Birmingham’s award-winning band Blue Nation have had a pretty epic year so far, with first the signup by Marshall Amps after receiving a DM from Marshall but not initially believing it but then being invited to meet the guys at Marshall. Then The Chord Company (with their very high-quality custom leads) also signed them up, after seeing their attention to detail regarding their sound. Then after a great acoustic performance of their new EP ‘Wisdom for Pennies’ at the Gibson Garage in London, the boys got another request for a meeting from Gibson after which Gibson signed up the band to their iconic guitars and supporting products.
As the boys discussed in a pre-gig interview their late 2025 planning didn’t have being signed up in 2026 by Marshall, Chord Company & Gibson or getting recognised in the street as Luke did in Halfords! according to Neil. Neil is also grateful to seeing hundreds of fans in the bands t-shirts at shows and now low tickets warnings and selling out shows on this headline tour. For 2027 the plans are in place but we will have to wait for the announcements!
So, The Cluny in Newcastle hosted the band on the second date of their headline tour, supported by Sheffield’s The Lightning Threads.
To view all the shots of both bands view the Image Gallery
To view all the shots of both bands view the Image Gallery
The Lightning Threads kicked off the evening with a line-up of Tom Jane (Guitar/Vocals), Sam Burgum (Bass/Vocals) and Hugh Butler (Drums/Keys).
The band is also having a good year with the recent release of their album ‘Trinkets’ which the band described as ‘As we navigate through life, we pick up trinkets along the way. We’re all just piecing together our broken parts. Moments. Mementos. Memories’.
They have also been invited as a band at the 2026 UK Blues Challenge, organised by the UK Blues Federation, at the Marshall Studios in Bletchley in late September 2026.
They gave us a great 40-minute set demonstrating why they have been invited to the UK Blues Challenge with their brand of blues rock numbers with great interplay between Tom Jane on vocals and lead guitar and Sam Burgum on bass backed up by the multi-tasking Hugh Butler on drums and keyboards.
There were great versions of songs from the ‘Trinkets’ album with ‘Wild One’ which is an up-tempo heavy blues rocker with great guitar break from Tom, ‘Devil Inside Me’ about being in a place you don’t want to be, ‘What Can I Say’ with its heavy offbeat funky rhythm with great bass and strident vocals from Tom with keys from Hugh before heavy drums.
The set included ‘The Preacher’ a slower slinky number with spoken start from Tom, great keys to start with heavy funky rhythm, evocative vocals from Tom backed by great drums & bass, a slower offbeat tempo song ‘Brown Liquor, Black Coffee’ with powerful vocals from Tom and ‘Stick Around’ with harmonies to start with Tom & Sam plus military drum beat from Hugh before kicking into heartfelt blues rock number with Tom’s powerful & expressive vocals.
So next up on stage were the headliners Blue Nation after the intro video with segments of their influences including of course The Beatles. Their line-up was Neil Murdoch (vocals & guitar), Luke Weston (bass & vocals) and Nick Sharman (drums).
The band are known for their banter between songs but we had to wait until after the fifth song ‘Every Single Time’ with its great harmonies on a Beatles style song with Nick hammering at drums with Neil’s plaintive vocals and Luke’s bass refrain. As Neil said that’s the longest section they have done to date without banter, and Luke felt he was a bit too Beyoncé with his fan so tied back his long hair (which is coming off later this year for charity).
They included great versions of the tracks from their new EP ‘Wisdom for Pennies’ and kicked off the gig with a song that has become one of Neil’s favourites ‘Comfort’, the great high tempo song ‘Watch Me Fly’ with its eclectic harmonies and powerful drumming from Nick, the title track ‘Wisdom for Pennies’ with Neil’s evocative vocals to a heavy rhythm section, guitar & bass interplay with Nick’s great drumming.
As Luke said the band is always grateful of the support from fans wearing the band’s t-shirts and singing their songs, as the band were grateful to the help, they got from supporting other Blues artists such as Chantel McGregor, Laurence Jones & Dom Martin including at The Cluny.
The band have several songs that are becoming anthemic including ‘Time Is A Thief’ and ‘Gimme Some Time’ with evocative vocals from Neil with great harmonies with solid heavy blues rock rhythm & great bass and the title track from the last full album ‘Ordinary People’ with its passionate vocals with heavy blues rock rhythm with strident vocals from Neil.
They finished their set with ‘Run Straight Ahead’ with a gentle start with passionate vocals from Neil with matching chords, before it kicks into another anthemic song with Beatles overtones, and then the song 'Echoes' introduced by Luke and his passionate support for the Ian’s Chain charity for mental health and the fact that 1 in 6 people in the audience could be suffering with mental health issues. They then played ‘Echoes’ with its crescendo with great emotive vocals from Luke & Neil.
After wild applause Neil came back for the first part of the encore solo on acoustic guitar with the very personal autobiographical song ‘Worry’ which Neil said was the first performance of this song outside of Birmingham. He was joined partway through the song by Luke & Nick. They then played the final song from the ‘Wisdom for Pennies EP ‘Tired of Waiting’ with Luke now on a Gibson bass (rather than the Lakeland) with strident harmonies and great guitar & bass interplay backed by Nick’s drumming. They finished as they always do with the audience participation song ‘Down By The River’