GIG ARCHIVE: #211 - Newport Music Trail 27-28/03/2026

NEWPORT MUSIC TRAIL
various venues, Newport 27th-28th March 2026

Newport Music Trail is just brilliant. It's an initiative supported by the city council and aims to promote live music across its numerous venues. It's similar in principle to things like the Dot To Dot festival in Bristol and Nottingham and The Great Escape in Brighton, but the key differences are that 1) it predominantly focusses on Welsh artists, and 2) it's completely free! Yep, no tickets, no wristbands, just turn up and walk in.

This was the second year of the event. There's no review here of last year's because, well, we didn't go. This was down to a couple of things - work schedules and not feeling up to it. However, we did drop into Le Pub hoping to catch headliners Adwaith, only to discover they'd pulled out at the last minute due to illness...

This year, a bigger and better festival was promised. And boy, they weren't joking. 24 venues and sites hosting in the region of 120 artists, bands and DJs over the Friday evening and all day Saturday. More than a few of the names on the line-up caught my eye, so I had to make the effort for this one. I didn't have many plans, but I definitely wanted to catch Georgia Ruth and Melin Melyn. Anything else would be a bonus. So here's what happened...

FRIDAY

Life, of course, always gets in the way, so I wasn't able to make a start on this year's trail until 8pm, after I'd finished work, eaten and taken MrsRobster to work. My first stop was the ever-reliable Le Pub, which has seen more of me in the first three months of this year than it has at any time over the past 25! When I arrived, the palace was full to the brim as young Newport punk band Hairdye were onstage. I caught the last couple of songs of their set and thought there was promise there, but they didn't excite me as much as I thought (or hoped) they would.

I stuck around to see the start of Half Happy. During the interval I chatted with a couple members of Newport megastars Goldie Lookin' Chain who informed me they'd invited 250 people on their guest list so I probably wouldn't get in to see them later! There was a dispute over whose guestlist it was, but I told them "It was Graham, he knows every fucker!" (Of course, there was no guestlist, that was just GLC being GLC. I don't want anyone thinking they're a bunch of nobs...)

I also managed to grab a chat with Half Happy drummer Zac who told me they'd just finished recording their debut album, which is very exciting news. They started their set by playing three new songs from said album, and they were tight as always. However, I'd only intended on watching half their set as I really wanted to go see Georgia Ruth, and I'd only seen Half Happy a few weeks before anyway.

So I left Le Pub and started the trek to the next venue - St. Woolos Cathedral. Now, being the committed atheist that I am, it's rare I ever find myself in a place of worship, but here I was heading to my second in a week. Sadly, the first of these was at a Greek Orthodox funeral for a former colleague and friend in Cardiff. This time around, it was for a much more pleasant reason. The only issue was the walk there. You see, St. Woolos Cathedral sits atop a long, steep hill to the south of Le Pub. After a 15 minute uphill hike, my calves were burning. I hoped it would be worth it.

Oh yes, it was worth it alright. Georgia Ruth was wonderful. I did wonder if, in such a setting, she'd play solo, just her and her harp, but she did have a full band with her and no harp to be seen. Backed by acoustic guitar, bass, drums and pedal steel, Georgia played a 45-minute set consisting largely of songs from her most recent album 'Cool Head' from 2024 (which if you haven't heard it, by the way, you've really missed out). Driving Dreams, Duw Neu Magic, Eucalyptus and the brilliant Better Off Blue were among the highlights, along with older faves like Terracotta and Week Of Pines. She also threw in a cover of Bonnie "Prince" Billy's Raining In Darling, and a spine-tingling acapella rendition of an old Welsh sea shanty that I didn't catch the name of.

I was mesmerised and beguiled throughout. The setting was beautiful and totally fitting for the intimacy of Georgia's music. I left knowing that if that was the last show I saw this weekend, it would have been well worth it regardless. An amazing, lovely show. So now back down that hill...

You know, perhaps the GLC guys weren't joking. I headed for the Corn Exchange in the hope I may get in to see them, but knew there was a slim chance given how they regularly sell out shows that charge upwards of £30 in much larger venues. And sure enough, buy the time I got there, there was a queue outside the Corn Exchange that wasn't going anywhere. It was already full and Goldie Lookin' Chain were in full swing. I weighed up my options, as there were other shows I could still make. In the end, I took the old man's way out and called it a night. I'd had a long week, the cat needed feeding and so did I. I decided to head home. Besides, it was going to be a busy day tomorrow...

