GIG REVIEW: North East Calling @ Northumbia University, Newcastle, Saturday, 19 October 2024
North East Calling, now in its 19th year, is firmly established as the region’s own mini-Rebellion Festival.
Starting life as Durham Punk Fest in 2006, it moved to Newcastle in 2013 and has found a home from home at Northumbria University.
Originally a gathering of mainly heritage acts, it is gradually morphing into a showcase for punk’s future as well as its past. For me, this year’s line-up was one of the best yet, with something to suit all tastes.
The honour of opening the all-dayer fell to a veteran band, Guitar Gangsters, who somehow remain a mystery to far too many old punks.
Formed way back in 1988 by brother Phil and Pete Ley, who remain mainstays of the band, they’ve released 13 albums, most recently 2022’s Fortune Favours The Brave.
Like many bands of their vintage their line-up has changed over the years; the current incarnation sees Chris Benton on drums, and Ed Sonsino, who joined in 2018, on second guitar to give them even more oomph.
They only have 30 minutes to make their mark, but mixing old songs like Turn The Tables and Radio Shakedown with newer cuts like Fifty Dangerous Things and Shut Up And Get Me A Drink, their punchy power-punk hits the spot perfectly, getting the day off to a great start.
Next up are In Evil Hour, a four-piece melodic hardcore band from Darlington who have played NEC just once before, back in 2016. Their environmental-tinged punk is punishingly heavy, but from the heart, with vocalist Alice somehow making herself heard over the cacophony.
Again they have precious little time to impress, but manage to rattle through nine songs, including their two latest tracks, Explain Things To Me and 2050, which were released digitally three and four years ago, respectively.
They finish with old favourite Predators from their 2015 EP Built On Our Backs, and when I sit down to write up this review I find with astonishment that it’s seven years since their last physical release. A new one must be on the cards (please, guys!).
Watford street-punks Knock Off are next, and it’s their second appearance here too, six years after the first. They’ve got a new line-up since then and recently released their sixth album, Lowerarchy, and they’re firing on all cylinders from the off.
The size of the stage here can be a problem for a three-piece, as they’re miles apart, and there’s little chance for interaction, but Knock Off make up for that with an all-killer no filler set which mixes old favourites with tracks from the recent release.
They kick off with its opening track Last Man Standing, and Made Of Iron and the title track get an airing too, mixed in with established songs like Are You Offended?, This Ain’t No Love Song and This Is Who We Are. There’s no airs and graces about Knock Off, they just smash through their set then clear off, but not before I can add a copy of the new album to my collection.
The bar has been considerably raised, and it’s about to be set even higher by the next act up, NEC debutants Riskee And The Ridicule, a grime-punk band from Ashford in Kent who’ve done the hard yards on the toilet-venue circuit and are now getting their reward by moving up the bill at festivals like Rebellion. I’ve seen them a few times over the years and they get better every time.
Today is no exception, and they win a lot of new fans with a high-energy set which sees frontman Riskee (Scott Picking) stripped to the waist a couple of songs in, and pacing back and forth like a caged animal as he screams, raps and preaches to the increasingly converted.
A couple of songs from last year’s fourth album Platinum Statue make the cut, but it’s the oldies which hit hardest, with Body Bag Your Scene an early contender as the song which will stay in my head for days, and Kaboom! and Accelerate not far behind. The five-piece put on a great show, and the place is buzzing when they’re done.
The enviable job of following that goes to Belfast punks The Defects, who were formed in 1978, before Riskee were even born. After releasing one of punk’s essential albums, Defective Breakdown, they went their separate ways in 1984, reforming in 2010, and remaining a going concern ever since.
Only frontman Buck remains from the original line-up, and surprisingly this is their NEC bow too, despite the fact they’ve been to the North East a few times. Don’t get the idea they’re just on a nostalgia trip though; they’ve released five albums since reforming, and prove themselves a tight outfit who have been unfortunate to exist in the shadow of contemporaries like Stiff Little Fingers and The Outcasts.
There’s a smattering of more recent songs in their set, but it’s bookended by the classics that keep punters coming back, Dance Till You Drop and Brutality, and the band seem genuinely pleased with the warmth of the reception they’re given.
From first-timers to old hands; it’s soon time for Gimp Fist, who have played NEC umpteen times, and always go down a storm. They’re a streetpunk trio from Darlington, 30 miles down the road, and always have a good following here, and today is no exception.
They recently released their 10th studio album, Losing Streak (reviewed here), and open with one of its tracks, How Come? Two other new ones, Blind and Whites Of Your Eyes, also get an airing. I think it’s the first time I’ve heard the latter live, and it’s one of the highlights of the set.
