Hayden Thorpe Brings Wild Beasts Songs Back to Wylam

Hayden Thorpe Newcastle comes to Wylam Brewery on Friday 2 July 2027 for a seated performance built around the songs of Wild Beasts. Doors open at 7.30pm for the 16+ show, giving Thorpe a large Newcastle room in which to return to music from the band that shaped the first major chapter of his career.

Hayden Thorpe Newcastle revisits the Wild Beasts catalogue

This is a different proposition from a standard solo tour. The Wylam show gives Thorpe a rare chance to revisit songs from Wild Beasts, the Kendal band that ended in 2017 after a decade of distinctive records including Mercury-nominated Two Dancers. The focus therefore sits on a catalogue that has largely existed in finished form since the group chose to stop working together.

Wild Beasts built a sound that rarely followed the obvious route for British guitar music. Across their records, Thorpe and Tom Fleming’s contrasting voices moved through art-pop, electronic textures and sharp rhythmic arrangements, while the lyrics explored desire, masculinity, excess and consequence.

Two Dancers became the band’s Mercury Prize-nominated breakthrough, but the wider catalogue kept changing after it. That makes a retrospective performance more interesting than simply returning to one album anniversary. Thorpe has enough material to show how the band’s sound evolved rather than freezing it at the moment of its biggest critical recognition.

The Palace of Arts is being configured as an all-seated show for this date, which should change the character of Wylam from its usual standing-gig setup. That feels appropriate for a performance where arrangements, voice and memory are likely to matter more than crowd movement.

Thorpe’s solo career has given him a separate body of work since Wild Beasts ended, so returning to these songs also creates a useful contrast between who wrote them originally and the artist revisiting them a decade later.

Hayden Thorpe performs the songs of Wild Beasts at Wylam Brewery on Friday 2 July 2027. Doors open at 7.30pm and the show is 16+. Check Hayden Thorpe and Wylam Brewery before travelling for the latest timings and entry information.