ class of seven-year-olds is about to perform their nativity. But squabbles

arise when Gabriel wants to play Mary, the Star grumbles he’s not a proper star and Herod keeps waving to his mum and dad!

The Witham

3 Horsemarket, Barnard Castle, County Durham, 01833 631 107

Castle Players: A Trio of One Act Plays by Alan Bennett

– 11th - 13th: 2.30pm, 7.30pm, £10-£12. In this programme of one act plays, Office Suite brings together two plays under one title - Green Forms and A Visit from Miss Prothero - with Say Something Happened completing the trio. Haddock and Chips (14+) – 3rd: 7.30pm, £10-£12. It’s a busy night at Frankie’s Chippy, as always. But when reports start coming in of a little girl gone missing, the community must pull together to find her before it’s too late?

Theatre Royal

100 Grey Street, Newcastle, 08448 112 121

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

– 23rd Nov - 9th Dec: 12pm, 2pm, 3.30pm, 5pm, 7pm, From £12.50. With madcap comedy from Newcastle panto favourites Danny Adams (Muddles), Clive Webb (The Henchman) and Chris Hayward (who we discover for the first time has a villainous side, playing The Wicked Queen), the production also sees X Factor star Joe McElderry join the cast, as The Man in The Mirror.

Trouble in Tahiti / West Side Story Symphonic Dances – 4th - 6th:

7pm, £20/£10. Trouble In Tahiti - The American Dream turns suffocatingly sour in Leonard Bernstein’s unsparing examination of a marriage falling apart in 1950s suburbia.West Side Story Symphonic Dances - At a stroke, Bernstein’s West Side Story redefined musical theatre when it opened on Broadway in 1957.

Tyne Theatre and Opera House 111 Westgate Road, Newcastle, 0844 2491000

Not: Lady Chatterley’s Lover

– 8th: 7.30pm, £23.50. Think The Naked Gun and Airplane! mixed with a steamy costume drama. A laughter-filled parody of the D.H. Lawrence novel.

Sh*t-faced Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet – 24th: 8pm,

£20.50. Reviving the raucous, interactive and vibrant nature of Elizabethan theatre with a very modern twist - reminding them as we go to always enjoy Shakespeare responsibly.

Starlight Theatre Productions presents ELF – 16th - 20th:

2pm, 7pm, £14-£22. Elf the Musical is based on the 2003 feature film of the same name. It features songs by Tony Award nominees Matthew Sklar (The Wedding Singer) and Chad Beguelin (Disney’s Aladdin on Broadway).

Ushaw College

Durham, 0191 334 5119 Haddock and Chips – 9th: 7.30pm, £15/£10. Taking place in Frankie’s, the local chippie, two performers play a host of characters representing the different walks of life who pass through the doors on a daily basis.

Sunderland, SR1 3EX, 0844 871 3022, 8pm, £33.65. Jimmy’s brand new show contains jokes about all kinds of terrible things.

Tuesday • 2

Gary Delaney: Gary in Punderland

– Whitley Bay Playhouse, Marine Avenue, Whitley Bay, NE26 1LZ, 0844 248 1588, 8pm, £21.35. A brand new show with hit after hit of the kind of one-liners only a master could craft. Jimmy Carr: Terribly Funny – Middlesbrough Town Hall, Albert Road, Middlesbrough, TS1 2QJ, 01642 729 729, 8pm, £32. Terribly Funny contains jokes about all kinds of terrible things.

Wednesday • 3

– 6th: 7pm, Adult £10/ Child £5. Leaping across landscapes and racing through 600 years, Hefted tells a powerful tale about the rural experience and the ties that bind communities to the land.

BBC New Comedy Awards Final – Tyne Theatre and Opera House, 111 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 4AG, 0844 2491000, Time tbc, Free - booking required. The annual BBC competition series is a nationwide hunt to find the best new standup comics. Sindhu Vee: Alphabet – Gala Theatre, Millennium Place, Durham, DH1 1WA, 03000 266 600, 8pm, £16.50. A brandnew show about the hair we want, the friends we have, and living the vast difference between virus and viral.

Whitley Bay Playhouse

Thursday • 4

UTASS

9-11 Chapel Row, Middleton in Teesdale, County Durham

Multi Story Theatre - Hefted

Marine Avenue, Whitley Bay, 0844 248 1588

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

– 13th: 7.30pm, £28.80. Join the cast of four refreshingly honest and unreserved girls for a riotous evening of hilarious comedy and classic pop anthems that define being a 21st-Century woman.

Whittingham Memorial Inst. Whittingham, Alnwick, 01665 574 964

Bojangles - Dracula in Space

– 21st: 7.30pm, Adult £10/Child £4. In an action packed journey of physical theatre, comedy and genrespanning music, this internationally acclaimed string quartet blast into the cosmos to meet a mysterious benefactor who makes them a curious proposition.

comedy Monday • 1

Jimmy Carr - Terribly Funny –

Sunderland Empire Theatre, High Street West,

Best of Northern – The Stand Comedy Club, 31 High Bridge, Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, NE1 1EW, 0844 693 3336, 8.30pm, £8-£10. The Best Of Northern Comedy. 4 act mixed-bill line-up from your favourite local acts. Jason Manford: Like Me – Middlesbrough Town Hall, Albert Road, Middlesbrough, TS1 2QJ, 01642 729 729, 7.30pm, £30.

Friday • 5

Jason Byrne: Audience Precipitation – Gala Theatre, Mil-

lennium Place, Durham, DH1 1WA, 03000 266 600, 8pm, £19.50. He’s back for more comedy chaos! Jason Cook’s Comedy Club November – The Customs House, Mill Dam, South Shields, NE33 1ES, 0191 4541234, 7.45pm, £14. Join Jason Cook as the host of his comedy club, which brings huge TV names, daft guests and incredible surprises to The Customs House. Paul Foot: Swan Power – Arc, Dovecot Street, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 1LL, 01642 525 199,

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 44

26/10/2021 16:13

STAGE 8pm, £15. Paul opens his beak and explores topics including Nanna on the rack, murdering Santas and interfering ambulance drivers (selfappointed busybodies!) The Friday Show – The Stand Comedy Club, 31 High Bridge, Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, NE1 1EW, 0844 693 3336, 8pm, £12-£15. With Anya Atkinson and Michael Fabbri

Jason Manford: Like Me – Darlington Hippodrome, (formerly Darlington Civic Theatre), Parkgate, Darlington, DL1 1RR, 01325 405405, 7.30pm, £20-£32.

Saturday • 6

Wednesday • 10

Ed Byrne: If I’m Honest... – Mid-

dlesbrough Town Hall, Albert Road, Middlesbrough, TS1 2QJ, 01642 729 729, 8pm, £27.50. Join Ed as he takes a long hard look at himself and tries to decide if he has ANY traits that are worth passing on to his children.

Hilarity Bites Comedy Club feat. Paul Pirie, John Robertson, and host Danny Deegan – The

Forum Music Centre, Borough Road, Darlington, County Durham, DL1 1SG, 7.30pm, £10. d host Danny Deegan.

Jason Byrne: Audience Precipitation – Arc, Dovecot Street,

Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 1LL, 01642 525 199, 8pm, £19.50. He’s back for more comedy chaos! Nina Conti - The Dating Show – Tyne Theatre and Opera House, 111 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 4AG, 0844 2491000, 7.30pm, £23. The quick-thinking queen of ventriloquism. The Saturday Show – The Stand Comedy Club, 31 High Bridge, Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, NE1 1EW, 0844 693 3336, 7pm, £20. With Anya Atkinson and Michael Fabbri.

£17.50. Sam Delaney and Andy Dawson have converted their nonsense podcast into a grand theatrical experience once again.

Tuesday • 9

Andy Kirkpatrick - Mind your Head: Holidays From Hell – Tyne The-

atre and Opera House, 111 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 4AG, 0844 2491000, 7.30pm, £17/£14. Hull’s second best climber, comedian. Pottervision – The Stand Comedy Club, 31 High Bridge, Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, NE1 1EW, 0844 693 3336, 8.30pm, £10-£12. Four performers are all set to recreate Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone but, when two of them drop out on the day (and take all the props and costumes with them), Tom and Lukas must go it alone and make do with the limited resources they have.

Thursday • 11

Daliso Chaponda: Apocalypse Not Now – The Stand Comedy

Club, 31 High Bridge, Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, NE1 1EW, 0844 693 3336, 7.30pm, £15.

Hilarity Bites presents Alice Fraser: Chronos – The Forum

Music Centre, Borough Road, Darlington, County Durham, DL1 1SG, 12am, £10 advance / £12 on the door.

Sunday • 7

Friday • 12

Comedy Club, 31 High Bridge, Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, NE1 1EW, 0844 693 3336, 8.30pm, £19.50. He’s back for more comedy chaos!

Theatre, Millennium Place, Durham, DH1 1WA, 03000 266 600, 8pm, £12/£10. Come see Australian comedian Alice Fraser (The Bugle) turn time inside out and back to front.

Jason Byrne’s Audience Precipitation – The Stand

Paul Chowdhry: Family-Friendly Comedian – Theatre Royal,

100 Grey Street, Newcastle, NE1 6BR, 08448 112 121, 7.30pm, £29. Paul tackles the UK’s handling of the pandemic, why the rules of six only worked for white people, fame, England football fans and Tom Cruise landing his helicopter in someone’s garden.

Monday • 8

Top Flight Time Machine - The Velvet Drainpipe Tour – The Stand Comedy Club, 31 High Bridge, Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, NE1 1EW, 0844 693 3336, 8.30pm,

Alice Fraser: Chronos – Gala

Gavin Webster Plays Live To Actual People – Tyne Theatre and

Opera House, 111 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 4AG, 0844 2491000, 8pm, £15.50/£13.50. Geordie comedy legend and Newcastle’s very own original alternative comedian.

Hilarity Bites presents Chris Ramsey: 20/20 – Darlington

Hippodrome, (formerly Darlington Civic Theatre), Parkgate, Darlington, DL1 1RR, 7pm, £22 (+ £2 per seat restoration levy).

Saturday • 13

Big Mouth Comedy Club - November

– Middlesbrough Town Hall, Albert Road, Middlesbrough, TS1 2QJ, 01642 729 729, 8pm, £12. Starring: MC Josh Jones, Matt Richardson, Markus Birdman and Njambi McGrath Ellie Taylor: Don’t Got This – The Stand Comedy Club, 31 High Bridge, Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, NE1 1EW, 0844 693 3336, 5pm, £15. Fresh from her debut Netflix stand-up special, the star of The Mash Report, Live at the Apollo and QI is back with a brand-new show. George Egg - Movable Feast – Mickleton Village Hall, Mickleton, Barnard Castle, County Durham, DL12 0JY, 7.30pm, Adult £10/Child £6. George Egg cooks gourmet cuisine in the most unconventional of ways during his latest comedy show about making food on the move.

John Archer: Against The Odds

– Arc, Dovecot Street, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 1LL, 01642 525 199, 8pm, £15. A rare chance to see baffling magic with a dash of comedy thrown in.

Sunday • 14

Felt Nowt - Sketch Show In A Day – Bobik’s, The Punch

Bowl Hotel, 125 Jesmond Road, Newcastle, NE2 3JY, 0191 284 0490, 7.30pm, £5. Comedians work on brand new, never before performed sketches throughout the day, then perform it on the evening for you. George Egg - Movable Feast – Felton Village Hall, Main Street, Felton, Morpeth, NE65 9NH, 7.30pm, £10. Award-winning comedian George Egg cooks gourmet cuisine in the most unconventional of ways during his latest comedy show about making food on the move.

Wednesday • 17

Ed Byrne: If I’m Honest – Arc, Dovecot Street, Stocktonon-Tees, TS18 1LL, 01642 525 199, 8pm, From £25. Join Ed as he takes a long hard look at himself and tries to decide if he has ANY traits that are worth passing on to his children. Jimmy Carr: Terribly Funny – O2 City Hall, Northumberland Road, Newcastle, NE1 8SF, 0844 811 2121, 7pm, £33.20adv. Jimmy’s brand new show contains jokes about all kinds of terrible things. Kate Fox - Bigger on the Inside – The Hearth Café, Main Road, Horsley, Newcastle, NE15 0NT, 6.30pm, Adult £12.50/Child £7. Stand-up poet, comedian

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 45

26/10/2021 16:13

STAGE and BBC Radio 4 regular Kate Fox explores autism and neurodiversity through the theme of Doctor Who. Ross Noble - Humournoid – Middlesbrough Town Hall, Albert Road, Middlesbrough, TS1 2QJ, 01642 729 729, 8pm, £28.50. Scott Bennett: Relax – The Witham, 3 Horsemarket, Barnard Castle, County Durham, DL12 8YL, 01833 631 107, 7.30pm, £12. Society is struggling, we are slaves to technology, the world is caving in around us and downtime is just wasted time. Have we all forgotten how to relax?

Thursday • 18

Best of Northern – The Stand

Comedy Club, 31 High Bridge, Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, NE1 1EW, 0844 693 3336, 8.30pm, £8-£10. The Best Of Northern Comedy. 4 act mixed-bill line-up from your favourite local acts.

