We'd like to express an enormous thank you to everyone who came along to our concert on 10th November 2017 in Sage One. Audience members and performers alike contributed to an unforgettable evening celebration of our North East culture and heritage, of which we are immensely proud.
The evening began with displays on the concourse from Northumberland National Park who brought along their interactive Dark Skies exhibit, The Society of Northumbrian Scribes demonstrating their wonderful calligraphy skills, and Folkworks Tuesday who ran a fantastic 'Try-the-Pipes' stall. Even the pre-show music was provided by our very own Andrew Davison - who played his Northumbrian pipes in the hall as the audience came in.
Learning Northumbrian Pipes! @MagneticNE pic.twitter.com/Ueps47QmEG
— Folkworks (@_Folkworks) November 10, 2017
The evening also hosted the launch of a brand new poetry anthology from leading publisher Bloodaxe Books. 'Land of Three Rivers', taking its name from the title of a Vin Garbutt song, maps the region in poems relating to the North East’s past and present, depicting life from Roman times, through medieval Northumbria and the industrial era of mining and ship-building, up to the present day. We were delighted to see the books flying off our concourse stall! Apologies to anyone who arrived after they were all gone - we have some more stock available here.
Surprise guests on the night included the inimitable Jimmy Nail, who performed his classic 'Big River' with a backing band including Kathryn Tickell & Superfolkus.
Our charismatic compere for the evening was Victoria Elliott, who gave a stunning reading of Bill Herbert's 'The Blazing Grater'.
Other acts included Sunderland's own Marty Longstaff performing as 'The Lake Poets', North-East/Scandi fusion fantastics - Baltic Crossing, the dynamic Star & Shadow Rapper, and of course, the fabulous Superfolkus.
A huge thanks must go to Folkestra who provided entertainment for the interval and to Sesh Grenade who brought the night to a storming finish!
The icing on the cake was a superb musical performance of Wilfred Gibson's poem 'Fallowfield Fell' and 'Divent Clash the Door' from Thomas Walling Primary Academy. Kathryn has thoroughly enjoyed working with the students and staff at Thomas Walling and was incredibly proud to be able to showcase their hard work!
Click here for a full review of the concert from Greg Freeman.
Fabulous night @MagneticNE @Sage_Gateshead Well done @kathryntickell et al My fave Wear song @TheLakePoets & fave Tyne song #jimmynail & 3 rivers courtesy of the late #vingarbutt & everybody else, just wonderful True @NECulture
— John Mowbray (@jdmow) November 10, 2017
Touching the core of what Tyneside is about: Jimmy Nail singing his Big River with Kathryn Tickell and Superfolkus.
— Agustín Fernández (@fernandezontyne) November 11, 2017
One of the many unforgettable moments of an altogether unforgettable concert.
Thank you, @MagneticNE and @kathryntickell. pic.twitter.com/081vTEqa87
Magic to share the stage with @kathryntickell, Baltic Crossing and @superfolkus last night at @Sage_Gateshead to close the show with a full band version of my song 'Shipyards'. Thanks @MagneticNE & all who came along. #whyaye pic.twitter.com/1tisRVh3PM
— The Lake Poets (@TheLakePoets) November 11, 2017
Well done all, great show Kathryn, kids were great, Shipyards a classic as always, and Jimmy sang. Proud night. As Oz once said “never forget ya roots son, you’ll always be a geordie”
— Graham (@gapalmer21) November 10, 2017
We hope that you all enjoyed the evening as much as we did!
With many heartfelt thanks,
All at Magnetic North East CIC.