Playhouse Theatre, Whitley Bay
Wednesday, 14 October 2026
The Playhouse Theatre in Whitley Bay is hardly renowned for staging ‘touring’ rock bands that are promoting their own music. It’s essentially a town theatre, and as such it normally features a lot of tribute acts, comedians, one-man shows. and of course pantomime. So when Big Big Train played at this venue 2 years ago, even back then I was incredibly surprised that a band of that style would even contemplate playing a coastal town in North Tyneside. Yet I was also delighted that I wasn’t having to travel far from my home in South Tyneside, to finally get to see them perform. And what a show that turned out to be. My first ever live introduction to Big Big Train, and they play an absolute blinder of a gig in my own stomping ground. I was hugely impressed by the musicianship, the sound quality, the emotive voice of Alberto Bravin, and the overall atmosphere of the event. I vowed that I’d definitely make a point of seeing them again, even if I had to travel out of the area to attend.
Fate smiled down on me when the 2026 UK tour dates were announced, and included among the limited 8 UK dates was a return visit to Whitley Bay. I was, of course, delighted that the band had enjoyed their first time at The Playhouse so much, that they wanted to come back and play there again. And it was a mid-week date too, meaning that I had no previously arranged weekend work commitments to contend with either. The tour was announced as the ‘The Woodcut & Other Stories’, clearly letting people know that the tour would be including a lot of material from their latest studio album release, Woodcut. It was later revealed that the band would be performing Woodcut in its entirety, and that the 2nd half of the show would be dedicated to a full performance of the album in its natural running order. Woodcut was released back in early February of this year, and it has since received huge praise from the prog-rock community, both in the UK and abroad. After 36 years of Big Big Train existing, and 15 prior studio album releases, the band had finally gone for a concept theme … and the fans loved it!
It was an early start for the band, when they began their show at 7:30pm that evening, as they were planning on performing around two and a quarter hours worth of music, with an interval to break it up. The first half of the show was their ‘Other Stories’ titled set, featuring a carefully chosen selection of songs from the David Longdon era of the band. Back when he was the lead vocalist with BBT, prior to his tragic death in late 2021. When you’ve got 16 studio albums, plus various E.P.s and demo albums’ worth of material to choose from, then it must be an absolute nightmare formulating a set list for your next tour. I would not envy that task in the slightest, yet I do feel that the band did extremely well in that regard. I was a little disappointed that there was no material from their previous album, The Likes Of Us, as I’m a huge fan of it. Yet with Big Big Train planning to perform all of Woodcut, playing brand new material that had never been toured before, then the balance of old to new songs was very fair indeed.
The intro music rolled, which was the short instrumental piece, The Book of Ingenious Devices, while the band took the stage and assumed their positions. Then the 6 members began the show with Salisbury Giant, having them play together instrumentally for a couple of minutes before their lead vocalist Alberto Bravin finally appeared on stage to sing on the last half of the song. This was followed by the first of the lengthier tunes with London Plane, which is quite a gentle number for the first few minutes, before it goes gorgeously jazz-prog for its mid-section. For this first half Alberto was performing material that was written before his inclusion into the band, singing vocal lines that were written for another person’s voice, yet he managed it all so admirably. Next up was Swan Hunter, which resonates strongly with the people in this local region, because the legendary Neptune Yard that is mentioned in the song, is a mere 7 miles away from this very venue. Needless to say, when this song finished it was greeted with rapturous applause.
Kingmaker was the second of the big epics being performed this evening, and dates back to the very first years of the band, from which only founding member Greg Spawton remains now. It’s another song that the hardcore fans really enjoyed, and there were a quite a few of them present this night, with many of them journeying into the area to catch Big Big Train, and some of them even travelling around the UK following the band on their tour. Then there was Lost Rivers of London, which is such a great song, and was among the first material that guitarist Rikard Sjöblom ever recorded with BBT back in 2015. After that, most of the band leave the stage while drummer Nick D’Virgilio and trumpeter Paul Mitchell (now a full-time member of BBT), perform an instrumental piece called Drumpet. It’s not hard to guess how they came up with that title. And then the full band take the stage once again for the final song of this section, which is the monster-length epic, East Coast Racer, that also included the chorus part of Love Is The Light being woven into its closing moments.
There were only 7 songs played in the first half of the show, but with 3 of those being in the 10 minute plus time-span, then there was still over an hour’s worth of music being performed during this slot. What you got were a couple of songs from their Folkore (2016) album, 2 from English Electric Part 2 (2013), a pair of deeper-cuts from E.P.s Far Skies Deep Time (2011) and Wassail (2015), plus a brand new improvised instrumental. I really enjoyed these songs, even though I was never into the band in any way back when these songs were first released. I hope that any long-time fans of Big Big Train were also happy with the selection, because this band have such an extensive catalogue of material to chose from. I’m sure there were many other tunes that the fans could have chosen, that would have been universally applauded too. But I got the vibe that the band wanted to keep things fresh for the audience and themselves, and not just produce a rehashed selection of fan-favourites for tour after tour.
