Musical Transports

SOME of the UK’s finest folk stars are uniting in a 40th anniversary revival of Peter Bellamy’s most revered work, The Transports this month, stopping off at The Sage, Gateshead on Thursday, January 26.

Back in their native North East, Teessiders The Young 'Uns, BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Best Group (2016 and 2015) will join forces with fellow Folk Awards winners Nancy Kerr (Folk Singer of the Year 2015) and Greg Russell (Young Folk Award and Horizon Award).

They will be joined by ex-Bellowhead cellist Rachael McShane and celebrated trio Faustus (Paul Sartin, Benji Kirkpatrick and Saul Rose).

Sartin, another former member of the esteemed and much-missed Bellowhead, is also Musical Director of the project while author, storyteller and folk singer Matthew Crampton will be the narrator and Tim Dalling (The New Rope String Band) is creative director.

The collective is on the road until February in a 12-date tour of the groundbreaking ballad opera, with the third performance in Sage Two. Tickets for the 8pm show, price £21.50, are available from the box office on 0191-443-4661 or online at sagegateshead.com/event/the-transports

* Complementing the tour will be the accompanying Parallel Lives project which aims to link the show to refugee support groups in the tour towns. For Gateshead they have partnered with Crossings, based in Jesmond, Newcastle, which helps asylum seekers, refugees and migrants with musical performance at the core.

* The Young 'Uns Sean Cooney, David Eagle and Michael Hughes will be playing Henry Cabell, The Turnkey and The Coachman respectively.

Viv Hardwick