The Friday Night Club with The Unthanks
Discover. Enthuse. A proper Friday night out.
Hosted and curated by Tyneside music pioneers The Unthanks, this series brings together unexpected lineups, from local legends to the best touring artists. Don’t be surprised to find singers alongside poets, comedy followed by classical music or short films next to jazz sets.
Think of it like heading round to a friend’s on a Friday night – good company and music you didn’t expect but won’t forget. A space for discovery, conversation, and shared experience.
There’ll be surprises, singalongs, and even the playlist in the bar will be put together by the artists behind the evening.
Come curious – leave inspired!
This edition’s lineup features dead good art rock and dream pop deep divers Mesadorm, Irish collaborative pianist Elaine Brennan, who composes live soundtracks to silent films in real time Newcastle based alt.folk singer, cellist and familiar face at The Glasshouse Ceitidh Mac plus Dr. Katie Liddane who’ll discuss seventeenth-century ‘witches’ in the North East of England.
Need to know
Venue: Sage Two (cabaret with bleachers seating)
Price: £11.30 (under 30s) – £22.50
Stage times: Announced nearer showtime.
Age: Ages 14 and under must be accompanied by an adult.
Lead image illustration by Jon Mackay .
Who's on stage?
Mesadorm
Mesadorm craft intimate, deep, emotionally charged tunes with shining synth-led harmonies, and a bright, idiosyncratic collage of dead-good sound. The band is made up of lifelong friends Blythe Pepino, Aaron Zahl, Daisy Palmer, Jo Silverston, and David Johnston whose deep connection fuels their engaging live presence. Emerging with 2018’s acclaimed Heterogaster and its stripped‑back sibling Epicadus, they forged a sound between art‑rock and dream‑pop, echoing Björk, Radiohead and Arthur Russell while remaining unmistakably their own. 2022’s Pollinator sharpened their edge with punk‑tinged defiance and collective creativity. After four years away, they return with Come On, Baby (6 March), the first glimpse of upcoming album Comfort and Lies, their most expansive work yet, exploring belonging, care and contemporary British tension.
Elaine Brennan
Elaine Brennan is an Irish collaborative pianist. She is regarded as “one of the world’s leading silent film musicians” (Stummfilm Magazin). She composes in real-time at the piano, improvising live soundtracks for classic silents, archival material, experimental film and more.
She’s performed with film at countless arts festivals like Viennale, Stummfilmtage Bonn, Kunstfest Weimar, Giornate del cinema muto Pordenone, Orphans Festival NYC, the Galway Film Fleadh and the Australian National Folk Festival. Plus, she’s played venues like Auckland Town Hall, Belvedere 21 Vienna, Cathedral Hall Melbourne, Deutsches Historisches Museum Berlin and New York University.
Elaine creates accompanying soundscapes for spoken word performances and literary readings too. She appeared alongside bestselling German author Daniel Kehlmann reading from his book Lichtspiel at a sold-out event in Vienna’s Konzerthaus. She’s even performed within an exhibition context creating dialogues with visual art.
Ceitidh Mac
With a progressive twist to her music, Ceitidh Mac is an alt.folk singer / cellist who’s Pembrokeshire born and Newcastle-based. A true original, Ceitidh (pronounced Katie) creates songs that soar with live and electronic elements plus a strong folk influence.
Working with producer/engineer Sam Grant (Richard Dawson, Pigsx7) Mac’s released multiple EP’s most recently ‘Seabird.’
The single ‘Birds’ was A-Listed and charted by Amazing Radio. She’s been championed by BBC Radio 2, 6 Music, Radio Wales and BBC Introducing plus Fresh on the Net, Velvet Sheep, Narc and NE Volume among others, as well as winning the Drake YolanDa Award 2022, and she was Artist in Residence here in 2022/23.
Ceitidh has toured the UK and appeared at festivals like Green Man Festival and Kendal Calling among others. She’s also supported alt.folk hero Rachael Dadd and progressive jazzer Alabaster deplume plus Laura Misch and Dublin folk legends Lankum.
Dr. Katie Liddane
Dr. Katie Liddane will be discussing seventeenth-century ‘witches’ in the North East of England, including the skeleton of a woman convicted of witchcraft in 1649 found just outside The Glasshouse in 1999.
Katie holds a PhD in the history and heritage of witch persecution in the North East of England. Her thesis re-examined the 1649-50 Newcastle Witch Hunt and the Anne Armstrong accusations of 1673, then followed these stories through to the present, looking at how images of the witch shifted, and why the North East is not known for its witches. Today, Katie works for Tyne + Wear Building Preservation Trust which turned her attention towards the Oakwellgate Witch.
The Glasshouse Artistic Partners - The Unthanks
A group that have become one of the essential voices of our region over the last 20 years, The Unthanks excel in bringing new ears to traditional songs. The band inspire fans to learn more about the folk music and how it continues to evolve and reflect modern as well as traditional music in the North East.
