Martin Kemp Brings an Ultimate 80s Xmas Party to Wylam Brewery

Martin Kemp at Wylam Brewery puts an 80s party right on the edge of Christmas, with his Ultimate 80s Xmas Party landing in Newcastle on Wednesday 23 December 2026. Doors are listed for 7pm, the event is 18+ and the Palace of Arts is set up for standing and dancing rather than a seated nostalgia show.

Kemp has built a second live-music life behind the decks, taking the decade he helped define with Spandau Ballet and turning it into packed DJ nights. The appeal is straightforward: recognisable 80s records, a crowd ready to sing them back and a host who knows the difference between simply playing old songs and keeping a room moving.

Martin Kemp at Wylam Brewery lands the night before Christmas Eve

The date does a lot of the work here. With Christmas Eve arriving the following day, this is one of the final chances for a full Newcastle night out before plans become more family-focused. Wylam’s Grand Hall also gives the party more room than a standard bar DJ set, so the scale should suit the bigger choruses and communal side of the music.

The set is built around 80s favourites rather than a Spandau Ballet-only night. That opens the dancefloor up to synth-pop, new wave, pop, rock and the sort of instantly familiar records that make sense at a Christmas party. Kemp’s own connection to the decade gives the event its hook, but the night works because the playlist can travel far beyond his own catalogue.

Wylam lists the event as all standing, 18+ and with doors at 7pm. A current Newcastle Hospitals staff ticket listing also confirms the 23 December date and 7pm doors. Tickets are linked through Wylam’s official event calendar, and anyone heading over to Exhibition Park should check the venue page again before travelling for final entry details.

By this point in December, plenty of people have already done the formal work party. Martin Kemp’s Wylam date offers something much less restrained: a night built around 80s records people already know, in a room where dancing is the entire point. As a final pre-Christmas Newcastle blowout, the timing is difficult to beat.