It’s hard to believe that Miles Kane’s solo career is just eight years in the making as it genuinely feels like he’s been around forever; not discounting his time as frontman of The Rascals and, of course, alongside Alex Turner with the fabulous Last Shadow Puppets – which, by the way, I hope he revisits someday. Who wouldn’t want to see Kane and Turner back in the studio and back on tour sometime soon?
And here I am amongst his army of fans as Kane storms into the North East like a hurricane on this eagerly-anticipated sold-out night of his Crispy tour with the crowd’s hysteria turned up to eleven and chants of “Miles! Miles! Miles F***ing Kane!” filling Newcastle’s Boiler Shop.
Appearing at the top of the stairs alongside drumming extraordinaire Victoria Smith, guitarist Dom John and bassist Nathan Sudders, everyone goes wild as they make their way down to the stage before kicking off the show with the stunning ‘Coup De Grace’ followed by ‘Can You See Me Now’ and ‘Too Little Too Late’ which gets the room nicely psyched for the evening ahead.
It was great to hear Miles perform classics such as ‘Kingcrawler’, ‘Rearrange’ and ‘Telepathy’ before bringing things back up to date by nailing ‘Killing The Joke’, ‘Loaded’ and ‘Wrong Side Of Life’ which sound fantastic in this historically iconic building – you may think I jest, but I suspect even George Stephenson himself would’ve approved of tonight’s gig being performed effortlessly in his locomotive workshop.
But it’s after ‘Come Closer’ that we see Miles’ more playful side as the fantastic support band Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard return to execute LCD Soundsystem’s ‘Daft Punk Playing at My House’. And the newly formed supergroup fill the stage with sheer joy, playing the tremendous cover beautifully before closing his set with the raucous ‘Inhaler’ to deafening cheers from this northern crowd.
And as he begins the encore of ‘Don’t Forget Who You Are’, I take stock of this truly unforgettable gig. Undoubtedly Kane has matured massively since the last time I saw him both vocally and in stage presence. He is utterly adored by his fans that have had the time of their lives tonight.
And by getting a brief glimpse of what is to come after hearing new track ‘Blame It On The Summertime’, be rest assured that 2020 is going to be a stellar year for Miles Kane.
Absolutely banging photo and review 🤩