Felt Tips (Felt Nowt Comedy Event) – The Globe, 11 Railway Street, Newcastle, NE4 7AD, 8pm, £5. Felt Nowt presents new comedians and new material. Starring John Gibson & Matthew McLane.

Henning Wehn: It’ll All Come Out In The Wash – Whitley Bay

Playhouse, Marine Avenue, Whitley Bay, NE26 1LZ, 0844 248 1588, 7.30pm, £26.40. German Comedy Ambassador.

Kate Fox - Bigger on the Inside

– Allendale Village Hall, Leadgate, Allendale, Hexham, NE47 9PR, 01434 683 228, 7.30pm, Adult £10/Child £7. Poet, comedian and BBC Radio 4 regular Kate Fox explores autism and neurodiversity through the theme of Doctor Who. Mark Thomas - 50 Things About Us – The Witham, 3 Horsemarket, Barnard Castle, County Durham, DL12 8YL, 01833 631 107, 8pm, £17.50/£12.50. A show about songs, gongs, loot, tradition, wigs, nicking, statues, art and identity. Tommy Cannon: Laugh Me A Laugh – Alnwick Playhouse, Bondgate Without, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 1PQ, 01665 660550, 7.30pm, £22/£20. Tommy will be joined on stage by his good pals, Johnnie Casson and Stu Francis, for a magical nostalgic evening of laughter and song.

Friday • 19

Ed Byrne: If I’m Honest – The Maltings, Eastern Lane, Berwick-upon-Tweed, TD15 1AJ, 01289 304005, 8pm, £26. Join Ed as he takes a long hard look at 46

himself and tries to decide if he has ANY traits that are worth passing on to his children. Hilarity Bites Comedy Club – Bishop Auckland Town Hall, Market Place, Bishop Auckland, DL14 7NP, 7.30pm, £8 advance / £10 on the door. With Eddy Brimson, Simon Lomas, and host David Longley Kate Fox - Bigger on the Inside – Scarth Hall, Peter Dixon (Funny Way To Be Comedy), Enterprise House, Harmire Enterprise Park, 5 South Green, Staindrop, Co. Durham, DL2 3LD, 07831650917, 7.30pm, Adult £10/Child £5. Poet, comedian and BBC Radio 4 regular Kate Fox explores autism and neurodiversity through the theme of Doctor Who. Mark Thomas: 50 Things About Us – Alnwick Playhouse, Bondgate Without, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 1PQ, 01665 660550, 8pm, £19.50/£14.50. A show about songs, gongs, loot, tradition, wigs, nicking, statues, art and identity.

Nish Kumar: Control (Work in Progress) – The Witham, 3 Horsemarket, Barnard Castle, County Durham, DL12 8YL, 01833 631 107, 7.30pm, £8.

Saturday • 20

Kate Fox - Bigger on the Inside – St

Thomas Church Hall, Front Street, Stanhope, County Durham, DL13 2UE, 7pm, Adult £10.50/ Child £6.50. Stand-up poet, comedian and BBC Radio 4 regular Kate Fox explores autism and neurodiversity through the theme of Doctor Who.

Mark Thomas: Fifty Things About Us – The Maltings, Eastern Lane, Berwick-uponTweed, TD15 1AJ, 01289 304005, 7.30pm, £18.50, Student/Unwaged £13.50. Mark examines how we have come to inhabit this divided wasteland that some of us call the United Kingdom.

Paul Sinha: Hazy Little Thing Called Love – Queen’s Hall Arts

Centre, Beaumont Street, Hexham, NE46 3LS, 01434 652 477, 7.30pm, £15. Russell Kane – Globe Theatre, 153A High St, Stockton, TS18 1PL, 8pm, From £24.15. Packing more energy than a Duracell factory on a nuclear reactor, Russell’s strutting, turbo-laugh engine will be in the building live and direct (plus support)!

Sunday • 21

Tim Minchin - Back Encore 2021

– Globe Theatre, 153A

High St, Stockton, TS18 1PL, 7.30pm, From £45.15. Tim Minchin is Back! Back is billed as “Old Songs, New Songs, F*** You Songs“, with a set list of material from all corners of Minchin’s eclectic - and often iconoclastic - repertoire.

Tuesday • 30

Thursday • 25

Alnwick Playhouse

Carl Hutchinson LIVE – Tyne

Theatre and Opera House, 111 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 4AG, 0844 2491000, 8pm, £18. Join this dynamic and versatile performer for a truly unmissable evening of comedy.

Everything That’s Me Is Falling Apart - David Callaghan –

Bobik’s, The Punch Bowl Hotel, 125 Jesmond Road, Newcastle, NE2 3JY, 0191 284 0490, 8pm, £6. The world’s first augmented reality comedy theatre show!

Friday • 26

Catch 22 Comedy Club – Arc,

Dovecot Street, Stocktonon-Tees, TS18 1LL, 01642 525 199, 8pm, £14 / £16 Table. With MC Ian Smith, Sarah Keyworth, Dan Tiernan and Tom Ward.

John Bishop: Right Here Right Now

– Globe Theatre, 153A High St, Stockton, TS18 1PL, 8pm, From £40.15. Comedy superstar. Shoe Cake Comedy Club – The Georgian Theatre, Green Dragon Yard, Stockton on Tees, TS18 1AE, 01642 674115, 7.30pm, £8adv. 100% raw improvised sketch from Chris Lumb, Eddie French, and Phil Smith.

Saturday • 27

Gary Delaney - Gary in Punderland

– The Witham, 3 Horsemarket, Barnard Castle, County Durham, DL12 8YL, 01833 631 107, 8pm, £18. A brand new show with hit after hit of the kind of one-liners only a master could craft.

Sunday • 28

Felt Tips - New Act & Material Night! – Bobik’s, The Punch

Bowl Hotel, 125 Jesmond Road, Newcastle, NE2 3JY, 0191 284 0490, 7.30pm, £5. Featuring Anja Atkinson & Estelle Anderson + loads more!

Monday • 29

Tiff Stevenson: Mother – The

Stand Comedy Club, 31 High Bridge, Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, NE1 1EW, 0844 693 3336, 8.30pm, £10-£12.50. A critically acclaimed solo show about the extreme sport of womanhood.

Adam Kay - ‘Twas the Nightshift Before Chirstmas – O2 City Hall, Northumberland Road, Newcastle, NE1 8SF, 0844 811 2121, 6.30pm, £tbc.

dance Bondgate Without, Alnwick, Northumberland, 01665 660550 Eliot Smith Dance - Life – 11th: 7.30pm, Pay what you decide. Eliot Smith Dance premieres two powerful contemporary dance works by award-winning choreographer Martin Hylton and ESD’s own Artistic Director, Eliot Smith.

Eliot Smith Dance: Company Class – 10th: 2pm, £2.

An opportunity to observe and watch a professional dance class as the company are put through their paces by founder and Artistic Director, Eliot Smith ahead of the Premiere of LIFE.

Dance City

Temple Street, Newcastle, 0191 2610505

Just jam International 2021 Battle Finals – 6th: 5.30pm, £10. Just Jam invite you to come along, learn more about breaking culture, whoop and cheer for your favourite crews and be a part of this truly exciting event.

Nobody - Motionhouse

– 26th - 27th: 1pm, 7.30pm, £21/£17 conc/£8 students. Fast-moving and highly physical, Nobody explores the tension between our inner lives and how we make sense of the world around us.

Sunderland Empire Theatre High Street West, Sunderland, 0844 871 3022

Riverdance - The New 25th Anniversary Show – 4th - 6th:

2.30pm, 7.30pm, £42.65. A powerful and stirring reinvention of this beloved family favourite, celebrated for the thrilling energy and passion of its Irish and international dance.

opera Theatre Royal

100 Grey Street, Newcastle, NE1 6BR, 08448 112 121 Carmen – 3rd-5th: 7pm, £20/£10. Bizet’s masterpiece of sexual obsession and self-destruction is enduringly popular for many reasons, not

the least of which is its brilliantly characterful score.

Darlington Hippodrome

(formerly Darlington Civic Theatre), Parkgate, Darlington, DL1 1RR, 01325 405405

An Afternoon With Opera North

– 7th, 4pm, £16.50£28. An afternoon of operatic favourites and a special live premiere performance of ‘The Song of the Skerne’, a new piece of music that takes inspiration from the River Skerne, written by pupils from Haughton Academy, Darlington, composer Sarah Freestone and folk artist Katie Doherty.

kids Arc

Dovecot Street, Stocktonon-Tees, 01642 525 199 The Little Prince – 20th: 11.30am, 2.30pm, From £6. Find out how the Little Prince leaves behind his own tiny asteroid and beloved rose and journeys through the universe, coming face to face with the baffling world of grown-ups!

Bardon Mill & Henshaw Village Hall

Bardon Mill, Hexham, Northumberland

Tutti Frutti - Princess and the Pea – 23rd: 4.30pm,

Adult £5/Child £3.50. A new adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Princess and the Pea explores the idea of what it means to be a real princess.

Bishop Auckland Town Hall

Market Place, Bishop Auckland, 03000 269 524 The Nutcracker Re-Miced – 30th Nov - 5th Dec: 10.30am, 1.30pm, £8. Join the Rat Pack of three mice set to take on a huge adventure this Christmas - but hickory, dickory dock, don’t be late!

cobalt studios Ltd.

10-16 Boyd Street, Newcastle, NE2 1AP Chalk present Henge – 6th: 10.45am, £8.50. Get ready for an intergalactic mission as Chalk present a family gig with Henge! The gig will be preceded by a cosmic costume workshop where you can craft your own outfit suitable for an interstellar journey and limber up for your mission to dance.

Queen’s Hall Arts Centre

Beaumont Street, Hexham, 01434 652 477

Family Map-Making Workshop

– 13th: 10am, 1pm, Free. Use your imagination to create a land full of fantastic beasts and locations or simply map yourself!

Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children’s Book

30 Lime Street, Ouseburn Valley, Newcastle, 0300 3301095

Creative Writing Workshop with Francesca Gibbons

– 16th: 4.30pm, £10. Join Francesca Gibbons, author of A Clock Of Stars (shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book of the Year) for a magical storytelling workshop. This event will give young writers everything they need to start writing their own fantasy adventure book.

what’s on monday • 1

An Evening with Nick Thunder’s Danny & Luke - The First 50 Years – Whitley Bay

Playhouse, Marine Avenue, Whitley Bay, NE26 1LZ, 0844 248 1588, 7.30pm, £32.05. Thunder founder members Danny Bowes and Luke Morley will be in conversation once again with rock writer Mick Wall, talking through the highs and lows of life in Britain’s most popular and enduring rock band.

tuesday • 2

An Evening with Nick Butter - The Tales of an Extraordinary World First Expedition – Tyne The-

atre and Opera House, 111 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 4AG, 0844 2491000, 7.30pm, £24.50. Nick was the first person to run a marathon in every country in the world. Along with this, he set a number of world records and has a wild, eclectic story to tell. Artists Talk: Narbi Price – Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens, Mowbray Gardens, Burdon Road, Sunderland, SR1 1PP, 0191 5532323, 1pm, Free. Artist and curator Narbi Price will talk about the themes behind his paintings, and their roots in history and popular culture.

Café Politique - What’s Wrong with Work? – Online, 7pm,

Free. In this conversation with Jana Bacevic, writer and researcher Amelia Horgan will pose three big questions: What is work? How does it harm us? And what can we do about it?

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 46

26/10/2021 16:14

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 47

26/10/2021 15:52

EVENT Creative Me – Arts Centre Washington, Biddick Lane, Fatfield, Washington, NE38 8AB, 0191 219 3455, 5pm, Free. Free Arts and Wellbeing sessions for young people aged 13 - 18. Come and join us for these weekly free sessions every Tuesday and work with guest artists to learn and take part in a range of different art forms.

Revolting: The political significance of punk around the globe by Professor Kevin C Dunn – Online

Screening via Newcastle University, 5.30pm, Free. Based on fieldwork from around the world, Professor Dunn explores the ways in which individuals have constructed local punk scenes, from Northern Ireland during the Troubles to the streets of Myanmar today.

Wednesday • 3

Psychic Sally 10 years and counting

– Whitley Bay Playhouse, Marine Avenue, Whitley Bay, NE26 1LZ, 0844 248 1588, 7.30pm, £27.65. Wowing audiences young and old across the country for over 10 years, Sally’s show will have you on the edge of your seat, as she brings mediumship into the 21st century.

The Religion of Hadrian’s Wall

– Online via The Lit & Phil, 0191 232 0192, 6pm, Free. Focusing in particular on the soldiers of the Roman army, this talk explores how gods, temples, and religious ritual came together to bring structure to the societies of the frontier.

Thursday • 4

Adventures of the Yorkshire Shepherdess: An Evening with Amanda Owen – Tyne Theatre

and Opera House, 111 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 4AG, 0844 2491000, 7.30pm, £23.50. In this frank, funny and informative show, Yorkshire Shepherdess Amanda Owen shares heart-warming tales and honest anecdotes from her remarkable farming, family life in North Yorkshire.

FRIDAY • 5

COUNT MAGNUS: TWO GHOST STORIES BY M.R. JAMES PERFORMED BY ROBERT LLOYD PARRY – The Lit &

Phil, 23 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SE, 0191 2320192, 6pm, £12. Nunkie Theatre Company brings two of these classic spinechillers to life, in this thrilling one-man show.

