Thinking about Gabi & Steve @ Sage Gateshead - March 17

Gabriele Heller (vocals, electronics) & Steve Glendinning (guitar)

(Review by Russell)

The Gold Dust ticket clearly stated: Please arrive 10 minutes beforehand, otherwise you may lose your place. The queue outside the Northern Rock Foundation Hall snaked past the East Door of Sage Two stretching to the (closed) balcony bar. This, twenty minutes before the advertised start time. Clipboard types strolled hither and thither, headsets and Access All Areas tags denoting their status…these were BBC Radio 3 people.

The queue comprised M & S and Waitrose types, Radio 3 their choice of listening, early morning through to late at night. They were here at Sage Gateshead to do some thinking, free thinking. Radio 3 people continued to stroll; clipboards, headsets, AAA tags, bottled water. A senior BBC type walked purposefully towards an AAA behind-the-scenes door, produced a swipe card (confirmation of big cheese status) and disappeared beyond. Bang on ‘start time’ a junior BBC/Sage person wandered along the snaking queue checking for Gold Dust. A BBC type (headset etc) breezed up the stairs from concourse to AAA door, a party of thirteen keen sixth form types following close behind, disappearing beyond the AAA door. Later, the BBC type emerged from beyond, dutiful sixth form ducklings, with munch-on-the-go sandwiches, skipping along to keep up with the Radio 3 Head Duck.

Ten minutes after the advertised ‘start time’, the Northern Rock Foundation Hall’s doors opened. The M & S/Waitrose queue was on the move. A Free Thinking thinker – tweedy jacket and satchel – sauntered past, no doubt looking for a quiet spot to do some thinking. The Gold Dust seats were claimed, the stage stretching from a Steinway on the left to the presenter’s seat away to the right. Minutes before start of the live broadcast of In Tune at Free Thinking presenter Suzy Klein spoke to the M & S/Waitrose assembly: In a moment I will be speaking in my Radio 3 voice. A moment later (live on air) you couldn’t spot the difference…Radio 3 on and off air.

Lars Vogt – leader of the house band, the Royal Northern Sinfonia – sat at the Steinway, chatted to Suzy, played some Beethoven and would later be joined by some of the RNS’s wind players. Antiphon – the Tyne Valley’s Renaissance choir – sang, pianola specialist Rex Lawson, sporting ZZ Top beard, spoke to Suzy and played some tunes, the Waitrose  types craning necks to see what was going on at Lawson’s fingertips and feet. A talking head or two spoke to Suzy, making people think, for free. Radio 3 clipboards ushered the performers on and off stage, taking a break for an on-the-hour news bulletin (the headline item of a former Chancellor of the Exchequer taking up the post of editor of a newspaper met with scarcely suppressed hoots of derision), then, the jazz element emerged from an AAA door, chatted to Suzy, then played some jazz. Welcome Diachronicx. The Gabriele Heller/Steve Glendinning duo is a fixture on the Tyneside jazz scene – Gabi, vocals and a computer-generated soundscape, Steve, the accomplished guitarist. Seated, appearing to be relaxed (hearts beating fast, no doubt), Gabi and Steve acquitted themselves well. How their performance registered in Radio 3 Waitrose homes is for others to judge. Suzy Klein thanked Sage Gateshead’s Free Thinking audience then returned the listener to the studio for the final edition of this week’s Composer of the Week programmes (focusing on Peter Maxwell Davies). Broadcast done, the audience huddled around Rex Lawson’s pianola (see photo). Mr Lawson graciously answered questions about his pride and joy. Lars Vogt made his way over to Sage One to prepare for a concert performance with the RNS of Beethoven, Haydn and Prokofiev to be broadcast live on Radio 3. More Free Thinking to come this weekend including a live broadcast of Jazz Record Requests (Saturday, Radio 3, 4:00pm) presented by Alyn Shipton featuring a live performance by pianist Paul Edis. 

Russell.