The blog on the Tyne

Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turresi – The Sage Gateshead 29/11/2019

So to the final leg of our November tour that has featured two visits to Bury, Edinburgh and the latest trip to Newcastle. We have seen Wishbone Ash, Mary Gauthier, The Hot Club of Cowtown and Rhiannon Giddens.

We’ve been to Newcastle a few times over the years. I can’t make my mind up about the place. I love Geordies, like the Football team, The Tyne is one of my top 5 rivers (sad, I know) and the City Hall is a great concert venue. I’m just not convinced by the city itself. There is some fantastic architecture, some decent pubs, some good record shops but………………..I don’t know what it is but it is not in the same league as London, Liverpool or Leeds (maybe it should change its name to Lewcastle!!).

Musical luminaries include Brian Johnson of AC/DC, Lindisfarne, The Animals and Venom (a legendary Black Metal band whose singer Kronos once described Satan as ‘a reet bad lad’). On the downside it is also the birthplace of Sting, Mark Knopfler and Bryan Ferry.

Our hotel was on the Quayside a lively stretch along the River Tyne, home to the landmark Gateshead Millennium Bridge. Once a commercial dock, the area is now a nightlife hotspot with stylish bars, restaurants, and clubs. On Sundays, Quayside Market sells local produce, crafts, and street food. The opposite bank is dominated by the modern BALTIC art gallery and the steel curves of Sage Gateshead, a popular concert venue. I’m not a great fan of stylish bars, restaurants, and clubs so I did a little internet research and headed for the Bridge Tavern. This place was billed as an unfussy brewpub serving artisan ales from its on-site micro brewery plus locally sourced seasonal food. Sounded right up my street and indeed it was. It was fairly quiet when we arrived but soon started to fill up. I drank a couple of pints of a superb Porter and looked at the appetising food being consumed by fellow patrons.

Next up was a visit to the Crown Posada, the second oldest pub in the city. Legend has it that the pub was bought by a Spanish Sea Captain for his mistress.  I really loved this pub, it served great beers, had a friendly clientele and also had a record player on the bar. They were playing an album by Smoove & Turrell which was called Crown Posada. I’ll buy the album when I can find a copy. The only downer was that they had sold out of Ham and Pease pudden’ stotties which are a friend who hails from the city’s favourite delicacy.

We left the Posada and went for a walk to check out a bar called the Newcastle Tap which promised Cask Craft beers and good Pizza. Walking into the heart of the city fuelled my frustration with the place. Beautiful buildings are interspersed with some modern monstrosities which spoil the vibe of the place. As we neared our destination I was depressed to note the proliferation of chain bars such as Revolution, chain restaurants and a lack of independent shops and proper boozers. The Newcastle Tap had the ambience of a hospital canteen! The beer was OK but the number of plates with barely touched Pizza put us off looking at the menu, never mind trying the food!

I booked a table at the Bridge Tavern online and we walked back the way we had come. We stopped back at the Crown Posada which was now very busy. We managed to score seats which was a bonus. As we talked it struck me like a bolt of lightning! I hadn’t heard a proper Geordie accent!! I love  Geordie patois, it’s one of the most distinctive accents from anywhere in the world. I read ‘Larn Yersel’ Geordie many years ago. I was a huge fan of Viz magazine and Auf Wiedersehen Pet was my favourite TV show. Where were the Geordies?? Sure, people spoke with a soft North Eastern lilt but no-one spoke proper Geordie! I started to reminisce about Tom Scott. Tom was a big, bluff Geordie. A true Shipbuilder who had not only built ships, but served on them in the Merchant Navy. Tom came to work in our place around 2000. A hard taskmaster who was blunt to say the least. I loved the guy! I remember telling him about a Geordie I had worked with in Glasgow. Tom’s eyes lit up, he said ‘he’s the only person I have ever employed twice, do you know why?’ I shook my head. ‘Because I enjoyed sacking him so much the first time he worked for me’. That pretty much summed Tom up. A truly great man who I learned so much from. Tom died ten years ago, maybe more. I could have sat and told Tom stories all afternoon but I heard a wonderful sound, a broad Geordie accent!!

Two young women were looking for seats in the crowded boozer. ‘Talk dirty to me and you can have these seats’ the young woman was slightly taken aback. Don’t worry, I just wanted her to say Hadaway and Shite. This is Geordie for go away. She laughed and obliged which was music to my ears.

We walked back to the Bridge Tavern for an excellent meal and another pint of the superb Porter. Back to the hotel for a pre gig power nap.

This was our first visit to the Sage theatre in Gateshead, a brilliant venue with fantastic acoustics. I will subscribe to the mailing list as I definitely want to return to this fantastic place.

I have loved Rhiannon Giddens since I first heard her when she was a member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops. I have avidly followed her solo career and have seen her live twice before tonight’s show. She studies the history of slavery with a passion. A proud African American, she deplores how her ancestors were treated and seeks to educate her audience into the injustices meted on her race by her American homeland. We have visited the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis and wept at the horrific way that African Americans were treated. The Museum of Liverpool details the part that Great Britain played in the slave trade. Even in these dark days of Brexit where a ‘Little Britain’ mentality prevails, I honestly behave that a huge majority of people abhor slavery.  I thought that Rhiannon spoke too much about injustice tonight. Nobody disagreed with her; I hope we all deplore the history she describes. However, we all came to watch a brilliant musician and singer. I was impressed with her musical (and life) partner Francesco Turresi. Their performance was absolutely superb. They were ably augmented by double bassist (regular readers will know I love this instrument) Jason Sypher. They played two sets ( a much welcomed trend) with no support act. The encore ended with a song by Sister Rosetta Tharpe, a fantastic musician whose music I was introduced to through Rhiannon Giddens’ patronage.

Setlist

Inside Me Is Heaven

Gonna Write Me a Letter

Briggs’ Forró

At the Purchaser’s Option

Minstrel Tunes From 1855

Dido’s Lament

Underneath Our Harlem Moon

I’m on My Way

Molly Brannigan

He Will See You Through

The Lonesome Road

(Gene Austin cover)

Up Above My Head

(Sister Rosetta Tharpe cover)

After the show we walked across the swing bridge which affords brilliant views of the Millenium Bridge and the Tyne at night. There was a ‘Spoons next door to our hotel (The Quayside) so we stopped off and drank a few nightcaps. Once again, sadly, there were no proper Geordie accents to be heard. I really enjoyed our trip and the show but I still can’t make my mind up about Newcastle. I will return as I definitely want to visit the Sage again, but I hope that next time I will rejoice in hearing proper Geordie patois!

The next morning we revisited ‘Spoons for breakfast. We walked past a guy smoking. I realised with a jolt that this was the first person I had seen smoking a proper tab! No girlie vaping for this Geordie trouper! Newcastle used to be the ‘smerking’ capital of the world. Checkout Viz or Harry Enfield’s wonderful ‘Bugger all money’ if you don’t believe me. Perhaps change is good after all!!

This blog is dedicated to Tom Scott. You taught me so much bonny lad and I never got chance to thank you.

This blog was brought to you by a good bottle of Chablis and

Love this Giant by David Byrne and St Vincent

Rain Dogs by Tom Waits

Live in Europe by Rory Gallagher

Wish you were here by Pink Floyd