Putting disadvantaged children at the heart of recovery by Anne Longfield OBE – Online Screening

via Newcastle University, 5.30pm, Free. Anne Longfield argues that there is an urgent need for an ambitious recovery plan which will not only help all children progress, but will trulybuild back better and fairer for those children who were already experiencing high levels of disadvantage before Covid.

Saturday • 6

First Saturdays – Shipley Art Gallery, Prince Consort Road, Gateshead, NE8 4JB, 0191 4771495, 10.30am, £2. An opportunity for creative people living and working in Gateshead to meet, network and hear about creative projects and events happening in Gateshead. Whether you an artist, designer, crafter, producer, curator living in Gateshead, or just have a general interest in art and craft and the cultural world you are welcome to attend. Northern Crafts – The Witham, 3 Horsemarket, Barnard Castle, County Durham, DL12 8YL, 01833 631 107, 10am, Free. Northern Arts and Crafts stallholders selling locally handmade goods and luxury gifts. Steve Richards: Rock and Roll Politics – The Witham, 3

Horsemarket, Barnard Castle, County Durham, DL12 8YL, 01833 631 107, 7.30pm, £10-£12. The award-winning broadcaster and author, Steve Richards, presents a behind-the-scenes guide to the epic dramas in British politics.

Sunday • 7

No Such Thing as a Fish: Nerd Immunity – Tyne Theatre and

Opera House, 111 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 4AG, 0844 2491000, 8pm, £24/£21. The UK’s top podcast is back on the road. Every show will feature a live recording of a podcast episode plus a first half stuffed to the gills with facts, comedy, and two years’ worth of pent-up nerdery that wouldn’t have worked over Zoom. Sunderland Legends – Sunderland Empire Theatre, High Street West, Sunderland, SR1 3EX, 0844 871 3022, 7.30pm, From £24. Join legendary manager Peter Reid, Kevin Ball, Michael Gray and your host for the evening, TalkSports Perry Groves.

Monday • 8

Circus Of Horrors – The

Forum Theatre, Queensway, Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees, TS23

2LJ, 01642 552 663, 8pm, £26. The almighty cast that stormed into the finals of Britain’s Got Talent is now a West End & World Wide Hit. Circus of Horrors will take you on a rock n’ roller coaster ride of amazing & Bizarre acts. Gail-Nina Anderson: Titian 2 – The Lit & Phil, 23 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SE, 0191 2320192, 6pm, £4. The second of three illustrated talks on Venetian art. Though these are thematically linked to form a short series there is no need to book for all three and each talk can be enjoyed on its own. 2. Titian and the Classical Nude.

Tuesday • 9

Creative Me – Arts Centre Washington, Biddick Lane, Fatfield, Washington, NE38 8AB, 0191 219 3455, 5pm, Free. Free Arts and Wellbeing sessions for young people aged 13 - 18. Come and join us for these weekly free sessions every Tuesday and work with guest artists to learn and take part in a range of different art forms. How to make the world add up by Tim Harford – Online

Screening via Newcastle University, 5.30pm, Free. The Financial Times’ Undercover Economist, Tim Harford, is on a mission to help us think more clearly about the world. In this talk he explores a dramatic incident in art history, and what it teaches us about the obstacles that lie in wait, even for the expert among us, when we desperately want to believe.

Wednesday • 10

BORN LIPPY – Cobalt Studios

Ltd, 10-16 Boyd Street, Newcastle, NE2 1AP, 07977 201596 / 0191 2323553, 7pm, £6-£10. Your monthly celebration of all things wordy. Featuring Ralph Dartford, founding member of influential spoken word collective ‘A Firm of Poets’, plus the monthly mini slam.

Historic Tales from Newcastle

– The Lit & Phil, 23 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SE, 0191 2320192, 6pm, £3. In this illustrated lecture Newcastle history author Ken Smith spotlights a selection of episodes in the city’s colourful and sometimes dramatic past. The talk will range from the building of the New Castle in the Middle Ages to more recent events such as the John Mawson tragedy

and the Montagu View pit disaster.

Thursday • 11

Life Drawing Masterclass –

Cullervoats Community Center, Belle Vue Street, Cullecoats, Tynemouth, NE304QX, 07514201186, 6pm, £20. Charcoal session looking at shape and form. Full tuition. Beginners and those with more experience welcome. Nude model. All materials and easels supplied. Contact Diana on 07514201186 to reserve a place.

friday• 12

NEWCASTLE: MAPPING THE CITY

– The Lit & Phil, 23 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SE, 0191 2320192, 6pm, Free. ‘Newcastle : Mapping the City’ is a new book by Michael Barke, Brian Robson and Anthony Champion. It takes an innovative approach to telling the story of the area’s history by focusing on the historic maps and plans that record the growth and development of Newcastle and Tyneside over many centuries.

Sunday • 14

Made Up North Winter Market

– Boiler Shop, 20 South Street, Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, NE1 3PE, 10am, £tbc. Enjoy a drink while viewing the incredible work of local potters, textiles artists, jewellers, soap makers, and so many other northern creatives.

Monday • 15

An Evening with Julian Norton – Whitley Bay Playhouse, Marine Avenue, Whitley Bay, NE26 1LZ, 0844 248 1588, 7.30pm, £19.20. Julian will share amusing anecdotes from his veterinary work in North Yorkshire. Gail-Nina Anderson: Titian 3 – The Lit & Phil, 23 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SE, 0191 2320192, 6pm, £4. The third of three illustrated talks on Venetian art. Though these are thematically linked to form a short series there is no need to book for all three and each talk can be enjoyed on its own. 3 . The inheritance of Titian - Venetian High Renaissance.

Tuesday • 16

Café Scientifique: Did Covid change the atmosphere? – Arc,

Dovecot Street, Stocktonon-Tees, TS18 1LL, 01642 525 199, Time tbc, Pay what you decide. The COVID-19 pandemic has led

to widespread changes in working patterns and reduced mobility all around the world. One early result of this was an apparent improvement in air quality. So did the pandemic really change the atmosphere, and if it did, is it now returning back to normal? Talk from Professor Ally Lewis, University of York. Creative Me – Arts Centre Washington, Biddick Lane, Fatfield, Washington, NE38 8AB, 0191 219 3455, 5pm, Free. Free Arts and Wellbeing sessions for young people aged 13 - 18. Come and join us for these weekly free sessions every Tuesday and work with guest artists to learn and take part in a range of different art forms.

Jacobson Lecture: Leading the fight against virus spread: the Integrated Covid Hub North East by Dr Akhtar Husain – Online

Screening via Newcastle University, 5.30pm, Free. Combining fast and accurate testing, cuttingedge science and robust analysis and response, the Integrated Covid Hub North East aims to be a global leader in the fight against virus spread.

Wednesday • 17

Gong Sound Bath – The

Exchange, 1 Howard Street, North Shields, Tyne & Wear, NE30 1SE, 0191 258 4111, 6pm, £15. Come and experience the amazing vibes of the Gong, voice and a host of other musical instruments. Enjoy a deeply moving and relaxing journey through sound for your mind, body and spirit, bringing pure bliss.

Saturday • 20

Ceramics Classes: Make a Brie Baker and Cheeseboard

– Shipley Art Gallery, Prince Consort Road, Gateshead, NE8 4JB, 0191 4771495, 10.30am, £35. Join Muddy Fingers ceramicists to design and make your own brie baker and cheeseboard, ready for the Christmas season.

Field Recording Workshop & Live Demo With Aja Ireland – Cobalt

Studios Ltd, 10-16 Boyd Street, Newcastle, NE2 1AP, 07977 201596 / 0191 2323553, 10am, £5. Participants will be shown how to create a wide range of tones and textures, using simple built in Ableton Plugins, learning how to build tracks and soundscapes, while experimenting and discovering new sounds as a group through live demonstration, in a safe and empowering envi-

ronment.

Sunday • 21

Stories of the Vikings: Creation, Destruction, Magic ... and an awful lot of giants along the way – Bobik’s, The Punch

Bowl Hotel, 125 Jesmond Road, Newcastle, NE2 3JY, 0191 284 0490, 7.30pm, £7.50. Awardwinning storyteller Jason Buck brings a collection of stories from the Norse: legends of the Viking Gods and monsters ... and an awful lot of giants along the way.

MONDAY • 22

PROFESSOR ROBERT COLLS: THIS SPORTING LIFE – The Lit &

Phil, 23 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SE, 0191 2320192, 6pm, £5. Orwell once remarked that England’s true nature lay in the little things of everyday life. He called us a nation of gardeners and pigeon fanciers, coupon snippers and games players. Robert will make the same argument for the big sports and explain how the language of sport came to inhabit every aspect of the national culture.

Tuesday • 23

Climate change and global corporations: Five sources of responsibility failure by Dr Cristina Neesham – Online Screening

via Newcastle University, 5.30pm, Free. Following COP26, Dr Neesham argues that even the most effective organisations fail to assume adequate levels of responsibility for mitigating global climate change risks. Creative Me – Arts Centre Washington, Biddick Lane, Fatfield, Washington, NE38 8AB, 0191 219 3455, 5pm, Free. Free Arts and Wellbeing sessions for young people aged 13 - 18. Come and join us for these weekly free sessions every Tuesday and work with guest artists to learn and take part in a range of different art forms.

GERALD DICKENS PERFORMS A CHRISTMAS CAROL – The Lit &

Phil, 23 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SE, 0191 2320192, 7pm, £12. Back by popular demand - actor and great great grandson of Charles Dickens presents this seasonal favourite.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes: Living Dangerously – Whitley

Bay Playhouse, Marine Avenue, Whitley Bay, NE26 1LZ, 0844 248 1588, 7.30pm, £31.70. Named by the Guinness Book of Records as ‘the world’s greatest living explorer’, Sir Ranulph Fiennes has spent his life in pursuit of

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 48

26/10/2021 16:14

EVENT extreme adventure, risking life and limb in some of the most ambitious private expeditions ever undertaken.

Wednesday • 24

A Question of Sport Live – O2

City Hall, Northumberland Road, Newcastle, NE1 8SF, 0844 811 2121, 7pm, £51.40adv. Starring host Sue Barker and resident team captains Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnell, A Question of Sport Live is the perfect way for fans to see the hit show up close.

Door-to-Door Poetry: Nationwide

– Arc, Dovecot Street, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 1LL, 01642 525 199, 7pm, Pay what you decide. A show about trust, identity and community, this funny and thought-provoking mixture of theatre and spoken word tells the story of what happened to Rowan in the build-up to the lockdown, including his visit to ‘the most deprived town in the UK’, Buckingham Palace, and the isolated island of Lundy.

L.A.D.S. (Ladies Open Decks + Social)

– Cobalt Studios Ltd, 10-16 Boyd Street, Newcastle, NE2 1AP, 07977 201596 / 0191 2323553, 6pm, Free. Ladies who DJ or want to DJ? Come and meet other likeminded women who love music and are already DJ-ing or would like to learn for chatting, mixing, sharing notes and generally addressing the lack of women (or those identifying as women) on the decks in this city.

Thursday • 25

BEYOND THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS: A LIFE OF JOHN BUCHAN – The Lit &

Phil, 23 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SE, 0191 2320192, 6pm, £5. Ursula Buchan, granddaughter of John, takes us on a journey exploring the life, public and private, of an extraordinary individual. Door-to-Door Poetry: Nationwide – Arts Centre Washington, Biddick Lane, Fatfield, Washington, NE38 8AB, 0191 219 3455, 7.30pm, £9/£7.50 conc/£5 student. A show about trust, identity and community, this funny and thought-provoking mix of theatre and spoken word tells the story of what happened to Rowan in the build-up to the first lockdown.

New voices on arts, humanities and social science – Online

Screening via Newcastle University, 5.30pm, Free. Early-career researchers from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Newcastle

University explore new ideas through their research.

environment. Beginners welcome. All materials provided.

Friday • 26

Sunday • 28

Great North Nights: Wilderness Wellbeing and Bushcraft –

Great North Museum: Hancock, Barras Bridge, Newcastle, NE2 4PT, 0191 2086765, 6pm, £6£8. Stomping Grounds Forest School are visiting the museum for a cosy autumnal evening of bushcraft skills. Learn about some of the health benefits of herbal teas made entirely from things you can find in the forest. In addition to this there will be crafts and bushcraft techniques to learn such as whittling and twine making, all natural fire pit fireworks and willow weaving. LINGUISTIC DISCRIMINATION – The Lit & Phil, 23 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SE, 0191 2320192, 6pm, Free. Dr Robert M. McKenzie and Dr Andrew McNeill will discuss accent prejudice towards the English spoken in the north and south of England, drawing upon the findings of their forthcoming book.

Saturday • 27

BERLIN-LONDON: THE LOST PHOTOGRAPHS OF GERTY SIMON – The Lit

& Phil, 23 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SE, 0191 2320192, 2pm, £5. John March and Dr Barbara Warnock of The Wiener Holocaust Library, London, reveal how the story of Gerty Simon and her photographs came to be told in words, pictures and objects.

