Simon RushworthRosalie Cunningham @Newcastle The Cluny, March 8 2025
It was entirely fitting that, on International Women’s Day, three of retro rock’s most charismatic female performers took centre stage to celebrate their uniquely affecting songwriting craft.
Rosalie Cunningham is an inspirational flag bearer for single-minded women everywhere as she continues to navigate the notoriously male-dominated music industry with trademark grace and guile.
After years spent honing her skillset, often in the face of adversity, the fiercely independent singer songwriter’s free to explore her potential and push her limits — as evidenced by this sublime, spellbinding set.
Boasting the voice of an angel and a devilish determination to succeed, Cunningham’s solo career continues to follow an ever-steeper upward curve. Devotees of her art would say that the pace of that trajectory is nowhere near fast enough.
In truth, of course, Cunningham should already be jostling for position with Charli XCX, Raye et al on the UK’s biggest stages but dizzying talent doesn’t always equate to critical acclaim and commercial success. Rarely, in fact.
For now, Cunningham remains that most common of anomalies in a business famed for missing the next big thing: a generational disruptor whose artistic ambition knows no bounds. One day the rest of the world will catch on and catch up. One day.
Since 2022 Cunningham’s been flanked by another magically gifted musician more than capable of proving the worth of creative women the world over. Claudia Gonzalez Diaz might have missed the band’s last trip to Tyneside — in The Cluny’s sister venue — but the triple threat Spaniard was clearly in the mood to make up for lost time.
Bassist, backing singer, flautist and tattooed, velvet jumpsuit-clad fashionista, the most striking member of Cunningham’s crew (and that’s saying something given the cool cats she performs alongside) is fast emerging as the ace in the post-Purson pack.
An invaluable asset and a visceral entertainer, Gonzalez Diaz does the heavy lifting with the lightest of touches.
So what of the third powerful female presence celebrating a day of huge significance in appropriately unapologetic style?
Prior to Cunningham’s stellar set — a show that leant heavily on last year’s To Shoot Another Day by placing a heavier slant on that shimmering record’s softer tracks — Newcastle’s Saturday night rock crowd was treated to a tantalising glimpse into the future.
Bobbie Dazzle, fronted by the eye-catching Siân Greenway, is surely on the cusp of something seriously big. Freshly announced as main support on two huge Alice Cooper gigs this summer — and lined up to open up for rock and roll royalty Lita Ford and Vixen in London — it feels like this is a band on the brink of the big time.
Crucially, in the shape of fabulously flamboyant Fandabidozi, Bobbie Dazzle boasts the songs to back up the hype. Key cuts from one of 2024’s most talked about debuts dominated a feelgood, glammed-up gig for the ages: Merry-Go-Round, Revolution and Lady On Fire locked in a sense that this was a genuine ‘I was there’ moment.
If the somewhat sludgy, 70s-styled grind of introspective openers Requiem Blues offered little hint of the joyous jamboree to come then the focused three-piece laid down a compelling marker for 2025’s assault on the senses.
Pitched somewhere between Cream and Clutch, the men from the Mersey are clearly ardent believers in the power of a heavy blues riff: turns out Last Place I Want To Be — taken from January’s self-titled long player — is the place to start.
