Justin Sullivan The Rigger, Newcastle

PLENTY of people crammed in and gathered round the stage at the Rigger, in Newcastle, to witness the performance of Justin Sullivan.

He has a strong following and a large percentage of his fans were sporting one of his T-shirts emblazoned with classic lyrics.

During his introduction by the poet Joolz Denby, the audience were warned to keep all unnecessary noise to a minimum. Luckily this did not include singing along as most of the crowd would have been forced to leave. The peak of this was reached during the encore when he played Lights Go Out, which is a song from his early days in New Model Army.

At the start of his set he performed a couple of solo numbers before being joined on stage by the multi-talented Dean White, whose duties included playing lead guitar, the keyboard, and singing backing vocals.

His songs tend to have a strong emphasis on the lyrics with the majority of them coming from a political angle. It is clear he holds strong feelings on the subjects he writes about as he portrays them with a fervent ease that strikes a chord with his legions of fans.

A special mention should go to the landlord of the Rigger, who after some gentle persuasion took centre stage and supplied the support for the evening. He looked at ease under the lights and relished the opportunity of appearing on the same bill.

By Stephen Greenwood