Big Green Workshops - Environmental Activism Zine-Making – Arc,

Dovecot Street, Stocktonon-Tees, TS18 1LL, 01642 525 199, 2pm, £7.50. Join writer Lauren Vevers for a relaxed and informal zine-making session. Use collage and cut-up techniques to create our zines on the theme of the environment. Perfect for anyone curious about the cause or interested in writing and crafting!

MICHAEL CHAPLIN: NEWCASTLE UNITED STOLE MY HEART – The Lit &

Phil, 23 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SE, 0191 2320192, 11am, Free. In this football memoir with a difference, the celebrated playwright and screenwriter tells the story of his six-decade love affair with the club. Paint and Sip – Shipley Art Gallery, Prince Consort Road, Gateshead, NE8 4JB, 0191 4771495, 2.30pm, £19.95. Unleash your creativity and paint your own masterpiece in a fun and casual group

Slack’s Radio Fundraiser –

Cobalt Studios Ltd, 10-16 Boyd Street, Newcastle, NE2 1AP, 07977 201596 / 0191 2323553, 2pm, £0-£8. Tyne & Wears favourite DIY Radio station Slack’s are having a whip-round! Help them out by joining in for a day fun and games; with Artist-led kids workshops, an exclusive residents auction, pop up food, exciting stalls and tonnes of daft carry on - all sound tracked by the most exciting DJs and performers they have to offer!

Monday • 29

Andrew Graham Dixon: Berlin –

Online via The Lit & Phil, 0191 232 0192, 6pm, £12. Andrew Graham-Dixon is one of the leading art critics and presenters of arts television in the English-speaking world. Following the huge success of his recent Paintings to see before you die event, Lit & Phil are delighted to present a brand new collaboration to coincide with theirfull reopening.

Tuesday • 30

Perspectives and understandings of ‘good farming’ by Dr Amy Proctor – Online Screening

via Newcastle University, 5.30pm, Free. Agricultural policy is undergoing its biggest change in decades. Such proposed changes raise interesting questions about what it means to be a ‘good farmer’, and ‘good farming’ more broadly. This lecture will consider a range of perspectives to ask what ‘good’ in the context of UK farms and farming today means to groups at different ends of the supply chain.

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 49

26/10/2021 16:14

FILM FILM of the month Spencer Director: Pablo Larrain Stars: Kristen Stewart, Timothy Spall, Sally Hawkins, Jack Farthing, Sean Harris, Jack Nielen, Freddie Spry

The best biopics often don’t concentrate on the big picture preferring, instead, to use one pivotal moment to illustrate their character. This portrait of Diana Spencer takes place over a three day period in the early 90s at Sandringham Estate, her last weekend with the royals, the Christmas before she quit her marriage with Prince Charles.An amusing opener has Diana (Stewart) pulling her sports car into a petrol station café to ask directions. ‘I have absolutely no idea where I am’ she announces to the dumb struck punters. Arriving at Sandringham,

she is dressed down by Prince Charles (Farthing) and is reunited with her sons William (Nielen) and Harry (Spry). Ever-present is purse-lipped equerry Major Gregory (Spall) who has been advised to keep a beady eye on her. Diana finds some solace at least with devoted assistant Maggie (Hawkins) and the kindly head chef Darren (Harris). In her room she finds a biography of the ill-fated Ann Boleyn which she fears may have been planted. Larrain, whose ‘Jackie’ provided an intimate portrait of Jackie Kennedy the week after

JFK’s assassination, delivers another intimate and intense study of a woman in the public eye, worlds removed from standard royal portraits, often playing more like a Polanski psychological thriller, albeit one that admits cleansing chinks of light. But Steven Knight’s screenplay isn’t a hagiography: this is a complex portrait of a conflicted young woman. And Stewart is uncanny as Diana as she tries to navigate this arcane, oppressive and eerily timeless environment in which she observes ‘past and present are the same thing’.

Petite Maman

Last Night in Soho

Bull

Pirates

Petite Maman

comes across another young girl (Gabrielle Sanz) who is remarkably similar in age and appearance to herself, who asks her to help build a wooden shelter. A fantastical connection is discovered which, as children, they casually accept, and they become friends, chatting and playing and visiting each other’s houses. The vivid autumnal colours invest the story with a suitably fairy-tale quality, while Sciamma, mainly shooting at the eye level of her young protagonists’, demonstrates once more her ability to elicit disarmingly natural performances from her young cast.

tweak that a Tarantino would bring to the table. Jojo Rabbit’s Thomasin McKenzie is Eloise, a 60s obsessed young woman who moves from Cornwall, where she lives with her grandmother (Tushingham), to London to study fashion. Tired of her bitchy halls of residence roommate, Eloise takes a room in an attic at the house of grumpy but not unsympathetic cockney Ms Collins (Rigg, characteristically great in her last role). Her first night at Mrs Collins’ sees Eloise enter some kind of portal where she becomes glamourous wannabe it-girl Sandie (Taylor-Joy) in swinging 60s London. But Eloise’s nocturnal alter ego’s journey takes a very dark turn when Sandie meets geezer about town Jack (Smith). Technically the picture is accomplished, particularly the recreation of the 60s West End and seedy Soho, although it’s a lot more bashful about the sex than the horror elements. The script is merely perfunctory with some of the less accomplished actors floundering with their thinly-sketched characters.

Ever the maximalist magpie, Wright throws everything at screen as the film draws to a conclusion to diminishing effect.

Director: Céline Sciamma Stars: Joséphine Sanz, Gabrielle Sanz, Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne, Margot Abascal Following the sweeping swooning romance of masterpiece ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’, this gentle family drama with fantasy elements initially feels slight, but its small scale and brief, seventy-two minute running time, belie something bittersweet and enchanting. It opens with a charming sequence in which eightyear-old Nelly (Joséphine Sanz) is being driven by her mother Marion (Meurisse) to their grandmother’s house following her death. Marion is visibly distraught, but Nelly manages to elicit a smile from her mother. At her grandmother’s house, Marion tells Nelly about a hut she played in as a child. Then her mother leaves overnight leaving Nelly with her laidback dad (Varupenne). While dad is cleaning up, Nelly goes off to explore the woods and

Last Night in Soho Director: Edgar Wright Stars: Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Diana Rigg, Rita Tushingham, Terence Stamp High on style but running on empty for substance, Wright’s horror thriller is so derivative it feels more like curation than filmmaking, but crucially without the idiosyncratic

Bull Director: Paul Andrew Williams Stars: Neil Maskell, David Hayman, Tamzin Outhwaite Writer-director Paul Andrew Williams returns to the scuzzy crime world of his feature debut, ‘London to Brighton’ for this grisly violent revenge thriller with horror elements. Maskell is the titular character, an exhired heavy returning home after a ten-year absence to wreak bloody revenge on the people who double-crossed him, and to get his young son Aiden back from his junkie ex-wife. To do this he has to contend with his fatherin-law, the brutal gangster boss Norm (Hayman), and his motley collection of henchmen. Maskell of course has done this dead-eyed killer before, but he’s still horribly compelling, and it’s

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 50

26/10/2021 15:53

FILM FILM of the month 2

Drive My Car Director: Ryūsuke Hamaguchi Stars: Hidetoshi Nishijima, Tōko Miura, Masaki Okada, Reika Kirishima An air of exquisite melancholy hangs over this stately-paced adaptation of the Haruki Murakami short story. Theatre actor and director Yūsuke (Nishijima) lives in Tokyo with his partner Oto (Kirishima) a TV screenwriter. They are content in their routines although memories of the death of a young daughter has warped their relationship to a degree. After a dramatic incident, Yukuse relocates to Hiroshima to begin directing a multi-lingual version of Uncle Vanya. Surprisingly, he casts an old colleague of Oto’s, the young and good-looking Kōji (Okada) as the lead, suggesting that Yukuse may have an ulterior motive. During his stay in Tokyo, Yūsuke is assigned against his wishes (and for insurance purposes) a designated driver Misaki (Miura) a young, reserved working class woman. Over the course of their lengthy car journeys, they confide in each other their lives, regrets and family histories, with the titular Red Saab serving as a combination of confession booth and a therapist’s couch. Writerdirector Hamaguchi has fashioned a meditative and perfectly-calibrated study of loss and acceptance which elegantly incorporates passages from Uncle Vanya without suffering from the comparison. The accretion of detail conveyed in long still takes culminates in a stirring and profound conclusion.

Film Arc

Dovecot Street, Stockton-on-Tees, 01642 525 199 Addams Family 2 (U) 13th - 20th: 11am, £4-£8. The Addams get tangled up in more wacky adventures and find themselves involved in hilarious run-ins with all sorts of unsuspecting characters. Sequel to the 2019 animated film, ‘The Addams Family’. My Little Sister (15) 6th - 10th: 2pm, 7.30pm, £4-£8. Lisa has bid goodbye to her ambitions as a playwright and the Berlin arts scene and now lives in Switzerland with her husband, who runs an international school. When her twin brother falls ill, she returns to Berlin. No Time to Die (12A) 12th - 25th: 2pm, 7.30pm, £4-£8. James Bond has left active service. His peace is short-lived when Felix Leiter, an old friend from the CIA, turns up asking for help, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology. Now (12a) 12th: 5.30pm, £4-£8. A new wave of climate activists is rising, concerned and angry about our future in an ever warming world. Are people listening? Will governments care? Now follows this young generation of rebels as they do everything they can to challenge the status quo and push for social and political change. Rose Plays Julie (15) 17th - 18th: 5.30pm, 7.30pm, £4-£8. In this intimate exploration of identity, trauma and power, a young woman seeks out her birth mother, inadvertently triggering a string of events which change both their lives. Salad Fingers and Q & A with David Firth 19th: 7pm, From £12. An evening of mind melting animation, featuring Salad Fingers creator David Firth, you will get to watch all 11 episodes of Salad Fingers and then put your questions to David after the movie. Salad Fingers is a British Flash Animation web series created by David Firth in July 2004. In 2005, the San Francisco Chronicle ranked it among the “Top 10“ pop culture phenomena. The Journey to Utopia (12a) 5th: 5.30pm, £4-£8. The enlightened, forward thinking Mo family lead a picture-perfect life on their farm in Norway. Taking a giant leap of faith, the family decides to take action and move to ‘Permatopia’: a brand new self-sufficient, organic farming cooperative in Denmark. The Last Duel (18) 5th - 11th: 2pm, 7.30pm, £4-£8. King Charles VI declares that Knight Jean de Carrouges settle his dispute with his squire by challenging him to a duel. Where The Stone Dropped 27th: 7.30pm, £4-£6. A film about the communities on South Gare, a man-made peninsula, built in the nineteenth century to accommodate heavy industry. The industry is now gone, leaving a spectacular landscape extending four kilometres into the cold North Sea. Its history includes stories of shipwrecks, German spies and military exercises. Currently it is a haven for migratory birds, a must-visit location for kite-surfers and much more.

Arts Centre Washington

Biddick Lane, Fatfield, Washington, 0191 219 3455 The Last Bus (12A) 24th: 1.30pm, £4. A drama in which an elderly man goes on a series of bus journeys from John O’Groats to make a poignant return to the home of his younger days in Land’s End. Stars Timothy Spall.

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 51

26/10/2021 16:15

FILM tempered this time around by tender scenes between Bull and Aiden. Williams, who has also helmed episodes of ‘Broadchurch’, outlines Bull’s backstory with judiciously deployed flashbacks, while maintaining a clammy sense of menace, augmented by some memorably scuzzy locations. The conclusion is likely to divide audiences.

Pirates Director: Reggie Yeats Stars: Elliot Edusah, Jordan Peters, Reda Elazouar, Kassius Nelson Set on New Year’s Eve at the turn of the millennium, actor-presenter Reggie Yates’ affable but busy debut directorial feature plays like a very British take on ‘American Graffiti’ as it charts one night in 1999 for a trio of eighteen-year old pals and garage crew wannabes. They are self-styled ladies’ man Two Tonne (Peters), sensible and sensitive college bound kid Cappo (Edusah), and the oddball prankster Kidda (Elazouar). Desperate to score some tickets for the Twice as Nice Millennium, the pals/ garage crew wannabes trawl London in their Peugeot while having various encounters with a disparate collection of locals during their odyssey. Working with what is evidently a limited budget, Yates lets the choice selection of garage music and fashion do the talking, although some of the garish Moschino prints are more shouting than talking. The script feels a bit scrappy though, with Cappo’s college plans ebbing and flowing in importance as an issue for the crew, and the pacing is often so frenetic that the characters don’t get much room to breathe.

Mothering Sunday Director: Eva Husson Stars: Odessa Young, Josh O’Connor, Sọpẹ́ Dìrísù, Olivia Colman, Colin Firth This adaptation of the Graham Swift novel tries hard but is never quite able to break the bonds of staid middlebrow period piece. It opens in 1920s Henley with Jane (Young) working for

FILM the Nivens, an upper-class couple devastated by the loss of both of their sons in the First World War. The kind and self-effacing Mr Niven (Firth) attempts to put on a brave face at social gatherings, but his wife (Colman) is almost catatonically unresponsive with grief, only occasionally snapping out of it to berate her husband. Jane is having an affair with Paul (O’Connor), the well-to-do son of the neighbouring Sheringhams, although he is betrothed to someone else. The story intermittently skips forward to the 50s where Jane is an established writer married to Donald (Dìrísù) a celebrated philosopher and struggling with the inspiration for her new novel, causing her to hark back for material. Despite the self-consciously sensuous sun-dappled photography and frank sexuality the film remains anchored in the middlebrow. Leads Young and O’Connor fail to generate any chemistry despite the numerous nude scenes, while Firth and Colman feel underused, maybe fortunate in the former’s case as Firth’s character is worryingly reminiscent of ineffectual toff Ralph from The Fast Show’s Ted and Ralf sketches.

