Ben Quad Newcastle | The Cluny Gig Preview

Ben Quad play The Cluny Newcastle with Riley! on 14 October 2026. Preview the show and find doors, age guidance and ticket details.

September 7, 2026

Ben Quad arrive at The Cluny on Wednesday 14 October 2026 with Riley! in support, bringing a version of modern emo that has become noticeably harder to pin down as the Oklahoma City band have developed.

Ben Quad began with the sort of reference points that will be familiar to anyone who has spent time around the modern emo scene, but their newer material has pushed well beyond simply recreating that sound. Melody still matters, as do the intricate guitar lines, but there is considerably more weight in the music now. Screamed vocals, post-hardcore aggression and sudden changes in intensity sit alongside the more melodic sections rather than replacing them.

Ben Quad bring Wisher to Newcastle

That progression runs through Wisher, their first album for Pure Noise Records. The interesting thing is that the heavier turn hasn’t stripped away what made Ben Quad work in the first place. The emotional directness is still there; it just has more ways of being delivered.

For a live set, that gives the band plenty to play with. The quieter and more melodic passages have somewhere to go when the songs open up, while the heavier moments should feel particularly immediate in The Cluny’s main room. This is the sort of music where a small change in pace can completely alter the feel of a song, and hearing those shifts at close range is a large part of the appeal.

Riley! make sense as support too. Rather than feeling like an unrelated name added to fill the bill, the Texas band sit within the same broad modern emo world while bringing their own character to it. Anyone arriving early should therefore get a night that feels joined-up from the start rather than simply waiting for the headliner.

Ben Quad’s story has included its share of unexpected turns, from the members initially connecting through Craigslist to the attention that followed 2022 debut I’m Scared That’s All There Is. What matters in 2026, though, is that they no longer sound like a band who need to be explained entirely through the groups that influenced them. Wisher gives this Newcastle date a much clearer identity of its own.