Author: Lewis Bassindale
Live music can sometimes be described as incredibly euphoric and it certainly was last Friday (18.10.24) when Divorce headlined Newcastle’s Cluny for only the second time and their first set in the city since they supported Self Esteem at the BBC Proms Glasshouse takeover last year. Firstly, a personal note to add context, I used […]
Small music venues are in crisis, according to the Music Venue Trust, 66 venues have closed in the last 12 months. However, we at Spark believe they need celebrating. As part of this we went to Cobalt Studios and asked them why they love their venue and why you should too. One of the reasons […]
North East venue Bobiks has announced its closure after over four years. The closure comes after the Punch Bowl Hotel (which houses the venue) in Jesmond has recently changed operators from Frank & Bird to local Mexican restaurant Birria Bella. Bobiks themselves have given the reason for the closure as the music venue “doesn’t fit […]
A rise in the top 40 artists releasing more music on vinyl is helping independent shops to flourish in a time when high street footfall is at the lowest it has ever been. According to the ERA (Entertainment Retail Association), 36.7% of total physical music sales last year were in independent shops. This rise is […]
The British music industry contributed £6.7 billion to the UK economy in 2022. Yet, according to the Music Venue Trust, 66 venues have closed in the last 12 months. But why and what can be done? The origins of this crisis are due to rent increases with 125 UK venues abandoning live music in the […]
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Disney+’s first foray into Formula One content has just dropped, and it is exactly what you want from a documentary. This first foray centres around the famous 2009 season, in which Ross Brawn and Nick Fry saved the former Honda team and somehow made a championship-winning car on nothing […]
Rating: ★★★★★ The BBC Proms returned to the Sage in July for a pop-sinfonic hybrid concert with Self esteem performing her most well known hits in an entirely different arrangement in what felt like a gospel service for her self founded almost religious like movement of empowerment. We review both her set and the support […]
Eurovision 2023 is less than two weeks away now, So we at Spark decided to ask North East Eurovision expert James Rowe for his thoughts on the 2023 edition. SP: Who do you think will win Eurovision this year? JR: So I think the big favourite this year is Sweden. They’re going to be represented […]
