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Any festival is a home from home for Turner

Thousands of rockers head to Leeds this weekend for the Carling Festival. Simon Rushworth previews the show with former Million Dead frontman Frank Turner. Read

Natalia to take the Girls’ stage

AIMING to upstage Girls Aloud in County Durham later this month will be soul newcomer Natalia. Read

Christopher now ready to step up from role in supporting cast

HEAVILY touted as one to watch is singer Bryn Christopher, who visits The Cluny, Newcastle, on September 11 during his first headlining tour. Read

Young musicians are in for three big free hugs

GENERATOR North East, the region's music development agency, is looking for the next big thing. Daniel Thomson takes a look at three schemes designed to unearth the best new talent. Read

After the blow-up, back to the bass line

IT is just weeks since Duff McKagan left Tyneside on the back of a blistering Velvet Revolver gig but the workaholic former Guns ‘N’ Roses star never stops. Simon Rushworth previews his return to the region with punk heroes Loaded. Read

US pianist hits town

INDIE artist Drew De Four has been described as ‘Jerry Lee Lewis meets Liberace’. Read

Martha, you’re a mystery

I’VE struggled to make up my mind about Martha Wainwright. Read

Review: SummerTyne Rogue's Gallery, The Sage Gateshead

THURSDAY’s entry on the SummerTyne Festival programme must have somehow slipped through the cracks of people’s subconscious. Read

Rachel Unthank of folk group The Winterset

Unthank nominated for Mercury Prize

The shortlist for the Nationwide Mercury Prize was announced yesterday with Rachel Unthank and the Winterset flying the North East flag. Sam Wonfor reports. Read

From trainee to star of the stage

LOTS of stars appear on stage at The Sage Gateshead but some of the stars are behind the scenes. Michael Dollan is the current cause of celebration because he has just graduated from the prestigious Royal College of Music with one of its first diplomas in creative leadership. Read

Unforgettable times in prospect at fest

SUMMER finally arrives this weekend and, for the next 10 days at least, it’ll be a scorcher. Read

Alto saxophonist and rapper, Soweto Kinch

All that jazz

He may be a brass festival headliner but you can’t pigeonhole Soweto Kinch, as Paul Loraine discovers. Read

Review: Yngwie Malmsteen, Newcastle Carling Academy

EARLIER this summer Joe Satriani thrilled a sell-out Newcastle City Hall crowd with a set rich in emotion and oozing understated cool. It was impossible to ignore that show when assessing fellow guitar hero Yngwie Malmsteen’s approach, and the Swede suffered as a result. Read

Review: The Momenta Quartet, King’s Hall, Newcastle University

THE New York-based Momenta Quartet made the day for a group of music students from Newcastle and Durham universities on its North East debut at the opening of the ¡Vamos! festival, a 10-day celebration of Spanish and Portuguese speaking cultures. Read

Sea symphony for violinist Jonathan

VIOLINIST Jonathan Storer is planning a personal sea symphony – swimming the English Channel in aid of mental health charity Mind. Read

Brinkburn Music Festival at Brinkburn Priory, Northumberland

THE second weekend of the 15th Brinkburn Music Festival was topped and tailed by the glories of English choral music, the Gabrieli Consort and Players revisiting their Purcell programme from the very first Brinkburn Festival and The Cardinall’s Musick making its Brinkburn debut with a cappella music by William Byrd. Read

Eddy’s tour to repay his debt to fans

WHEN I catch up with Eddy Grant, he’s on the road to Liverpool. Hot on the heels of appearances at Glastonbury and Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday concert, he’s now on tour. Read

Pupils see diversity of brass band festival as Indian group pops in

BANDS heading to Durham for its extraordinarily diverse International Brass Festival don’t just arrive, perform on stage and leave. Read

The spell is cast at Brinkburn

IT would be good to report that they put on something special for the 15th Brinkburn Music festival. But then the two-weekend event in the 12th century priory tucked away between the folds of the North Northumberland hills is always something special, so the term would become meaningless. Read

Brinkburn favourite returns

THE 15th Brinkburn Music Festival gets off to a sparkling start tomorrow with a performance by Joanna MacGregor, a pianist who regularly flouts the bow tie and tails image of classical musicians. Read

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