Live Review: Adam Holmes - St. Mary's Cathedral, Newcastle 05/11/2026
The path less travelled often leads to the most wonderful adventures, and so folk musician Adam Holmes chose venues I don't often visit for his latest run of intimate shows across the country. On the 5th of November I first set foot in St. Mary’s Cathedral in Newcastle for a seriously unserious evening of folk music by Adam Holmes with support from J P Worsfold.
One of my favourite people, musicians, comics and storytellers, all in one, is the Cumbrian J P Worsfold. He opened the evening for the Scottish Holmes through his open-hearted, sometimes tearjerking, poetry put to music. His beautiful voice still catches me off-guard and by surprise, as he hits high and low notes effortlessly. Sprinkled throughout his set were jokes about his own upcoming Newcastle show, what hat he’d be wearing, and of travels throughout the world that inspired his song writing. He warmed the crowd with his soft folk, his sound inevitably enrichened by the beautiful space in which he performed. The brightly coloured walls, painted in red, yellow and powdered blue suited him wonderfully. Just as he finished his set I thought I could have easily listened to it for another half hour when I realised that he would also be performing with Adam after a short break.
The two charmed their mostly over fifties crowd at the merchandise table before making their way back to the stage. Holmes’ set consisted of originals of his extensive catalogue as well as covers by artists such as The Pogues and Bob Marley. When the band performed ‘You Are My Sunshine’ I couldn’t help but get teary-eyed as I grew up hearing my mother sing this to me when I was a wee girl. Holmes’ set was just dressed by jokes and personal anecdotes as Worsfold’s which made us feel like we’d become friends by the end of the evening. This just added to the charm of the intimate atmosphere they’d created, which was exactly what their audience had come for. Laughs, smiles, a tear, and a hug, but overall mutual appreciation between artists and audience and a great sense of community filled St. Mary’s Cathedral last Thursday.
Through beautiful vocals, vocal harmonies, guitar play, harmonica, a stomp- and shruti-box, the four musicians on stage performed a versatile mix of genres and songs that all worked in cohesion, like they’d been written together. They well and truly captured and held the attention of all attending church that night, a feat not every musician manages as well and gracefully. Before ending the evening, the band returned for a ‘peekaboo for grown-ups’, or to others known as an encore. And although they played a good chunk of time, we could’ve easily listened to them a little while longer.
Words by Laura Rosierse