AND THE REST ‘Nomadland’ writer-director Chloe Zao reckons Disney has given her more or less free reign for her superhero pic ‘The Eternals’ – it’ll be fascinating to see if that is the case; we’ve no idea what Romanian film ‘Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn’ is but we intend to find out and report back; Ridley Scott’s ‘House of Gucci’ chronicles the 1995 murder of fashion house boss Maurizio Gucci, and its subsequent fallout. Reviews of the above will appear online.

David Willoughby Follow David on @DWill_Crackfilm

Jam Jar Cinema

18-24 Park Avenue, Whitley Bay Dune (12A) 2nd - 6th: 3.30pm, 4pm, 7pm, 7.30pm, £6-£8. A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. Eternals (12A) 5th: Times(s) tbc, £6-£8. The saga of the Eternals, a race of immortal beings who lived on Earth and shaped its history and civilizations. Ghostbusters: Afterlife 18th: Times(s) tbc, £6-£8. When a single mom and her two kids arrive in a small town, they begin to discover their connection to the original Ghostbusters and the secret legacy their grandfather left behind. Last night in Soho (18) 5th 10th: 5.15pm, 7.30pm, 8pm, 8.15pm, £6-£8. From acclaimed director Edgar Wright. Last night in Soho tells of a young girl, passionate about fashion design, is mysteriously able to enter the 1960s where she encounters her idol, a dazzling wannabe singer. But 1960s London is not what it seems, and time seems to fall apart with shady consequences. No Time to Die (12A) 3rd - 9th: 1pm, 3.30pm, 4.30pm, 7.45pm, £6-£8. Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. Spencer 12th: Times(s) tbc, £6-£8. During her Christmas holidays with the royal family at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England, Diana decides to leave her marriage to Prince Charles. The Card Counter 12th: Times(s) tbc, £6-£8. Redemption is the long game in Paul Schrader’s THE CARD COUNTER. Told with Schrader’s trademark cinematic intensity, the revenge thriller tells the story of an ex-military interrogator turned gambler haunted by the ghosts of his past.

The French Dispatch (15)

2nd - 4th: 5pm, 8pm, £6-£8. Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch is a love letter to journalists set in an outpost of an American magazine in

a fictional 20th-century French city and brings to life a collection of stories published in The French Dispatc

Queen’s Hall Arts Centre

Beaumont Street, Hexham, 01434 652 477 Brit Rock Film Tour 18th: 7.30pm, £10/£8 student. A stunning line-up of films representing the best of UK climbing and adventure stories.

Star & Shadow Cinema

210 Warwick Street, Newcastle Upon Tyne Clue 27th: 7.30pm, £7/£5. In this cult favourite, a group of characters are summoned to a mysterious mansion where they discover that they are all blackmail victims. An evening of confusion follows as characters fall victim to murder and survivors attempt to discover the killer. Dune (1984) 4th: 7.30pm, £7/£5. A Duke’s son leads desert warriors against the galactic emperor and his father’s evil nemesis to free their desert world from the emperor’s rule. Hausu 28th: 2pm, £7/£5. A schoolgirl and six of her classmates travel to her aunt’s country home, which turns out to be haunted. Nomadland 7th: 7.30pm, £7/£5. A woman in her sixties, after losing everything in the Great Recession, embarks on a journey through the American West, living as a van-dwelling modernday nomad.

North East International Film Festival 19th - 21st:

Times(s) tbc, £tbc. Through the week-end The Star and Shadow will be hosting the North East International Film Festival with morning, afternoon and late night screenings. Please see NEIFF website for details of films and events. Persona 18th: 7.30pm, £7/£5. Bergman at his best - DUALITY INSANITY - PERSONAL IDENTITY - “ Everything one says about Persona may be contradicted; the opposite may also be true.“ Sundance ‘21 26th: 7.30pm, £7/£5. Another chance to see a programme of shorts from this major international film festival. Tenzo 14th: 7.30pm, £7/£5. To address the social crisis, Chiken - a buddhist monk throws himself into various tasks such as a suicide helpline, in his temple in Yamanashi. In Fukushima, his old mate Ryûgyô - whose

temple was wrecked by the tsunami - lives in a portacabin and works on construction sites. The Times of Harvey Milk 12th: Times(s) tbc, £tbc. San Francisco politician Harvey Milk was an outspoken human rights activist and one of the first openly LGBT people to be elected to public office in the US. After pushing through Californian legislation banning discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, Milk was assassinated in 1978. This Oscar winning film was one of the first documentaries to address gay life in America: it’s a testament to a political visionary and a vivid portrait of a time and place, San Francisco’s historic Castro District in the 1970’s. The Witches of the Orient 14th: 2pm, £7/£5. The story of the 1964 Japanese Olympic volleyball team, the Oriental Witches.

Tomorrow I Will Wake Up And Scald Myself With Tea 25th:

7.30pm, £7/£5. Possibly the best comedy time travel film that you’ve never seen... In the future world of the 1990s, time travel is a reality, and a group of neo-Nazi’s hijack a rocket to return to 1944. They plan to deliver a hydrogen bomb to Hitler, ensuring a victorious outcome to WWII, but their meticulous plans are fatally derailed by a stale bread roll... Watermelon Man 21st: 7.30pm, £7/£5. Pioneering maverick of Black representation in Hollywood, Melvin Van Peebles is at his excoriating best with a satire about white privilege, Black subjectivity and liberal white racism. The story centres on a white bigot (played in whiteface by comic Godfrey Cambridge) waking up one morning and discovering he has become Black. Wildfire 28th: 7.30pm, £7/£5. The story of two sisters who grew up on the fractious Irish border. When one of them, who has been missing, finally returns home, the intense bond with her sister is re-ignited. Wonder Woman 1984 13th: 2pm, £7/£5. Diana must contend with a work colleague and businessman, whose desire for extreme wealth sends the world down a path of destruction, after an ancient artifact that grants wishes goes missing.

The Customs House

Mill Dam, South Shields, 0191 4541234

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 52

26/10/2021 16:15

An Inconvenient Truth 3rd:

7pm, Free. Filmmaker Davis Guggenheim follows Al Gore on the lecture circuit, as the former presidential candidate campaigns to raise public awareness of the dangers of global warming and calls for immediate action to curb its destructive effects on the environment.

The Maltings

Eastern Lane, Berwickupon-Tweed, 01289 304005

Berwick Film Society: 3 Faces (15)

3rd: 7.30pm, £9/£8. Still living under long-term house arrest, banned Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi devises a further probe into his society, this time through a rural mystery. A famous actor abandons her film set, accompanied by the director (played by Panahi) to embark on a search for a young woman who appears to have taken a drastic stand against her family’s filial control.

Berwick Film Society: Limbo (12)

17th: 7.30pm, £9/£8. On Scotland’s remote island of North Uist, surrounded by gale-force winds and stormy seas,

gifted musician Omar (Amir El-Masry) and his fellow Syrian asylum seekers endure puzzling cultural-awareness lessons from an oddball pair of locals.

The Witham

3 Horsemarket, Barnard Castle, County Durham, 01833 631 107 1917 (15) 25th: 7.30pm, £5. 6 April 1917, the Western Front. Two British soldiers are sent to deliver an urgent message to an isolated regiment. If the message is not received in time the regiment will walk into a trap and be massacred. To get to the regiment they will need to cross through enemy territory. Time is of the essence and the journey will be fraught with danger. Triple Oscarwinning film, directed by Sam Mendes, starring Colin Firth, Andrew Scott, Daniel Mays, George MacKay and DeanCharles Chapman.

Tyneside Cinema

10 Pilgrim Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, 0191 227 5500 A Symphony of Noise 5th: 8pm, £12-£14.50/benefit £5. This film takes the

viewer on a journey with Matthew Herbert, the revolutionary British musician and composer. Into the mind of the artist known for his political pieces, combining music derived from real life sounds with politically sensitive issues. Bopper and Me + Q&A 7th: 4pm, £12-£14.50/benefit £5. This documentary follows John Cumberland, a scrap metal merchant from Shildon in the North East, on his quest to right a wrong and also gives us an insight into the event’s and personalities around the deaths of the Big Bopper, Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens on “the day the Music died“

Getting Away With Murder(s) + Q&A 1st: 5.45pm,

£8.25-£10.75. During the Holocaust almost 1 million people in 22 countries carried out the unprovoked murder of 11 million innocent men, women and children. 99% of those responsible were never prosecuted. Director David Wilkinson asks the question - why were so many people actively permitted to get away with their crime(s) - that of mass murder on

an industrial scale.

In A Silent Way (A Portrait Of Talk Talk) + Q&A 4th: 8pm,

£12-£14.50/benefit £5. 30 years after the release of Talk Talk’s fourth album Spirit of Eden, the world’s biggest fan of the 1980s British art-rock band - Belgian director Gwenaël Breë´s - found himself crisscrossing the country in an attempt to unravel the mystery surrounding the record.

Love Yourself Today: Damien Dempsey + Q&A 3rd:

8pm, £12-£14.50/ benefit £5. Focusing on the music of acclaimed Irish singer-songwriter Damien Dempsey, this documentary also turns the lens in the direction of his legendarily committed fans.

Lydia Lunch: The War Is Never Over

2nd: 8pm, £12-£14.50/ benefit £5. New York City’s preeminent No Wave icon from the late ’70s, Lunch has spent a lifetime creating music and spoken word performances that reaffirm the right of any woman to indulge, seek pleasure, and to say “fuck you!” as loud as any man. Beth B.’s no-holds-barred profile of a unique artist is also a rallying

cry for art’s power to build inspiration out of trauma. Spencer (12A) 5th - 11th: Times(s) tbc, £12-£14.50/ benefit £5. Pablo Larraín’s sublime ‘fable from a true story’ imagines a Christmas weekend at Sandringham in the early 1990s, as an unhappy Princess Diana contemplates saying ‘no’.

The Comeback Special + Q&A

14th: 3pm, £12-£14.50/ benefit £5. Tim Pope’s beautifully shot, unobtrusive film of THE THE’s Royal Albert Hall concert, documents the first of a trio of London shows during The Comeback Special tour.

The Doors: Live At The Bowl ‘68 Special Edition 4th: 8.30pm,

£12-£14.50/benefit £5. On July 5th, 1968, The Doors lit up the storied stage of the Hollywood Bowl with a legendary performance that is widely considered to be the band’s finest captured on film. The Nowhere Inn: St Vincent 6th: 8pm, £12-£14.50/benefit £5. Starring real-life friends Annie Clark (a.k.a. Grammy-winning artist St. Vincent) and Carrie Brownstein (Portlandia, Sleater-Kinney), this

is a mischievous, metafictional and frequently laugh-out-loud funny account of banding together to make a documentary about St. Vincent’s music, touring life and on-stage persona. Year of The Dog + Q&A 25th: 6.15pm, £12-£14.50/benefit £5. Over the course of a cataclysmic year, musician and DJ Simone Marie Butler follows Dogs on the Streets, a team of volunteers working to ensure the health and welfare of homeless dog owners and their canine companions, while helping them with getting off the streets for good.

Whitley Bay Playhouse

Marine Avenue, Whitley Bay, 0844 248 1588

BANFF Mountain Film Festival World Tour 9th - 10th:

7.30pm, £17.25. A collection of the best films from the world’s most prestigious mountain film festival. There are two shows, each with an entirely different selection of films - the yellow film programme (9 November) and the green film programme (10 November).

