Golden Grenades Collective Presents: Fyfe Dangerfield and Hector Gannet
The Globe, Newcastle, Saturday 12th July 2025
On Valentine’s Day in 2020, Red Sixty Seven was published; a book collecting 67 love letters to the 67 birds on the UK Red List of most vulnerable species, each beautifully illustrated by a different artist. To celebrate the release I had planned a day of walks, talks and music in April of that year, starting with a visit to the Tyne Kittiwakes and culminating in a gig by Fyfe Dangerfield, writer of a heartfelt paean to the Dotterel. We all know what happened next, and by the end of February I had already cancelled the event as the world braced itself for the impact of the pandemic.
Fyfe and I had got to know each other initially via my Twitter alter ego YOLOBirder and through a shared love of music, birds and a tongue-in-cheek attitude to the serious business of birding. In the decade or so that has passed we have corresponded and spoken many times and he has been a guest on the Golden Grenades podcast, but we have met only once; at the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) annual awards in 2020, bonding over an appreciation of wildlife art and free drinks. As a fan of his previous band Guillemots, and of his solo output from Fly Yellow Moon in 2010, Birdwatcher in 2018 and his recent Spotify singles, I was still very keen to bring him up to Newcastle to perform a show. We have both been busy for the past few years, but when Fyfe suggested via his Channels May Change website that he was keen to start performing again this year, I jumped at the chance to finally get him up to Newcastle.
Although this was not a Red Sixty Seven or even an Into The Red event, Fyfe’s prediction (in his show announcement email) that a “gentle ornithological rumpus shall tinge the evening” came to pass. My co-pilot on all things Golden Grenades related, Will Rose was on hand and designed a special limited edition poster for the show, which sold out before Fyfe even took the stage, with the £200 profit to be donated to the BTO. My friends at Wild Intrigue, Heather and Cain came along with a small display about the Tyne Kittiwakes, and we had copies of Red Sixty Seven and Into The Red on the merch stand. Cain had written the House Sparrow entry for Red Sixty Seven and Heather the Kittiwake page for Into The Red. And kicking the night off would be Hector Gannet, local singer-songwriter Aaron Duff, performing a solo set of songs without his full band. Aaron is a keen birder, has also been a guest on Golden Grenades and had written the page on Arctic Skua for Into The Red.
The venue, The Globe in Newcastle, is a community run bar and tickets had sold out in 3 days for this intimate show with a capacity of 120. We arrived at 5pm and Fyfe and Aaron started setting up their gear, however the sound check, was significantly hampered by the bar allowing anyone en route to the nearby Sean Paul gig at the Newcastle Arena to pop in for their last couple of normally-priced drinks. Fyfe and Aaron, seasoned pros that they are, managed somehow to persevere through the background noise and merriment, leaving me with the small matter of fretting about getting 50 people out of the bar before our doors opened at 7pm.
Hector Gannet are well known in the North East music scene, playing their brand of modernist folk music to Sam Fender fans at his 2023 shows at St James’ Park and at their many sold out headline shows across the region. This summer Aaron and his band will be supporting Elbow at the Mouth of the Tyne festival, but tonight Aaron is on his own and takes the opportunity to try out some new material to a crowd largely unfamiliar with his back catalogue. Opening with The Eighth Day, lead single from second album The Land Belongs To Us, Aaron quickly gets the attention of the assembling crowd, and keeps it during his stripped-back 40-minute set. For two of the new songs, Aaron takes to the piano, admitting to the crowd that this is relatively unchartered waters for him. But far from being out of his depth you could have heard a pin drop as he held the crowds’ attention, giving the piano a gentle tickling before it’s workout later.
Fyfe takes to the stage to rapturous applause and cheers, only to briefly forget the words to opener Fleet, from Guillemot’s last album Hello Land! But after briefly leaving the stage to re-enter and start all over again it is the only mis-step in a breath-taking double set (he has a brief interval to mingle with the crowd) of songs past, present and future. Quickly getting into his stride, Fyfe is a hugely engaging frontman, taking and honouring requests, including deep Guillemots cuts such as Clarion and Kriss Kross. But make no mistake, this is no exercise in nostalgia for his former band. Tracks from his solo album Fly Yellow Moon, such as Faster Than The Setting Sun and She Needs Me are met with as much enthusiasm as those from the Mercury Prize nominated Through The Windowpane. And outings for the 8-minute-plus Lochinver, from his beloved Birdwatcher project and True Synchronicity, a song written in collaboration with the London-based act Girlhood, prove that despite his absence from our airwaves Fyfe has continued to make music that deserves a much wider audience and a bigger stage than this. A new song, currently titled Shadows on the Move (which namechecks waxwings), hammers the point home, bearing all the hallmarks of the songwriter of your favourite Guillemots tracks. Switching between guitar, piano and two songs on a ukulele bass, Fyfe is simply incredible tonight. His musicianship and voice belie the fact that he has performed live rarely in recent years, but the tide is turning. He informs us that he has new music in the pipeline and has more shows lined up over the next few months. Catch him at one of these intimate shows if you can, as on this outing one can only imagine that bigger venues are surely just a matter of time.
The following day I take Fyfe and Will around my local patch. Fyfe, is quick to spot my first Swallow of the year and my returning patch Common Sandpipers, before I take him up the coast for a few hours of birding with my friend, Mark Eaton. Mark is very well known for his research work on birds, and has been a major figure in the development of the UK Red List for many years. Basically, it was his coattails I hitched a ride on when I got the idea for Red Sixty Seven and he was generous enough not to whip them out from under me. He is also the best birder I know and, when we meet him at East Chevington, Mark has already found us a Glaucous Gull. He is great company as we spot Whimbrel and Twite, and admire displaying Marsh Harriers before walking along to Druridge Pools to enjoy godwits, a couple of Ruff, a White Wagtail and the long-staying American Wigeon. It was a great afternoon and the perfect way to come down after the night before.
