What’s on at the Cheese and Grain

THERE’S a whole host of live music acts coming up at the Cheese and Grain in the coming weeks…

The Undertones,  Friday 18th March 

The Undertones emerged from Derry, Northern Ireland in 1974, the result of five friends learning how to play basic rock and roll. Derry was not the rock and roll capital of anywhere and with no live bands worth watching, they learned their trade by listening to mail order records and listening to John Peel’s show on BBC Radio One.  

Practicing in their bedrooms eventually led to the band recording ‘Teenage Kicks’ in 1978 on Terri Hooley’s Good Vibrations label in Belfast. A copy was sent to the legendary DJ John Peel and he liked the track so much he played it twice in a row on his radio show!  

Eventually signing to Sire Records, ‘Teenage Kicks’ was re-released, resulting in the band’s first appearance on Top of the Pops. Over the next five years, John O’Neill, his younger brother Damian, Feargal Sharkey, Billy Doherty and Michael Bradley crafted numerous punkpop gems and would go on to release 13 singles and 4 studio LP’s, before disbanding in May 1983.  

In 1999 The Undertones reconvened, without Feargal Sharkey, to once again perform their two-minute, three and a half chord songs to a new generation of fans in Derry. Fellow Derryman Paul McLoone replaced Sharkey on vocals and his vocal prowess and electric onstage presence soon convinced any doubters that he was more than capable of doing the job.  

Live The Undertones present a glorious set of classic tracks taken from what are considered by many fans and critics to be some of the best punk albums of all time, adding to them a whole bucketful of their iconic guitar pop hits & anthems, Get Over You, Jimmy Jimmy, My Perfect Cousin, You’ve Got My Number, Julie Ocean, Wednesday Week, and, of course, Teenage Kicks.

Gaz Brookfield & The Company Of Thieves, Saturday 19th March 

You can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep. Gaz Brookfield might be better known as a solo acoustic musician, but this is an all too rare chance to catch Gaz backed by his supergroup all-star band The Company of Thieves. 

Since winning Acoustic magazine’s 2010 Singer Songwriter of the year, he has spent his time on the road, touring the UK and Europe. In this time he has shared the stage with the likes of The Levellers, Frank Turner, New Model Army, Nick Harper, Newton Faulkner, Miles Hunt, Seth Lakeman and many more, racking up over 1,000 gigs to date. 

Gaz remains the only unsigned solo artist to sell out The Fleece, Bristol, a feat he has now achieved five times. Often playing as many as 200 gigs a year, Gaz’s relentless and never-ending tour schedule takes him to every corner of the country and beyond. The last few years saw him play at over 100 UK festivals, including Glastonbury, Beautiful Days, Bearded Theory and many more.

Frome Symphony 

Orchestra, 

Sunday 20th March 

Join Frome Symphony Orchestra for an evening of evocative music, featuring Brahms’ monumental first symphony and opening with an overture which he described as a “rollicking potpourri of student songs”.  

They’ll also perform Dvorak’s atmospheric tone poem, The Water Goblin, based on a Bohemian folk tale with a sinister ending – a masterly piece of gothic horror!

New Model Army, 

Thursday 24th March 

Join New Model Army as they look back over their long career and their huge 17 album back catalogue at their 40th anniversary show.  

Formed in Bradford in 1980, New Model Army’s beginnings were inspired by Northern Soul, Punk Rock and the incendiary atmosphere of the times. Since then, they have had a long, creative and eventful journey. They have been massively influential in ‘post- punk’, ‘folk-rock’, ‘political-rock’, ‘goth’, ‘metal’ and all kinds of musical sub-cultures but they have steadfastly refused to belong to any club or style that would limit them. 

They have album sales in the millions, have attracted some of the biggest producers on the planet (Glyn Johns, Tom Dowd, Andy Wallace, Bob Clearmountain, Joe Barresi) and have built up an almost religious devotion amongst fans.  

Live/Wire – The 

AC/DC Show, Saturday 26th March

AC/DC, arguably the greatest rock band of all time, are brought to life by Live/Wire with the true passion you would expect from professional musicians who share your love of this legendary live act.  

They deliver a critically acclaimed High Voltage two hour rock ’n’ roll set with not only cannons and a full bank of Marshall amps but a journey that takes fans from one of the best-selling albums of all time ‘Back in Black’ through to the 2020 release ‘PWR UP’, with a healthy dose of the classics from the Bon Scott era. 

With over 20 years of touring under their belt, Live/Wire put the audience right in the middle of a live experience comparable to that only AC/DC themselves produce. They invite AC/DC fans to join them, sing with them and relive some of those classic AC/DC concerts of the past on their very own Highway to Hell.

Feast Of Fiddles, 

Friday 1st April

Their first ever visit to the Cheese & Grain. See story on page 20.

T.Rextasy, 

Saturday 2nd April

Marc Bolan, with his band T.Rex, was one of the most flamboyant and charismatic stars of the original glam rock era. With Bolan’s special ingredient of Rock-a-Boogie songs, the band had a string of huge hits throughout the 1970s including Love to Boogie, Telegram Sam, Jeepster and 20th Century Boy.  

T.Rextasy have now been performing around the world for over 20 years, a career that out lives Marc’s very own T.Rex. The band is now accepted as the world’s only official live tribute band dedicated to Marc Bolan T.Rex, and the only band endorsed and approved by Marc Bolan’s family, estate, original ex-members of T.Rex, and Bolan’s catalogue management.  

Truly a rock ‘n’ roll concert for all ages – If you would like to know exactly what a Marc Bolan concert was like in the 1970s, this show is for you! 

For more details and to buy tickets, visit www. cheeseandgrain.com