Alphabetti Theatre presents
Nev Clay & Matt Stalker Double Bill
Friday 25th April 2025
Doors: 7pm
Performance: 7.30pm
Running Time: Approx 120 minutes with an interval
Tickets: General Admission (£10)
Concession (£5)
Suitable for Over 65s, Students, Artists, Unemployment Benefit, Disability Benefit. Please note proof of concession eligibility may be asked for upon arrival at the Box Office. Complimentary tickets are available for PAs supporting those with access requirements.
No Questions (£3)
If you can’t afford any of the other ticket categories but still want to see the show, then please purchase this one – no questions will be asked. (Limited to 7, in advance and online only)
Nev Clay
The much-loved, Longbenton-based avant-folk artist Nev Clay... A hugely skilled guitarist, Clay often seems determined to subvert his talent with frequent tangential digressions, at times reminiscent of the playful whimsy of the late Ivor Cutler or the pithy observations of Billy Connolly. There’s clearly a serious intent underlying Clay’s meandering style – something about the importance of embracing the magic of the moment, perhaps. Nev makes what he does look effortless, but his is a unique talent. (Gus Ironside, Engine Room 31 5 22) https://louderthanwar.com/its-own-animal-the-engine-room-north-shields-live-review/
"... that first night, I was struck by the certainty I’d just discovered my new favourite songwriter before he ever played a note. And by the time he finished his first song, I was ready to get Nev Clay’s face tattooed on my own, the final word in fandom" . Mathias Kom (The Burning Hell), KLOF Mag 21.5.2024
Matt Stalker
A rare solo performance By Matt Stalker, who usually plays with his bandmates Fables (expect a full band performance at Alphabetti soon). Reviews for their 2014 album “Knots” below:
'Here are stories that dance and swoon and fizz with real and imagined lives, uncoiling themselves against a myriad of pleasures and pains... as teeming with life as a deep forest in mid summer. If Gaudí had been a musician, he might have made something similar to Knots' (Beccy Owen, Sharks Took The Rest, March 2014)
'Knots is... arresting. And when I say “arresting” I don’t mean that it grabs you by the lapels and batters you into submission. No. The band play a kind of backlit chamber folk which casts interesting shadows across generally sunny uplands. And adding bits of bluegrass, jazz and alt country to their acoustic mix doesn’t harm either, with these spine-tingling, supremely melodic songs, capable of holding you absolutely rapt.' (The Crack, May 2014)
'Intensely beautiful' (The Journal Culture Magazine, June 2014)
"delivering impeccable arrangements, as if writing type on the air with a fountain pen" Tom Hollingworth, NARC (https://narcmagazine.com/live-review-matt-stalker-fables-mining-institute-newcastle-20-02-16/)