Otherwise it’s business as usual for the Gimps, with established fan faves like Working Class, War On The Streets, First In Line, Skinhead Not Bonehead, Top Dog and traditional set-closer Here I Stand raising the increasingly-refreshed crowd to new levels of excitement.
This section of the day is the one I’ve looked forward to most since the line-up was announced, and that’s because Random Hand are on next. I’ll confess that the ska-punk band from Keighley, West Yorkshire, are a relatively recent discovery for me, even though they’ve been going 20 years.
I only saw them for the first time a couple of years ago, but I loved their latest album, the self-titled Random Hand, which came out last year, and it’s one of its tracks, The Cycle, which stands out here. The four-piece play a high-velocity set during which they scarcely pause for breath, and you’re left wondering where frontman Robin, who sings and plays trombone, finds such energy.
It’s their first time here as well, but I don’t think it’ll be their last, as this was a blinding set. How do you follow that? Well, it’s The Bar Stool Preachers next. They’re regular visitors to Newcastle; in fact it’s become a bit of a home from home for them.
Sadly, there’s no ‘secret’ Trillians gig after their appearance here, but the Brighton boys put on a show-stopping performance which shows why they’re so loved here in the North East – even if their local football team have just won up the road at St James’s Park this afternoon.
TJ McFaull is a natural frontman, owning the stage, and his band are at the top of their game right now, with a new EP consisting of acoustic reimaginings of last year’s third album Above The Static released recently.
There’s not much stripped back about this show, however; it’s full-on in every way, even though there’s only five of them, instead of the 14-legged version which sometimes performs.
ATS tracks dominate, making up more than half of their all-too-brief, and Call Me On The Way Home, Doorstep and Flatlined prove just as popular as the older songs, with a sizeable part of the crowd singing back every word. One Fool Down, Choose My Friends, 8.6 Days (All The Broken Hearts) and the closing Bar Stool Preacher remind us why we fell for them in the first place, and then they’re gone. Come back soon guys!
From one of the best rising bands in today’s punk world to a band who can only be described as legends of the scene; Subhumans. It’s hard to believe wiry frontman Dick Lucas has been preaching his searing anarcho-punk since 1980, but it’s true.
Anarcho isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but it brings the studded jacket brigade to the front in numbers, and the floor is soon seething as they wheel out classics like Mickey Mouse Is Dead, Subvert City and Religious Wars in their 45-minute set. Their most recent album, 2019’s Crisis Point (reviewed here), was as good as anything they’ve done, but only one song, 99%, made the cut, such is the depth of their back catalogue.
If Subhumans are legends, then what does that make Charlie Harper, the frontman of UK Subs, who are for many people the true headliners today, even if they’re second-top of the bill. He turned 80 in May, and the band he has fronted since 1976 without a break are still performing, although it’s only at selected headline shows and festivals nowadays, rather than the seemingly never-ending tours of not so long ago.
Some of today’s best-loved bands have played today, but the Subs pull the biggest crowd of all, with fans only-too-aware that it might be the last time they get to see their hero. Resplendent in Cramps T-shirt, shades and a studded wristband, Charlie looks every bit a rocker, and aptly they open a nostalgia-steeped set with Rockers from 1979 album Another Kind Of Blues.
The bulk of their set is drawn from that debut and 1980 follow-up Brand New Age, and there’s no doubt these songs are stone-cold punk classics: C.I.D., Tomorrow’s Girls and Warhead prompt huge singalongs, but it’s Emotional Blackmail I enjoy most. No one knows if UK Subs will be back in the North East again; if not, what a way to remember them.
The task of following that falls to Sham 69, who were one of the first bands I got into as a young punk, just before I hit my teens. They’ve headlined here before, most recently in 2021, and always put on a killer show. Tonight, they’re on stage a few minutes late, which means they gave to sacrifice a few numbers from the 18-song setlist taped to the stage.
They still manage to plough through a greatest hits set which kicks off with What Have We Got and includes I Don’t Wanna, Rip Off, Borstal Breakout and If the Kids Are United. Even frontman Jimmy Pursey flinging bottles of water about, leaving the stage looking like a paddling pool, can’t dampen my spirits, and for a glorious 40 minutes I feel 40 years younger, even if my legs won’t agree in the morning.
Others might disagree, and that’s their prerogative, but for me this was the best North East Calling yet, with a perfect mix of vintage and newer acts, with the buzz building throughout the day. Whether you jumped around to the favourite band of your youth, or found a favourite new one, it was a day which had everything. Credit to Jon and Sam at JS Promotions for putting together such a great bill, and roll on 2025!
