Nadine Shah

I am grateful that I have the time and resources such that when I want to see an artist live, I'm able to enjoy them largely at the venue of my choice. I don't like big venues, for a start, but then there's also sound, stage visibility, etc to be taken into consideration. 

So, when we saw Nadine Shah supporting Young Fathers a while back, my first thought was how much I'd like to see her in a smaller venue. Looking at her tour dates, there were a couple of tempting options, and one of those was in Newcastle, which presented an opportunity to see our friends, Chris and Janice, too. Thus, we booked tickets for tonight's show at the Boiler Shop. 

We started the evening with drinks at The Bridge Tavern before moving for a bite to eat at Khai Khai, which was excellent. And then we set off on the short walk to the venue.

Although the Minx and I have been to the Boilershop before, I was unaware of its history, which Chris told me about as we walked up. You can read about it here, but, briefly, it was the workshop of Robert Stephenson (and his curiously lesser known Dad), where the first locomotive was built. 

As to Nadine Shah, I thought she and her band were very good. If you don't know her, then PJ Harvey is probably the closest comparison I can give you. If there was one issue, as Chris pointed out over post-gig drinks, it was that you couldn't hear what she was singing too well. I think that was possibly a combination of her singing style and the sound desk. I'll just need to revise the lyrics better next time!