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 53

26/10/2021 16:15

Book Book of the month Lights, Planets, People! Molly Naylor & Lizzy Stewart, Avery Hill Publishing In this graphic novel we are first introduced to Maggie Hill when she is ensconced in the stall of a toilet block, situated inside a university. She is trying her best to gee herself up (“Okay… Okay… You can do this.”). Maggie is an astronomer and is due to give a lecture

Aliens: Short Stories on Beings That Don’t Belong Editors: Kitty Fitzgerald & Carol Clewlow, IRON Press The main image on the cover of this slim volume of short stories from Cullercoats’ IRON Press is that of your classic alien: grey, wizened, big eyes – you get the picture. But this collection uses the word ‘Aliens’ as a springboard to explore all kinds of subject matter – not just the extra-terrestrial kind. Rieve Atkinson’s ‘Robbie’s Friend’, for instance, introduces us to Tina, a tapeworm who might just be the answer to all Robbie’s problems; while Pauline Plummer’s ‘Recoil’ concerns itself with the plight of refugees from Sierra Leone. We do, of course, also get plenty of “bug-eyed” action including Noreen Rees ‘The Dangers of Online Dating’ and Gerald Cole’s ‘Zap, zap!’, which concerns itself with a child’s deadly toy. There are 13 stories in all and they touch on everything from politics to romance. GM

entitled ‘Inspiring Women’ in front of an expectant bunch of students. Things aren’t helped however, when she makes it to the lecture hall only to find that her Powerpoint equipment isn’t working and she has to wing it. As she tries to give her talk, we learn, via flashback, how Maggie first became interested in science (the 1969 moon landing), how she copes with her bipolar disorder, and how

she has started to see a psychotherapist. We also get the backstory of her relationship with another woman, Jane. It’s beautifully written and the nuggets of wisdom it contains never feel crow-barred in (“You have to be allowed to fail. Because when we strive for perfection, we relinquish our humanity.”). The ending, not in the least bit pat or contrived, left me with a warm glow. RM

Fattily Ever After

Line

Slug

Stephanie Yeboah, Hardie Grant Books “This book... is a love letter to fat, black womxn,” Yeboah tells us on the first page. And about time. Stephanie Yeboah is a plus-size blogger, a freelance writer, a public speaker, a gorgeous model and a lover of Jason Momoa. Her Instagram and other socials are honest and advocate for fat acceptance, and this book just gives us more. She describes in the book how too often fat, black women are written out of movements they created – notably the “body positivity” movement, which now looks oh-so white. While the stories she shares are hard to read, they show the people behind the statistics and theories the book is also full of. Yeboah has done so much work to not only collate stories from herself and other plus-size or black women, but to show how these are so enmeshed with the history and theories of feminism, racism and fat phobia. KM

Niall Bourke, Tramp Press A country (probably England, or a version of it), sometime in the future. Willard and his mother live in a tent and are waiting in the Line. The Line consists of thousands, maybe millions, of people – all living in tents. The line, which people have lived in all their lives, occasionally moves forward. If you leave the Line, other than for the clearly designated reasons, then a terrible thing will happen to you. When Willard’s mother dies, however, Willard, and his girlfriend, Nyla, decide to make a dash for it to see what lies beyond the Line. This debut novel from Niall Bourke – a startling and innovative work of speculative fiction – touches on everything from migration to the refugee crisis; big data to the erosion of democracy; climate change to colonialism - but its chief concern becomes increasingly apparent when Willard and Nyla find themselves caught up in a darkly satirical dystopia where neoliberalism has reached its natural, and damning, endgame. RM

Hollie McNish, Fleet This collection of deeply personal observations in poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction, reflect a collective female experience, a sort of guidebook for the modern woman. The book is divide into seven sections: Endings, Growing Up, Parenting, Mirrors, Masturbation, Blood and Strangers, and McNish’s poetry, luminously modern and undeniably her, is interspersed with prose sections that recount the memories and musings that have inspired her work, with a short story ending each section. She fearlessly probes taboo topics: ‘Push’ explores the messy, pottymouthed reality of childbirth; ‘Shoe Shopping in the Girls’ Toilets’ reminds us of the heroes who taught us how to use tampons; and ‘Stealing Their Innocence’ claims that teaching our young daughters about their vaginas won’t suddenly end their childhood. Whether you are a woman or not, ‘Slug’ is an essential debunking of the ‘softer sex’. LR

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 54

26/10/2021 15:53

BOOK one offs WEDNESDAY• 10

born lippy poetry Writing Workshop With donald Jenkins – Cobalt Studios Ltd, 10-16 Boyd

Fauna David hartley, Fly on the Wall Press Within this collection there are stories of abandoned guinea pigs, cyber cockroaches (hunting a group of mime artists), and a robot dog. It is difficult, if not impossible, to find a genre which fits Hartley’s short story collection. So much so that Hartley and his publisher have adopted the term “vegan noir” to encapsulate the weird and wicked worlds he creates. These stories certainly creep and crawl over your brain as you read. No matter what you think you may know about animals and their relations with us humans, Hartley gives a whole new perspective. Some of the stories seem to call back to fables, while some like ‘Come and See the Whale’ show up the inherent flaws in our expanding reliance on technology. This story particularly interested me because it shows humans trying to be better than nature, kinder than nature. Another technology based story, ‘Shooting an Elephant’, really mirrors how often our feelings towards a new idea can shift from promising to dark. The story at first shows the intriguing way of “hunting” that has been developed, and as a reader I initially saw the positives of hunting a group of mime artists rather than animals themselves. There is humanity and heart within these stories, but they are not embodied within human characters. Instead, cockroaches show unbreakable family bonds, while Charon, the ferryman of souls, gives us a tale of loneliness cured only by guinea pigs. As we move into a future in which we have to think about our impact on the natural world, and the other species that inhabit it, Hartley’s stories absorb while also making you think. KM

Street, Newcastle, NE2 1AP, 07977 201596 / 0191 2323553, 4pm, £5-£10. In this relaxed workshop you will get the chance to explore your story, ﬁnd your voice and express yourself clearly. in Conversation With sarah Moss – Forum Books, 8 Market Place, Corbridge, Northumberland, NE45 5AW, 01434 632931, 7.30pm, £6 includes drink. In person event to celebrate arah Moss’s new novel The Fell.

SATURDAY• 13

poetry reading froM Jake Morris-CaMpbell – The

Word, The National Centre for the Written Word, 45 Market Place, South Shields, NE33 1JF, 2pm, Free. Jake Morris-Campbell will be launching his new book of poetry, Corrigenda for Costaﬁne Town.

MONDAY• 15

readings froM kathleen kenny and ellen phethean’s Writing group – The Lit & Phil, 23 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SE, 0191 2320192, 7pm, Pay what you wish. The long-awaited launch of Kathleen Kenny’s two latest poetry oﬀerings.

WEDNESDAY• 17

hadley freeMan in Conversation With raChel heWitt –

Online Screening via Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts, 6.30pm, Free. Hadley Freeman will be reading from, and in conversation about her bestselling and highly acclaimed family memoir, House of Glass: The Story and Secrets of a Twentieth-Century Jewish Family.

we love books as much as you do

TOP TEN BOOKS And Away Bob Mortimer Newcastle United Stole My Heart Michael Chaplin 3. The Storyteller Dave Grohl 4. Burntcoat Sarah Halls 5. The Vanishing Half Brit Bennett 6. Keeping The House Tice Cin 7. Bad Apples Will Dean 8. Hexed Julia Tuffs 9. The Herons Cry Ann Cleeves 10. Fit Sammy Wright 1. 2.

82A Park View, Whitley Bay, NE26 2TH t. 0191 422 1017

MONDAY• 22

professor robert Colls: this sporting life – The Lit & Phil, 23 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SE, 0191 2320192, 6pm, £5. Orwell once remarked that England’s true nature lay in the little things of everyday life. Robert will make the same argument for the big sports and explain how the language of sport came to inhabit every aspect of the national culture

TUESDAY• 23

gerald diCkens perforMs a ChristMas Carol – The Lit & Phil, 23 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SE, 0191 2320192, 7pm, £12. Back by popular demand - actor and great great grandson of Charles Dickens presents this seasonal favourite.

WEDNESDAY• 24

d.J. taylor - orWell: still in pursuit– The Lit & Phil, 23 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SE, 0191 2320192, 7.30pm, £5. D.J. Taylor discusses some of the challenges involved in revisiting and refashioning the life of George Orwell. raChel hore- a beautiful spy: iMagining olga gray and the World of the pre-War british CoMMunist party– The Lit & Phil, 23 Westgate Road,

Newcastle, NE1 1SE, 0191 2320192, 6pm, £5. Rachel Hore discusses the real-life story behind her new historical novel, and the joys and challenges of turning it into ﬁction.

FRIDAY• 26

linguistiC disCriMination – The Lit & Phil, 23 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 1SE, 0191 2320192, 6pm, Free. Dr Robert M. McKenzie and Dr Andrew McNeill will discuss accent prejudice towards the English spoken in the north and south of England, drawing upon the ﬁndings of their forthcoming book. www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 55

26/10/2021 16:15

ALBUMS alBu M

are not conﬁned by any traditional band set-ups, and on their seventh album they spread their wings for a truly cinematic experience, which draws on folk, indie, electronic and classical crossover. JL

Released 5 November

the oPheLIAS

Crocus (Joyful Noise Recordings)

Danielle Lewis Dreaming In Slow Motion (Red Robin Records) Danielle Lewis is one of the true leading lights of the alternative Welsh folk scene and her eagerly awaited debut album is an utter delight from beginning to end. She has one of those voices that really holds you rapt, and she wields it to fine effect over these ten songs, which appear to float between dreams and reality – both breathtakingly tender and ethereal as a half-forgotten memory. If you’re a fan of Weyes Blood or Julia Holter, then be prepared to go ga-ga for this. DP Released 19 November

BLVCk hIPPIe

If You Feel Alone at Parties (self release)

Admittedly, I’ve never been a fan of the sad boy genre that seems to get more and more popular lately, but Memphis’ Blvck Hippie may be the one to turn me. This is one of my favourite indie records that I’ve heard this year; I just can’t get enough of the melodic guitar riﬀs, syncopated drum beats and the emotion Josh Shaw conveys in his sweet, sliding vocals. It’s brooding rock music that you can still bop along to what’s not to like? LT

Once upon a time Alicia Walter was lead singer with Chicago-based art-rock outfit Oshwa, but for her debut solo release she’s embraced the joy of poppy hooks (the lead single from the album, ‘Standing at Your Doorstep’, is pure Jackson 5 style sunshine). That said, she still knows when to flick that arty switch to ‘On’, and there’s a rich seam of invention woven through these collection of songs, which take in everything from maximalist soul to handclap-inflected skippy pop. Let the good times roll. RM

Out now

the DAYDReAm CLUB

All Our Born Days (Poco Poco Records)

ALICIA WALteR

I Am Alicia (Sooper Records)

The husband and wife duo Adam and Paula Pickering are true independents and over the last ten years they have managed to build up a sizeable following, releasing six albums on their own label. The multi-instrumentalists

JACkIe LeVen

The Mystery of Love is Greater Than the Mystery of Death (Cooking Vinyl)

Jackie Leven remains something of a cult ﬁgure. The Scottish singer/ songwriter began his career in the late 1960s on the folk circuit and found later success with his new wave band Doll By Doll. He would later release a whole clutch of albums as a solo artist. This re-release of his second album marks the 10th anniversary of his death and it remains a revelation, a wide-screen exploration of folky soul and humanity. GM

You know those comfort albums that you put on when you really need to take some time out? This new LP from Cincinnati indie quartet, The Ophelias, is one of those. Filled with dreamy string moments, rhythmic guitar plucking and soft vocals, the album has an ethereal sound that makes you just wanna kick back and ﬂoat in the music. Despite being dominated by chilled out, low tempos, the upbeat sing-alongs scattered throughout are most welcome. LT

Out now

Released 11 November

meGAn nASh

Soft Focus Futures (Acronym Records)

mARGo CILkeR

Pohorylle (Loose)

“That river in the winter, it can fuck me up…” is the opening salvo from Margo Cilker’s startlingly good country album. She’s a singer songwriter who has been on the road for the past seven years, taking her from her native Oregon to the Basque country in Spain, and this release documents the geography of Cilker’s mind – from dive bars and heartbreak, to moments of real beauty. Fans of Lucinda Williams will ﬁnd plenty to get their teeth stuck into here. DP

Released 5 November

Hailing from the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, Megan Nash has justiﬁably been gaining a reputation among country-pop fans. Her new album sees her raking over the coals of her marriage for a collection of songs that tackle that collapse from a variety of angles. It packs a real punch, and boy, does she know how to pen a keenly wrought melody. GM

Released 3 November

noGA eReZ

Kids (Against The Machine) (City Slang)

I do love a curio, and this Israeli singer/songwriter/

producer and has certainly produced one here. It’s a reworking of her ‘Kids’ album, but each track has been recreated as bold, non-electronic production. And what do you know? It works – in spades. The songs still retain Noga’s signature smarts and swagger, but now arrive courtesy of some incredible arrangements features plenty of brass etc. GM

songs. However, I was pleasantly surprised to ﬁnd plenty of tunes that, for me, manage to top the releases that preceded the album. LT

Out now

Released 5 November

AmYL AnD the SnIffeRS Comfort to Me (Rough Trade)

PARCeLS

Day/Night (Because Music)

Parcels are the Aussie band with a drive-time sensibility (they’ve toured with the likes of Air, Phoenix and their debut single was produced by Daft Punk). For their second album, they’ve expanded their smooth-euro-pop-byway-of-Steely-Dan sound for a release that is truly cinematic in scope (which also brings in elements of yacht-rocking classic pop and a touch of dreamy folk). GM

Released 5 November

SAm fenDeR

Seventeen Going Under (Polydor)

The much anticipated latest release from North Shields’ own Sam Fender does not disappoint. His vocals are as seamlessly powerful as ever; his lyrics witty as ever (daring to tackle subjects from the Epstein Scandal, to toxic masculinity, to his own coming of age). Made up of ﬁery rock anthems, feel good indie, acoustic crooning and piano ballads, it’s a perfect exhibition of his prowess and versatility as a songwriter. The 16 track LP is a little longer than it needs to be, with a couple of forgettable

