Thursday, April 20, 2006

Poetry Vandals in Newcastle: a review by Scott Devon of WRITE OUT LOUD

The Write Out Loud word army marches again, this time to Newcastle ...

Yes, the WOL word army recently sent a lonely soldier, one of its Captains, Scott Devon, to Newcastle to rub shoulders with one of the best performance poets in the world. The night was hosted by the Poetry Vandals and the guest act was the fabulous Brendan McLeod.

But the opening slot fell to Scott Devon, and the smoke tinged air of the Cumberland Arms fell silent. Scott started his performance career in Newcastle so knew the stage well and used that to his advantage as he delivered three old skool street poems to a stunned crowd. Smacking them home with pace, raw energy and fire. He left the stage much back slapping and hand shaking, as the first of the two heavy weight poets for the night limbered up for the ring.

It was Jeff Price, the fearless leader of the poetry vandals. Jeff was reading from his new collection ‘Doors’ available through Zebra publishing and is highly recommended. He used a mix of humour and great poetical skill to get his points across. Making us think almost without becoming our Preacher. Jeff himself has performed all over the UK and abroad, including the Prague festival and the Edinburgh fringe and just recently recorded a short piece for the BBC’s Video nation.

But then it was time for the main act. Brendan McLeod Canadian poet and slam superstar. Brendan stopped off in Newcastle as part of his UK tour. Brendan is the winner of the National Individual final at the 2004 spoken word Olympics and in 2005 he was Vancouver’s GRAND slam champion, and yes, he lived up to his reputation. Using his skilfully constructed words, finely judged pace and massive stage confidence to turn an entire crowd into just one giant ear. A must see for all spoken word lovers.
An unforgettable night, WOL will be back, see ya there.

Sent in by Scott Devon, WRITE OUT LOUD

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