25.04.2026 - Penelope Trappes/Rún/Earthball/Nëwsün/Sage Over Syringe - The Lubberfiend, Newcastle

A bit of a mad rush to get into town for this gig, had been in ASDA doing my shopping round 5:30pm when I got an email saying the door time was now 6pm instead of 7:30pm! Still managed to get there before the first band started! 

Opening act were locals Sage Over Syringe, thought they were alright a bit sort of no-wave stuff going on with them. Did wonder during their set what the lass was doing as she was sitting down and writing/drawing? Anyway I liked their set and interested to see how they go.

Nëwsün are from Glasgow and reminded me a bit of Electric Wizard, someone later said a lot like OM but I didn't see that like, wished they had stuff for sale as would have picked something up.

Was really impressed with Earthball, from Canada, they are a nice mix of free jazz(?), experimental and psychedelic rock! Think they have played the Lubber a couple of times now and will definitely make sure the next time they are here to see them play again.

Not sure what I was expecting when Rún played as only briefly hard a snippet of their music while at work. The three piece were fucking class live, synths, drone and folk blended into to something quiet extraordinary to see and hear. They didn't have anything for sale from what I could see though have picked up their debut album from Rocket Recordings this morning!

Penelope Trappes set was fantastic! Glad I got switched onto her music when she supported Smote last year. Dark ambient shoegaze tunes and fog machine!!!!

Only shit part of the night was some arsehole talking really loud at the start of her set, he was very drunk which isn't an excuse and he did get told more than once to shut up. Final straw was when my mate asked him again to be quiet and the dick told him to get fucked which led to the blokes mate talking him out of the venue!

21.04.2026 - Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O./Sister Ray Davies - Cluny 2, Newcastle

 

Always find it weird that I saw Kawabata Makoto solo and with his other band Mainliner (who when I saw them had apparently rarely played outside of Japan?) before seeing Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. play! Now the fourth time seeing them, would have been the fifth but missed when they played the Lubberfiend. This time it's a bit different as they are joined by original member Cotton Casino on synth and vocals.

Openers Sister Ray Davies are a two piece shoegaze band from Alabama. Strangely their debut album is called Holy Island and actually references the Holy Island that isn't two far up the Northumbrian coast, one of their tracks is even called Lindisfarne (Holy Island's other name.) Singer did explain that when he toured with a previous band they cam down and went over to Holy Island and really enjoyed it! Their set was pretty decent, a mix of ambient and shoegazey tunes, kinda wish I picked up their CD now.

Sister Ray Davies

Think this is the best I've seen Acid Mothers Temple play, as always solid 90+ minutes of absolute class psych/space rock and I liked seeing Cotton play as it deff seemed to add a bit extra especially when they played Pink Lady Lemonade to close the set. Enjoyed being part of the gig when Kawabata put his guitar into the crowd for us to add a bit of noise!

Also the first time I never picked anything up from the AMT merch table, which was very hard as they normally have a load of stuff I don't have! Had to restrain myself due to a dentist appointment coming up which may be pricey due to a chipped wisdom tooth!

Was good to see some mates I hadn't seen for years too! Also a bloke whose name I didn't catch who had came with his son who has autism and according to the bloke decided he wanted to go to gigs, pretty cool and both him and his son have seen some class bands together!

Acid Mothers Temple

04.04.2026 -JJ and the A’s/Sweet Fantasy/Diall - The Lubberfiend, Newcastle

 

Was a quite a few gigs on over the Easter Bank holiday and I only went to this one, realise now on the way to the gig I saw me mate Rich while on the bus and waved to him and think he assumed from the interaction I was going to the Cluny for the Dextro gig!

Locals Diall opened up with a fairly shorter set than usual but still good as always and probably now one of the longest serving bands of the local scene in the past 2/3 years!
Hadn't heard anything by Shrewsbury's Sweet Fantasy, I had tried looking them up online but for some reason couldn't find them (though as I write this I have found their bandcamp!) Thought they were pretty decent, had like an old 80's hardcore maybe anarcho punk sound to them. Still trying to think of the band they reminded me off but can't remember! Wish I picked up their demo now, definitely one to watch out for and hope to see them again maybe?!

JJ and the A's set was class, sorta hardcore meets garage rock with a bit of synth! All the way from Copenhagen, Denmark, though a mix of people from the States and Spain (as well as Denmark?).

Enjoyable set, no fannying on just getting on with it! 
Ended up picking up their LP and talking to the guitarist for a bit, asked if he had played in Born/Dead and he had and said I had seen them back at the Chilli Arms way back, which helped answer a question he had as wasn't sure if he had played up here before!