The cover art of ‘Comfort to Me’, Aussie punk rockers, Amyl and the Sniﬀers third album, sums up exactly what it is: a colourful, slightly bonkers explosion of quirkiness. It is the epitome of feel good punk rock; every single track made me want to blast the volume, scream out the lyrics and start a mosh pit. Amy Taylor’s blazing vocals never wane throughout the LP’s entire 35 minute duration, with Dec Martens thundering guitar-playing, Bryce Wilson’s ﬁerce drum beats and Fergus Romer’s driving bass the only accompaniments that could possibly match up. Punk’s not dead. LT

Out now

DoGSmILe

Sparks from the Fire (Comedia)

Swedish post-punk band Dogsmile’s newest release is rather retrosounding, with its jangling guitars and synth. Possibly, this is due to the inﬂuence of the band’s roots in Camoﬂague, a band popular in the 90s. Yet, the EP still manages to sound fresh with its unique melodic arrangements, resonant lyrics and addictive hooks. It has an almost otherworldly feel, with its reverb, breathy backing vocals and its mix of orchestral and electronic instruments, but it just works. LT

Out now

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 56

26/10/2021 15:53

singles si n g le

Asian Dub Foundation and something produced by Nellee Hooper. The lyrics that have a go at politicians in their ivory towers go down well too. GM

Philip Jonathan

In The Garden (self release)

Cathy Jain Artificial EP (YALA! Records) Born in Salford, but brought up in China and Australia, Cathy Jain is only 17 years old, but her debut EP is all kinds of stunning. The lead track ‘Cool Kid’ is a lazy-Sunday afternoon dream of song – all alt-pop R&B stylings and gumsnapping sass. Elsewhere ‘Artificial’ is a strummy guitar delight, and both ‘Green Screen’ and ‘I See Us In Heaven’ display pleasing, Billy Eilish-like, modernist pop tendencies. One to watch? One to cherish, more like. DP

Talk Like Tigers

Metallic Light (self release)

Talk Like Tigers (who answer to the names of Charlotte and Stephanie) have been responsible for some of the most scorching tracks to come out of the north-east in recent years, but on their latest they’re throttling back to give us something that sounds like Slow-era Kylie as filtered through the speakers of Glass Animals. It’s also dreamy, full of hooks, and has sizzle to burn. In short: it’s another winner. DP (Note: Talk Like Tigers along with London-based Fell - are playing Tyne Bank Brewery on 14 November. See page 12 for much more on this.)

Failed Imagineers

Thanks I Hate It (self release)

Failed Imagineers are a new outfit from Teesside, but boy do they sound primed and ready to go. ‘Thanks I Hate It’ is a real gobful of spurted out acid, an early Manics meets Idles slice of rollicking indie-rock that grabs you by the lapels from the get-go and doesn’t let up. I’m in. DP

Ninebanks

Innocent (self release)

If there’s a big hole in your life marked ‘Pop Punk’, then this Sunderland band will fill it was dashing aplomb. The fourpiece, who only formed in April of this year, know

how to pen a hook-laden melody and here they really let rip with a track that sounds like Blink-182 let loose on a full jar of fizz-bombs. DP

Mandy, Indiana

Bottle Episode (Fire Talk Records)

This Manchester post-punk electronic noise band, combine lead singer Valentine Caulfield’s vocal attack (sung in her native French) with almost militaristic beats for a track that pummels you into submission in the nicest way possible. GM

Aaron Dinning

I Hope That Things Get Better (self release)

The new single from this 18-year-old from Newcastle is about the death of his dad, but while it is obviously emotional, it isn’t maudlin. The melody is both beautiful and upbeat, and Dinning has one of those voices that really pulls you in close. Superb. JL

Last of the Fallen Angels

Ivory Tower feat. Tara Tine (self release)

Ireland’s Tara Tine lends her strident vocals to this new release from Last of the Fallen Angels (a solo project from Newcastlebased songwriter Conrad McQueen). It’s a track that deftly combines beats aimed at the head, heart, and hips – and finds a sweet spot between

The third single from this Northumberland based artist is a real goodie, a supremely melodic folk song that aims for spiritual uplift and damn well finds it. The understated, beautiful production, only adds to its myriad of delights. JL

NOBRO

Better Each Day (Big Scary Monsters)

NOBRO have been called the queens of the key change. I don’t know about that, but here they come over like a quartet of Suzi Quatro’s all hopped up on White Lightning. This is big and anthemic, a glam-punk stomp-a-long that bolts pounding drums to shredded riffs and no little ‘tude. Absolutely corking. DP

Super Disco Club

Happiness feat. Sadako Pointer (self release)

Super Disco Club are Andy and Cassie Van and on their second single they’ve roped in the vocal talents of Sadako Pointer (of The Pointer Sisters) for a release that – as their name kinds of hints at – is aimed directly at the dancefloor. Effortlessly melding uplifting house and nu-disco, it’s hot to trot. GM

Sally Shapiro

Forget About You (Italians Do It Better)

The elusive Swedish Italo disco/synth pop duo are back, Back, BACK! And this time they’re keeping things slinky with a mid-temp groover that is constructed from silken synths and Sally Shapiro’s ethereal vocals (which are as creamy as knickerbocker glory). If you’re thinking: Saint Etienne kitted out in Hush Puppies and strolling down a Parisian boulevard, then you’d definitely be in the right ballpark. DP

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 57

26/10/2021 15:53

QUEER

bend and shake

QUeeR TAilFeATHeRs

It’s the queer party we all needed. After the year we’ve just had of at-home yoga and mandated daily walks, my body has never been more ready to Bend & Shake. With it’s no shit energy policy, EVERYONE is welcome. This event, ﬁrst and foremost, aims to provide a safe space for women, non-binary people, trans women, trans men, asylum seekers and QIPOC. Thought this party could not get any cooler? Bend&Shake is run by the women and non-binary people of colour from Sister Shack CIC, based in Newcastle. Sister Shack

Welcome back To The

DisCOnTenT

Food shortages, petrol panic on the forecourts, hardcore lesbians down the mines; or rather The Camp Vamps on at the Coalyard. The three day week is already here – covid cosseted working from home in your pyjamas, not answering the phone and blaming Steve Guttenberg for no wiﬁ. We can’t burn fossil fuels or aﬀord to put the leccy on and all the Rad Fem candle factories have closed because they are all on Twitter. It’s an absolute disgrace but it’s not because of Brexit or global capitalism or the non-binary Irish border, it is us dear reader, we are the problem. There is a world wide shortage of Lesbian Lorry Driver

focuses on promoting women and nonbinary creatives, artists, musicians and DJs. Take one look at their class poster by goodstrangevibes and there’s no doubt that the hype is real. Hope you’re as ready as I am to bring along your precovid stamina and bedroom-rehearsed dance moves to groove the night away until 4 am at World Headquarters. Us queers have been waiting over a year for this! CJ Bend & Shake, 19 November, World Headquarters, Newcastle, 11pm-4am, £9.03 (£4.51 conc.) welovewhq.com / 23:00-04:00/ World Headquarters

Dykes, the stereotype has driven away with the fairies, no longer known to the pans, polys and omnis. The stuﬀ of myth and legend and Phyliss Christopher Exhibitions – (currently on at BALTIC). All we need to do to save the world is don those checky shirts, rub those rosy cheeks and climb back into those cabs. The Lesbian Lorry Driver Dykes will save us, the children will chant as we distribute lube to Lidl and arse plugs to Aldi and pop some Ringtons Tea up your back passage. Sorry friends – got stuck in a terrible timewarp there ...

gem andreWs I think no one can dispute that I am one of Gem Andrews’ biggest fan. Her songs, imbued with an alt country folk vibe, tell beautiful stories that took me out of my angsty queer teenage world. Gem’s music reminds me of my love of the north-east and the powerful community we are so lucky to have here. Her most recent album ‘North’ has the north-east as the backdrop and her song ‘Two Lighthouses’ (a tribute to the late poet and playwright Julia Darling) always accompanies me when I walk along our northern coast. Gem brings an intimate understanding of mental health, political anger, and power of the northern community through her music that you will be dying to sing along to. Just as I found connection within her songs, North, to me, is reminder of the solidarity needed within dark times. On the 19 November at the Globe, come and listen to Gem and you’ll get what I mean. CJ Gem Andrews, 19 November, The Globe, Newcastle, 7pm, £10 (£12 door). 7pm/ The Globe/ £10.00 advance, £12 door 58

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 58

26/10/2021 15:53

QUEER

bend and shake

QUeeR TAilFeATHeRs

Welcome back To The

DisCOnTenT

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 58

26/10/2021 16:27

QUEER one offs Wednesday• 3

Queer Crafters – Gosforth Civic Theatre Regent Farm Road, Newcastle, NE3 3HD, 6pm, Free. An informal group for LGBTQI makers to get together in a relaxed and inclusive way to work on your crafts. It doesn’t matter if you’re a seasoned artisan or an absolute beginner. Knit, sew, shape, paint, style, repair....as long as you can bring it yourself and take it away at the end of the session there are no rules on size, style or form.

Thursday• 4

RENT - The Musical

– Royalty Theatre 25 The Royalty, off Chester Road, Sunderland, SR2 7PP, 0191 567 2669, 4th-6th: 2.30pm, 7.30pm, £12/£14. Sunderland Theatre Company next production will be Jonathan Larsons Rock musical RENT !! The show tells the story of a group of artists struggling to survive and create a life in Lower Manhattan’s East Village in the 1990s under the shadow of HIV/AIDS. The show contains mild language and adult themes.

Sunday• 7

The Bonbons Cabaret

– Middlesbrough Town Hall Albert Road, Middlesbrough, TS1 2QJ, 01642 729 729, 7.30pm, £14.50/£10.50. Step through the doors and who knows who you will meet. Will it be your hosts, drag trio Bonnie and The Bonnettes? Will it be our starlet on the rise singer/songwriter MXYM? Will it be the lip-syncing, burlesque babe that is Mama Rhi? Or will it be the appetising queen Vol-Au-Vent Love? Who knows? But there is one thing you can be sure of and that is a glitter-fuelled, foot stomping, pant wetting cabaret riot!

Friday• 12

The Times of Harvey Milk

– Star & Shadow Cinema 210 Warwick Street, Newcastle, NE2 1BB, 7.30pm, £7/£5. San Francisco politician Harvey Milk was an outspoken human rights activist and one of the first openly LGBT people to be elected to public office in the US. After pushing through Californian legislation banning discrimination on grounds of sexual

orientation, Milk was assassinated in 1978. This Oscar winning film was one of the first documentaries to address gay life in America: it’s a testament to a political visionary and a vivid portrait of a time and place, San Francisco’s historic Castro District in the 1970’s. We The Queers – Arc Dovecot Street, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 1LL, 01642 525 199, 8pm, Pay what you decide. Join Bordello Collective as they curate a collage of cabaret made up of fabulous artists from the world of drag, queer cabaret and performance arts.

thursday• 18

bunty del mar – Prohibition

Cabaret Bar, 25 Pink Lane, Newcastle, NE1 5DW 11 Railway Street, Newcastle, NE4 7AD, 7pm, Free. Ohhh lordy! She’s back! Bunty Del Mar (the ‘gal with the little bit extra’!) exclusively returns to her rightful home on our Prohibition stage bringing her BRAND NEW monthly show, ‘Bunty’s On The Game‘! celebrating the good old-fashioned British gameshow with the campest of twists! Expect fun, frolics, audience participation and naff prizes galore!

Friday• 19

Gem Andrews + Serious Sam Barrett – The Globe

11 Railway Street, Newcastle, NE4 7AD, 8pm, £10adv/£12otd/ Livestream from £7.50. Gem Andrews writes Americana and folk music with an honesty and rawness that takes the listener by surprise and cuts to the quick. Backed up by full harmonies, blooming fiddle melodies, piano and accordion allsupported on a sea bed of acoustic double bass and drums. Serious Sam Barrett is a hard touring, folk and country singer/ songwriter from Otley, West Yorkshire. Playing honest, heartfelt self penned and traditional songs on 12 string guitar and banjo.

Sister Shack presents Bend & Shake – World Headquar-

ters Curtis Mayfield House, Carliol Square, Newcastle, NE1 6UQ, 0191 2813445, 11pm, £8/ Concessions for income and asylum seekers. A queer party ran by women and non-binary People of Colour from Sister Shack CIC. EVERYONE is welcome, but this event aims to provide a safe space

for women, non-binary people, trans women, trans men, asylum seekers and QIPOC. DJs will be spinning RnB, Soul, Neo-Soul, House, Techno, Electro, Hip Hop, Garage, Disco, Pop and vibes till 4 AM. Socials @ bend.shakencl

Monday• 22

The Return of The Jinkx & Dela Holiday Show LIVE! – Tyne

Theatre and Opera House 111 Westgate Road, Newcastle, NE1 4AG, 0844 2491000, 8pm, £3. BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon are taking the stage once again in a post-apocalypse-mas extravaganza certain to make this yuletide gayer than ever! That’s right.... After a year of doom, gloom, and zoom, the Queens of Christmas have risen from the rubble to unearth your favourite holiday tradition. The wildly successful, internationally acclaimed Jinkx and DeLa Holiday Show is back with its signature whip-smart comedy, brand new songs, and a few perennial favourites.

