Simon RushworthThe Dogs D’Amour/Spike & Tyla’s Hot Knives @Newcastle The Cluny, 11.07.26
Dogs, knives and football.
It could have been a classic Newcastle night out from a bygone era.
The reality, of course, was something far more agreeable.
What better way to count down to a World Cup quarter-final than in the company of two fine fellows with rock and roll tales to tell, taller still than the mighty Dan Burn.
Less Wonderwall and more Byker Wall, this was a feelgood Cluny special, tailor-made to get fans in the mood for the Jude Bellingham show.
Even better — it was Tyla’s birthday.
Better still, there were no lame renditions of Three Lions, Vindaloo or any other dodgy terrace anthems.
Come to think of it, that Dogs D’Amour leader Tyla and Quireboys’ frontman Spike have never been asked to pen an England anthem is a travesty.
The latter does have form when it comes to football songs: he co-wrote We Are The Famous Blyth Spartans to honour the giant-killing legends back in 2009.
But with Tyla in tow just imagine what the cynical pals could conjure up to celebrate the class of 2026?
How Come It’s Never Kane?
I Don’t Love Tuch Any More?
A reworking of Failure from the duo’s 1996 Hot Knives album Flagrantly Yours?
On second thoughts, maybe those mood killers are best saved for another tournament — or at least after this week’s semi-final.
Tyla did suspect the majority of Spike’s hometown crowd were always intending to bale early in time to get a good spot in the bar next door before kick-off.
And he might have been right.
So the big Dog mischievously promised to play a medley of his band’s rarities and deep cuts… after England’s 10pm kick-off.
Before then, a packed house was treated to a typically frenzied Dogs set driven by the main man’s penchant for sleazy riffs and biting narratives.
Standout Satellite Kid still steals the show after all these years but Tyla’s penned so many cult classics it’s easy to lose count.
An on-trend ‘hydration break’ built the anticipation before the band returned… with an added Quireboy.
And the Hot Knives segment of the night saw two lifelong friends cut loose.
Less chaotic (honestly!) than the last time we caught Spike and Tyla in the Toon, this timely celebration of Flagrantly Yours — 30 years after its release to a less than favourable Kerrang! review — was long overdue.
There are few double acts that do rock and roll cabaret quite like these two.
The well-intentioned jibes, knowing looks (at least when Tyla didn’t have his eyes shut) and even a birthday kiss from Spike added to the sense that this was more private party than public gig.
And the two best buddies even remembered most of the right words, just occasionally in the wrong order.
Spike almost got serious as he thanked Tyla for helping him through one of the toughest periods in his life — the passing of his much-missed father.
But before things got too sentimental he switched focus to the time the two spent together in LA, stopping short just before the sauciest details emerged.
A Hot Knives show is all about sharp wit, cutting commentary and a stab at something resembling a professional show. Thankfully Spike and Tyla never try too hard to achieve the last bit.
These gigs are all about fun, friendship and rare intuition — rehearsing a gig like this would be disastrous.
The debate would rage long into the night about whether England beating Norway was more of a shock than Spike avoiding injuring at least one of his band mates on the cosy Cluny stage.
Those flamboyant dance moves and that wild waving of his arms are more dangerous than the Spinal Tap drum stool.
But everyone was ok. Everyone left smiling.
And the two Darlings Of The Night headed home not knowing when — or if — the Hot Knives would ever make it back to the Toon.