Gateshead Gigs – Part 2

My first ever foray to Newcastle was in 1987 when my local Preston North End team went on an impressive FA Cup run. Despite being in the bottom division at that stage, we had a famous win at Middlesbrough in the Third round before drawing Newcastle away in the Fourth round. About 6000 fans headed up and I remember a convoy of coaches crossing the impressive Tyne Bridge, but unfortunately we lost the match 2-0.

The Tyne Bridge with the Sage in the background. Image Credit Evening Chronicle.

On Mogwai’s 2023 tour, and almost twelve years to the day from the previous 2011 Gateshead date, Uncle George and I decided to make a return visit. I had already undertaken a double header aural battering in Manchester on the Thursday and the Friday before a day off on the Saturday and then headed up to the Northeast on the Sunday.

Due to train constraints, it was a logistical challenge initially involving my first ever Uber journey. Now, I must say I am somewhat conflicted about Uber’s and the working conditions they abide to, but to salve my conscience somewhat the driver who took me into town stated he preferred his job to his previous role as a Black cab driver, albeit the smallest possible sample size to draw these findings from!

My route incorporated trains from Manchester to Wigan, Wigan to Carlisle, a 45-minute wait and then onto the bone rattler Northern train into ‘Heidi’ territory over the mountain pass into Newcastle, a small matter of over 5 hours since I left home. I simply would not have undertaken this journey for any other band!  

We were staying again at the Quayside and then navigated our way back up the very steep steps to the welcoming Bridge Inn at the apex, where we encountered a fine ale, a roaring fire, and Six Nations on the TV. We then scouted around the corner for a quality pint of Porter in an excellent Taps bar called Split Chimp.

After grabbing some tea in a Turkish restaurant, we headed over the High-Level Bridge to a terrific little bar owned by my pal Gary Moore and his partner. Gary is also a keen muso and a huge Eels fan, he retired a few years ago and bought a pub, which sounds like a fine career change to me!

The venue is called Microbus and is ensconced within the arches on Wellington Street and they have created the bar from the front of a campervan and there is an old bus stop inside and a live-time bus timetable display so you have no excuses as to when to finish off your pint!

Inside the inimitable Gateshead Microbus bar. Image Credit microbus.pub

They have also just been awarded the Tyneside and Northumberland CAMRA’s pub of the year and this is all within the first year of its launch. They do stage music but unfortunately not on the night of my attendance. The site used to be a café back in the 1960’s and the story goes that a chap called Alan Hull was stuck on a bus outside in pea souper smog and allegedly wrote the famous song ‘Fog on the Tyne’ whilst he was sat there.        

A quick five-minute walk brought us to the venue and we swiftly released we were in the larger Gateshead Sage Stage 1, an unexpected bonus new venue. The larger room is apparently modelled on the Musikverein in Vienna and the acoustics were compellingly impressive.

It was my favourite performance of the three as there was room to breathe in comparison to the Friday Manchester gig, a very respectful audience and the venue created a very lush sound.  ‘Summer’ and ‘Mogwai Fear Satan’ were particularly epic.

Post-gig we headed to the Tiger Hornsby and got chatting to a couple of lads from Galashiels who had also attended the gig. We were informed on entry that they would be closing in 20 minutes but then must have taken a likeness to us as they very generously served us for another hour.

Back at the hotel, we watched the Superbowl until they reached half time. The following day, thankfully the trains behaved themselves and I enjoyed total musical silence on the way home to rest my jaded ears!

Gateshead Gigs – Part 1

I have travelled up to Newcastle many times with work traversing regularly over the scenic A66 from Kirkby Stephen to Scotch Corner where at the services by the roundabout they used to have the coldest M&S in the whole of Christendom. It became a tradition on those trips that from that very store I would purchases a Roast Beef and Horseradish Sauce sandwich!

Despite these sojourns I surprisingly never attended a gig in the Toon until 2011. When Mogwai announced their tour for that year we naturally hit the Manchester date on 26/02 and decided to follow that up with the Gateshead gig the following evening. Thus, on the Sunday the established Mogwai trio of Uncle George, John Dewhurst and I headed from Preston back to Manchester where we had returned from 12 hours earlier and then caught the onward train to Newcastle Central.

Mogwai on stage. Image Credit The Upcoming.

Whilst on the train, a chap was asleep in an aisle seat opposite and the person next to him nudged him as we were approaching the next station and he needed to exit the train, the aisle chap proceeded to open his eyes for a millisecond and then fell asleep again. In the end we had drag him to his feet to allow the other person out, Mr Sleepy then bumbled about briefly with us enquiring about his welfare and eventually got at the station himself. To paraphrase an old Northern idiom, ‘there is nowt so queer as folk’!

On arrival we decamped to our digs at the Premier Inn at the Quayside. Shortly after in a local boozer we watched the culmination of Birmingham’s dramatic win over Arsenal in the League Cup Final, and also on that day was a World Cup cricket match between England and India resulting in a tie as both teams scored a remarkable 338 runs each. I also recalled us visiting the Vineyard pub where literally the only beer option was Duvel, so we swiftly headed elsewhere.

We were navigating the city for the first time and despite everything I had previously heard about Newcastle and the Bigg Market etc we seem to end up in a blind spot and encountered a dearth of boozers but did eventually find a couple of watering holes.

The gig was in Gateshead Sage Stage Two within the futuristic looking building, which was facing us on the opposite side of the River Tyne. The Sage was opened in 2004 at a cost of £70m as a concert and music education hub and links in with Gateshead Quays development alongside the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and the Millennium Bridge. Besides a regular roster of gigs from every genre it has hosted party political and NUS conferences.

The venue is home to the Royal Northern Sinfonia Orchestra and has three concert spaces, Sage One with capacity of 1640, Sage Two with 600 capacity and a smaller rehearsal hall.

Gateshead Sage. Image Credit Pinterest

It was a very impressive setting and within Stage Two we were encased in the small standing area right down the front within the maximum blast radius of the sonic noise emanating from the stage. ‘2 Rights Make 1 Wrong’ was my fave track on the night and we topped the evening off with a curry in a nearby restaurant. The following morning, we bizarrely nearly got mistaken for some local dignitaries for a TV interview outside the hotel, but after sidestepping that we headed for the train home.