Whitley Bay Playhouse,
15 September 2026
It’s an age since I posted a gig review, but this is a 2 gig week and Tuesday was an absolute cracker at Whitley Bay Playhouse. This is a modern little theatre and has pretty good accessibility as you’d expect from a newish building. The only other time I’ve been there was for an excellent amateur production of Legally Blonde: The Musical a few years back. I’d been able to book a wheelchair space and companion ticket in Row D of the stalls. There is a wider space between rows C and D to make access easier. We were a bit late in setting off and struggled to find parking so we reached out seats seconds before support act Blancmange came on stage. Tonight I was with my bestie from college days, A, who has travelled up from Sheffield to stay for a few days.
I saw Blancmange back in the 80s at The Limit Club in Sheffield, a low ceilinged basement venue with a sticky floor and sweat condensing on the walls. It was a bit rough but got some of the coolest bands.
Blancmange consist of original frontman Neil Arthur on vocals with various session musicians on keys/electronics since the death of fellow founding member Stephen Luscombe in 2025. Currently this role is filled by Finlay Shakespeare.
They may not have had as many hits as some of the other 80’s synth pop bands but there was some good stuff there. Neil Arthur got the crowd going from the get go, with the superfans in the front rows quickly on their feet and dancing (not so great for those of us on wheels in Row D)
He kept it going for an enthusiastic audience, with a set including Blind Vision, Feel Me (I love that hypnotically repetitive baseline), an excellent singalong cover of Depeche Mode’s I Just Can’t Get Enough and biggest hit, Living on the Ceiling. At one point the crowd was singing along so loud that he held the mic stand aloft towards them.
All delivered with Arthur’s deadpan Lancashire wit – he hails from Darwin, a place I know well from when I lived in nearby Blackburn. He ended with the words “We’re Blancmange and you’r not!” It was a great start to the night.
During the interval in the bar I bumped into H – a regular at local 80’s gigs that I first met at ABC last year – I think she gave me the head’s up about tonight’s gig in the first place. We’ve now exchanged contact details so we can keep each other posted about upcoming gigs.
Tom Bailey was founding member and lead singer of The Thompson Twins.
The band’s other members changed over time, but most of the hits were recorded by a trio consisting of Bailey with Allanah Currie and Joe Leeway. These days Tom is joined on stage by Charlotte Raven on keys/cello…
…Paulina Szczepaniak on drums …
…and Meelie Traill on bass/keys.
And they perform all those TT hits, including those you’ve forgotten about, Kicking off with ‘In the Name of Love’ one of my favourites and the perfect start to get everyone up and dancing. The set continued with ‘Sci-fi’, ‘You raise me up’, Shooting Star’ and ‘We are Detective” had definitely forgotten about that one.
On with more, including’LayYour Hands on Me’ and a great cover of Talking Heads’ ‘Psycho Killer’. At one point a huge red balloon was thrown into the audience and kept in the air for a while but then a woman sat behind me popped it. The look of utter shock on her face was priceless!
The hits continued on with ‘Doctor Doctor’ and ‘Love on Your Side’, ending with the beautiful,’Hold Me Now’
I had a bit of a moment there – it’s such a beautiful song and I remembered Kevin buying me the 12 inch single and a single red rose one Valentine’s Day.
The crowd loved it, singing their hearts out…as did I! A great night, two fantastic bands and a whole load of 80’s nostalgia.
Stitches by the Sea 