Tuesday• 23

10 Things to Do in a Small Cumbrian Town by Hannah Sowerby – Alphabetti Theatre St James Boulevard, Newcastle, NE1 4HP, until 11th December, 7.30pm, Pay what you feel. A onewoman comedy drama set in Penrith, Cumbria. All Jodie wants to do is kiss a woman, but the only one available in Penrith seems to be her friend’s Mam....19-yearold Jodie hasn’t gone to Uni like most of her friends, but has instead been forced into taking a job shelf stacking by her very sweary Nana. Join Jodie as she attends therapy with her incompetent, but hot, counsellor; bumps into everyone she’s ever met in the local supermarket and is repeatedly invited to a very strange man’s static caravan....

Friday• 26

TIGHT – The Old Coal Yard Elizabeth Street, Newcastle, NE6 1JS, 7.30pm. We hear there’s a hole that needs filled! Alt Queer DJs playing electronica, garage, punk, goth, indie, Bjork. Open call local art exhibition and visuals. All washed down with delicious Old Coal Yard brewery beers straight out the tank.Free entry! But looking for donations for East End Women’s Foodbank. www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 59

26/10/2021 16:16

Elisabeth Leonskaja

TYNE RISING City Stadium, Newcastle Tyne Rising – a specially commissioned outdoor theatre performance for the award-winning Newcastle Puppetry Festival 2021 – took place at the City Stadium in Heaton and, fair to say, it was a huge hit among the sold out audience. Directed by Andrew Kim, who has put on innovative puppet spectaculars all over the world, this ambitious performance consisted of giant puppets and a costumed ensemble accompanied by a live band (Hannabiell & Midnight Blue) and music composed by Hannabiell Sanders. Set fifty years in the future, when the River Tyne has broken its banks and strange giant creatures have been unleashed across the city, it sees the people of Tyneside having to work together to put things right and save the day. One by one large-headed people clad all in white wandered down into the stadium like a surreal 60’s sci-fi film, before carefully choreographed rolling waves and a cast of various giant creatures began to appear from behind a curtain of trees. Giant jellyfish looked magical as their silver strands caught the light and floated in the breeze; and an impressive giant teeth chomping creature by Thingumajig Theatre was so believable that for a moment I forgot there was a real person working it. The environmental theme appealed to both families with young children and adults, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what this talented production team create next. Deb Snell DIANA JONES Old Cinema Launderette, Durham There were two reasons why I was keen to see Diana Jones: firstly, I have seen her previously and had high expectations of a 60

great gig, and secondly, I had heard about the Old Cinema Launderette – one of the world’s quirkiest venues, which I hadn’t yet been to. The gig was part of a tour that had originally been planned to promote Diana Jones’ ‘Song to a Refugee’ album, and both tour and album were delayed due to the coronavirus. Unfortunately, the album has become more relevant over the last 18 months. The songs on the album are based on Diana Jones’ experiences of meeting refugees; discovering why they became refugees; and the issues that refugees confront on their journey and on arrival. Jones’ introduction to her songs added greatly to the evening. She also sang songs from her back catalogue. The gig was unplugged and intimate (they had problems setting-up the PA, and she was absolutely fine without it). Her sound and approach could be compared to 1960s American folk singers from the protest movement. Following the gig, I felt the need to contact friends in places she would be playing on her tour and encourage them to see her at their local venue. The Old Cinema Launderette is a working launderette, modelled in a retro 50/60s style, and is small, intimate with great sight-lines. I will be back. Hopefully, Diana Jones will be too. Martin Ellis ELLIE GOULDING O2 Academy After a five-month pandemic postponement, Ellie Goulding’s Brightest Blue tour finally arrived in Newcastle in October, and it was well worth the wait. Whitley Bay’s L Devine, with her energetic performance as support act, ignited the crowd even more, her alt-pop tunes fierier than her trademark red locks. Goulding, meanwhile, had the audience in the palm

of her hand as soon as she stepped on stage. When she announced the tour on her Instagram, she told her followers: “I’ve purposely made this tour more intimate than some of my previous shows, much like the record, so we can all be together in one room sharing each other’s energy.” The Hereford-born singer/songwriter achieved just that, with the smaller venue, stripped back staging and limited band working in her favour. The focus was on her stunning lyrics and live vocals, which are even better than they are on her records. It was also great to see her show her chops on the guitar as we were taken on a journey throughout Goulding’s stellar music career, from her 2011 debut album, ‘Lights’, to her ‘Fifty Shades Freed’ soundtrack contribution, to the highlights from her 2020 release, ‘Brightest Blue’. One minute the crowd was erupting into a dancing frenzy to ‘I Need Your Love’, the next we were swaying our phone torches to ‘Woman’. The best thing about the whole gig was that Goulding seemed just as excited to be back on stage as we were to see her; dancing around, giggling at the crowd’s chants and chatting to us between songs as if we were close friends. Leanna Thomson ELISABETH LEONSKAJA Sage Gateshead Awarded instrumentalist of the year in 2020 and one of the most renowned pianists of our time, Elisabeth Leonskaja graced the north-east with an incredible performance of Schubert’s last three piano sonatas. Leonskaja’s presence was captivating from the moment she stepped on stage. In the gorgeous Sage One venue, the audience were instantly gripped, and the collective awe was palpable throughout the performance. Schubert’s sonatas are among the greatest pieces of classical music of all time, and the Sovietborn pianist certainly did them justice. Her passion for the music was evident in her sincere yet joyful expressions, which, paired with the simple warm lighting and stripped-back stage, made for a stunning visual performance as well as an auditory masterpiece. Leonskaja artfully raised the tension of these pieces in breathtaking crescendos and even in the brief pauses between notes, she never lost our attention even for a second. Truly a remarkable performance. Scarlett Welch

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 60

26/10/2021 15:54

ROAD Northern Stage Simply to be back in a proper theatre watching the action played out by your actual actors in front of your very eyes – what joy! Yes, Northern Stage has opened its doors, and taken full advantage of the epic capacities of both stage and company to stage, for Artistic Director Natalie Ibu’s directorial debut, a timely revival. Dating from 1986, Jim Cartwright’s warm, angry and honest survey of neighbouring lives on a depressed Lancashire street has been re-located to a north-eastern setting but its Thatcherite context remains the same. In an economic vacuum where prosperity, employment and career prospects have faded to irrelevance, life goes on through sheer force of human necessity. Avoiding sentimentality, the drama offers a mosaic of coping strategies, from re-arranging the past to grabbing the present with both hands, one of which is probably holding a bag of chips at the time. Narrator Scullery (the excellent Michael Hodgson) orchestrates our over-view with wry, witty sympathy for the tenants of the road, visually opened up by Amelia Jane Hankin’s brilliant set design. A buzz of such tangible energy emanating from the shifting, contrasting characterisations projected by its cast of ten has the effect of dissolving the thirty-five years since the play’s inception without the need to hammer home any messages. The reactions of a young audience were clearly to a play for today rather than a period piece, while older memories might muse on the enduring depth of those long shadows cast by and over Thatcher’s Britain. Gail-Nina Anderson

I Saw Nick Drake The Engine Room, North Shields North Shields’ newest music venue The Engine Room, and Down By The River events, hosted a very special evening to celebrate the music of Nick Drake who died tragically young (aged only 26), but went on to receive posthumous fame. Four musicians – Katherine Priddy, George Boomsma, Aaron Duff (from Hector Gannet) and Luke James Williams – came together to perform his songs, as well as songs inspired by him, while Rue Collinge performed spoken word pieces. A highlight for me was Katherine Priddy whose gorgeous voice was ethereal as she took centre stage to sing ‘Black Eyed Dog.’ During the interval there were mutterings of an exciting occurrence, and then a rather dapper gentleman with a twirly moustache wearing plus fours (Cally Collomon from the estate of Nick Drake), surprised everyone by bringing Nick Drake’s actual guitar (the one he recorded Pink Moon on) to the stage. There was hushed reverential silence as everyone’s eyes were on the guitar and George Boomsma was given permission to play a beautiful version of ‘Place To Be’ on it. Outside the rain was lashing against the venue’s door adding to the atmosphere of being in a special place far away from the outside world. Aaron Duff finished the set with ‘Riverman’, sung with a lovely Northern lilt, and all four musicians came together to play ‘From The Morning’ for the encore. We left with a warm fuzzy feeling and walked along the Fish Quay (under a Northern sky). Deb Snell

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 61

26/10/2021 15:54

Scorpio

H O R O S C O P E S

23rd Oct – 22nd Nov

This is your kind of month. The sun in your sign until 22nd means you can focus on you and the positive transformation you’re going through right now. New moon in your sign on the 4th is about testing your ability to respond rather than react to situations, which is not easy given circumstances; and the lunar eclipse on the 19th in your relationship chart is about significant change somehow, maybe suddenly or unexpectedly, but it’s about a new sense of stability in the long run.

Sagittarius

Pisces

Gemini

On the one hand November is about new beginnings and leaps of faith with wild abandon (your favourite kind) but on the other hand it’s about looking after yourself to avoid burnout while waiting for the confusion to clear to look before you leap. Sounds conflicting but it’s about playing it by ear, feeling your own sense of balance and then choosing which approach works best for that moment. There’s no right or wrong path for November, just which one fits best here and now.

It’s about new perspectives and horizons for you this month. It might be a break away somewhere scenic or a good career move, but it’s also about mind-expanding experiences like education and learning or meeting some fascinating people that give you food for thought. It’s all set to open your heart as well as your mind, and get you looking forward as well as moving forward, especially after midmonth during the transformative lunar eclipse on the 19th.

People with closed minds annoy you. They are no fun and make you feel a bit claustrophobic, but you might have to just rise above it and be happy anyway, otherwise you start to feel closed too, and you don’t want to turn into one of them. Happily, there’s plenty to stay open and receptive to during November, including a feeling of fate or destiny working through events. You’ve waited a long time for karma to catch up with certain folk, so there might be something to secretly smile about this month.

22nd Nov – 22nd Dec

Capricorn

22nd Dec – 20th Jan

18th Feb – 20th Mar

Aries

Cancer

Virgo

Finances and income are your focus for November but early in the month there could be some obstacles. The feeling of wading through treacle to reach your goal can mean the timing is off somehow, so it makes sense to relax and don’t keep trying to push through it. Then from midmonth it’s clearer and the lunar eclipse on 19th indicates you are entering a more flowing, less treacle-like experience.

There’s a lunar eclipse on the 19th, which means events with big impact or long-term consequences for you during November. The eclipse theme is about whatever you put your heart into. It’s about the friendship, support, and team spirit in and around you. Early in the month you might not be sure if others are helping or hindering progress but as weeks go by, what has felt impossible to you for a very long time starts to become possible at last.

November requires faith that freedom holds security, not just uncertainty of the unknown. It’s not always easy to step into the new and away from the old, but for a long time now you’ve been craving to let go of what no longer serves you while feeling stuck or unmoved to release it. Events this month move you, whether you’re ready or not, but you are likely ready by the time the ‘clear the clutter’ lunar eclipse arrives on the 19th.

Capricorn doesn’t like asking for help. You don’t mind others asking you, but it feels icky the other way around. But November is all about that sense of community and team spirit that comes from everyone working together and supporting each other, so you don’t want to let the side down by not asking for help when you need it. In other words, you aren’t meant to carry it all yourself this month, and you’re doing your bit by letting others know this.

20th Mar – 20th Apr

Aquarius

20th Apr – 21st May

20th Jan – 18th Feb

Big change in routines and habits happening this month. Perhaps it’s a new job or new home, maybe both, but revolution is in the air, making what was on a firm footing feel just a little less stable. There’s method to the madness though, and that is where you must find your stability for now, by having faith in the method, especially when it’s your method. First half of November likely feels a bit of a discomfort zone, but by lunar eclipse on 19th you’ve settled cosily into the unsettled. 62

21st May – 21st June

Taurus

The planets are very focused on you and the changes you’ve felt called to make for some time now. You’re in a restless, rebellious and no compromise mood all month, which might cause conflict with partners and those closest to you, but it’s about wanting freedom to be yourself, not to hurt anyone’s feelings. There’s a lunar eclipse on the 19th in your sign which turns the volume up on your call to action, and the weeks ahead are about what happens when you answer it.

21st June – 23rd July

Leo

23rd July – 23rd Aug

It’s about home/work balance this month, but it’s also about relationships too. So this could be about spending more time with your significant other instead of over-working, or it could be meeting a new love at work, or even starting to work with your partner. Whatever it is, at first it’s taking you right out of your comfort zone and takes some getting used to. But as November continues, this disruption to familiar routines becomes a freedom to embrace and would miss if normal service was resumed.

23rd Aug – 23rd Sept

Libra

23rd Sept – 23rd Oct

It’s a month of endings, which means new beginnings too. New moon on the 4th is about doors that are opening, while the lunar eclipse on the 19th is about what you’re letting go of in order to step into new territory. This is especially true for relationships, where single Librans might be meeting someone new while those already taken are ready for relationships to evolve one way or another; either to end or find new levels of love and partnership together. Astrologist: Barbara Palliser bondwiththemoon.co.uk

www.thecrackmagazine.com

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 62

26/10/2021 15:54

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 63

26/10/2021 15:54

11. CRACK Nov 2021.indd 64

26/10/2021 15:54