After a brief interval of around 20 minutes, the band took the stage and began their monumental run through the 16 songs & instrumental tracks that make up the complete Woodcut album. This album has been a really slow-burner for me personally. I like it … I like it a lot, but it hasn’t deeply connected with me as much as their last album. Yet recently when I’ve been giving it more play-throughs, it has grown on me, and for this evening with hearing it all being performed live, it definitely went up another level. The organic sound of the vocals and instruments being amplified in the room, gave the entire audio presentation a completely different vibe. The large rear screen, up until this point, had been left blank, and just a background for washes of coloured lighting. Yet now it was being used to tell the story of Woodcut, presented in animated videos that accompanied many of the songs from this section. The stage was tastefully illuminated so as not to bleach out the screen images, yet not so dark as to push the band members into the background either. The overall effect was perfect, so hats off to the lighting designer/operator on this tour.
I really enjoyed the ‘Other Stories’ previous set, but for me personally, I thought that the band shot up another level when performing the Woodcut material. Perhaps because they ‘all’ performed on the album, and with many of them being involved in the writing and creativity aspects of it too. There seemed to be an almost tangible sense of pride in their work emanating from the stage, as these musicians recreated their music for the audience to enjoy. I cannot speak more highly of all of the players putting on this show. Every single one of them brought something amazing to the stage. Not just incredible musical abilities, but also their personalities and unique characteristic interpretations of the songs. Nick’s drumming perfection, Rikard’s beautifully appropriate guitar solos, Clare’s violin flourishes, Oskar’s keyboard work … they all brought their A-game to the table. All-round fabulous players, and nice to see that Paul has now been taken on board as an official band member, providing not just trumpet, but percussion and backing vocals too.
Once again lead vocalist Alberto Bravin wowed the crowd with his stunning voice, and his incredibly likeable personality. Even though many might consider him to still be the ‘newboy’ in the band, he’s actually been with them for four and a half years now, and performed around 80 plus live shows with Big Big Train. I think the previous tour may have been a one where long-term fans were accepting him into the ranks of their prized band. Yet now he’s very much a huge part of the fabric of BBT, being a song-writer and a multi-instrumentalist, as well as a highly impressive singer with a voice to die for. I must also point out that all of the band provided backing vocals through-out the show, with some of them also doing lead vocals on certain songs. Even Greg sang a few lead vocal lines on one song section, which got a rousing response from the audience, as it was recognised to be such a rare experience. There were very also good lead vocals from Nick, Clare & Rikard, who all got individual songs for their voices to shine brightly, and the combination of various band members with their backing vocals was exceptional. It adds so many distinctive extra layers to the music, and is an essential part of what makes Big Big Train so special.
I’m not going to attempt to point out any favourite moments or songs from the 2nd half of this show. It was a complete rendition of the entire album, and I’m treating it exactly as that … one piece. I loved that the band recreated Woodcut so wonderfully as a live performance, that the players all shone individually and collectively, and that the assembled audience clearly appreciated Big Big Train so much. The sound quality was exceptional. Rob Aubrey on sound duties did an amazing job. He’s also the band’s studio engineer, and has been working with them since their early days. It is unusual for a studio producer to also feel comfortable within the ever-changing surroundings of live sound, yet Rob does such a good job in both environments. The mix was balanced fantastically, instruments and vocals cut through perfectly at their appropriately required moments, and the volume was loud enough to command attention without ever feeling oppressive. For a seated theatre venue, and a one that I know so very well, I think Rob absolutely nailed it.
I’m hoping that because of the excellent response that the audience gave, that the Playhouse Theatre may become a regular slot in the future with Big Big Train’s UK touring plans. This band are going from strength to strength as a live act. In times gone by they were a recording act that rarely played live shows, but now with this line-up remaining consistent since early 2023, the confidence has become more evident with the growing number of gigs under their belts. It feels more like a real band chemistry is going on here. I look forward to seeing what Big Big Train might do next. I love that the musical style is evolving due to the song-writing contributions from various newer band members, and that founding member Greg Spawton seems to be fully embracing that. Yet at the heart of it all, it still sounds very much like Big Big Train. They have their own special niche carved out in the British prog-rock scene, and it’s a one that also has many fans across the world. I pray that this continues to grow for them, as this lot truly deserve to be recognised as one of this country’s finest progressive bands.
SETLIST
– Other Stories
The Book of Ingenious Devices (intro music)
Salisbury Giant
London Plane
Swan Hunter
Kingmaker
Lost Rivers of London
Drumpet (instrumental)
East Coast Racer (incorporating Love Is The Light chorus)
– Woodcut
Inkwell Black (Intro Music)
The Artist
The Lie of the Land
The Sharpest Blade
Albion Press
Arcadia
Second Press
Warp and Weft
Chimaera
Dead Point
Light Without Heat
Dreams in Black and White
Cut and Run
Hawthorn White
Counting Stars
Last Stand
MUSICIANS
Alberto Bravin – Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards
Nick D’Virgilio – Drums, Percussion, Vocals
Greg Spawton – Bass, Bass Pedals, 12-String Electric & Acoustic Guitars, Vocals
Oskar Holldorff – Keyboards, Vocals
Clare Lindley – Violin, Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Rikard Sjöblom – Electric Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Paul Mitchell – Trumpet, Recorder, Percussion, Additional Keyboards
[All photos by Chris Simmons | TPA would like to offer a huge thank you to Nick Shilton (Kingmaker Management) and Simon Glacken (For The Lost) for their assistance]
LINKS
Big Big Train – Website | Facebook | Facebook (Group) | Bandcamp | YouTube | X | Instagram
