Hailing from Ireland Glyder give a healthy nod of it’s melodic hat to the godfathers of Irish rock Thin Lizzy. The great thing is though that they don’t plagiarize that sound but rather weave the trademark guitar harmonies and bass lines into their music to create something that sounds remarkably fresh but at the same time retro. For a four piece they make a very big noise and the guitar playing of Bat and Pete Fisher is a lesson in knowing when to go for the throat and when to back off, ultimately allowing them to complement each other perfectly alongside Tony Cullen who handles bass and lead vocals in admirable fashion.

Their set was well paced with the likes of “Sweets”, “Colour Of Money”, “Pretty Useless People” and “Gamblers Blues” all proving winners and looking around the large crowd gathered in the Academy it was noticeable that a fair few were already acquainted with the material and thus singing along and nodding their heads in approval. With a new EP out,  “Weather The Storm”, if the rest of the tour is as good as this then without doubt the band will be picking up a legion of new fans. One thing's for certain Glyder are a band on an upward trajectory.

Y & T, two hours plus of fired up, adrenalin filled classic hard rock, what more could you ask for. The band fired of classic after classic like proverbial cannonballs serving up the likes of “Don’t Stop Running’”, “Talkin’ Bout Lucy”, “Dirty Girls”, “Don’t Wanna Lose”, “Black Tiger” and “Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark” all one after the other, no wasting time with mindless on stage banter instead Y & T let the music do the talking and when Meniketti launched into “Meanstreak” the crowd started punching the air and both band and audience were on a roll.

As the set progressed it somehow only got better, “Rescue Me” took things up a notch further and Meniketti's extended blues solo was both stunning and mesmerizing at the same time. “Looks Like Trouble” led into a frantic and fun version of “Squeeze” which saw Phil Kennemore take the mic and as the last notes of main set closer “Forever” drifted away an encore was never in doubt. And so the band duly returned and as the opening notes of “I Believe In You” kicked the band turned the track into an enormous epic with guitar solos that kept coming and coming and by the end Meniketti looked totally drained. This was a man, and a band, that had had given everything to deliver on of the best shows seen in Newcastle in many a long year.  Both Glyder and Y & T delivered the goods and on a scale of one to ten this show was off the map. All in all a glorious display that you rarely witnesses these days.

Al Hey & Steve Cummings