SATURDAY

MrsRobster works nights so she was sleeping when I left the house to start my trek through Newport around lunchtime. I wanted to visit some places I'd not been to before, but I knew I could never make it to all the venues, or even get close. But I did decide to start out at The Cab, a tiny, tiny place that hosts punk and hardcore. And it was like stepping back to the 1970s with spiky coloured hair, studded leather jackets with band names like Citizen Fish and Dead Kennedys scrawled across them, and a group of skinheads jumping around furiously at the front. Except these days, the skinheads adopt the fashion, not the so-called politics.

I caught the end of Angelystor, a punk duo from Newport. Their last song seemed to last for 10 minutes, though it could have been two or three songs melded into one. At one point, they ordered the crowd to split (as is mandatory at all the best punk gigs). I spotted a skinhead making gestures at his opposite number and wondered what the coming together would be like. Brutal, is the answer. Both sides came at each other like rutting stags and more than a couple of bodies ended up on the floor while the others pushed, shoved and stomped around them. Chaos but fun.

After that, I headed off to the Newport Arcade, specifically Kriminal Records, run by Newport punk legend Dean Beddis whose own band Bad Sam had played the Cab the night before. Kriminal hosted an acoustic set by Welsh actor Sion Efion earlier in the day. While browsing records, we could hear Forsaken Duo playing on the balcony outside. Now, the arcade is narrow with tiled walls and the volume was excessively loud as a result. I wasn't impressed with their pub-style blues/r&b and when they played a Michael Jackson cover, that was it for me. They should have called themselves the Godforsaken Duo...

Newport music scene veterans Burning Ferns were scheduled to play in the open air in John Frost Square at 3:20, but after what felt like an eternity of setting up and soundchecking, they eventually started at 3:40. Fortunately it was a beautiful day, so no one seemed to mind waiting around. There were plenty of street food traders if anyone felt hungry, though you needed a second mortgage to afford anything (like £12 for two BBQ pork bao buns?) Despite being a man down (their drummer is in New York), Burning Ferns made a decent fist of it with guitarist Dave instead keeping the beat on a cajón. "Dave's our ultimate utility player," we're told. If you've not heard Burning Ferns but love Teenage Fanclub, you might enjoy them.

At just after 4pm, it was time to nip home for (affordable) food, a freshen up and get MrsRobster in on the action...

Back out and we headed for Rodney Parade, home of Newport County Football Club, who just a little over an hour before had beaten Shrewsbury 1-0 in a vital bid to avoid relegation. The music was in the bar tent and we hurried over to catch another bunch of Newport scene veterans who reformed last year after some time away, the fabulously-named emo-pop-punks Hark! A Shark!. Hey, any band who names themselves after a Dr. Seuss book is OK with me. They have some fabulous song titles like Smile You Son Of A Bitch, What Are You Some Kind Of Half-Assed Astronaut? and Here's To Swimming With Bow-Legged Women. There was a disappointingly small audience, but they went over well regardless, and their rendition of fan favourite I Can Do Anything, I'm Chief Of Police was a highlight.

MrsRobster mentioned as we walked back towards town that there was a band I might like called Thronk who popped up on her Insta feed that week, but they'd just played. A shame, but that's the downside of events like this, there's often a lot of crossover. It also meant we wouldn't get to see Gwenno play a solo set at the Riverfront Theatre, but sometimes you have to make a decision and stick with it.

We headed for the Corn Exchange because the loos there are better. While there, we took in a couple of songs by Matt Le Vi, but he/they were not very interesting so we headed for The Cab - I wanted MrsRobster to experience it. We got there and it was full so we had to wait for people to leave before we were let in. Luckily, we didn't have to wait too long, and to our surprise, there had obviously been a little jig around of the schedule because Thronk were on. We hadn't missed them after all! In terms of comparisons, the closest I can think of is Snuff, and we love Snuff. Thronk were quite brilliant, and they get extra kudos points for covering My Lovely Horse from Father Ted. Definitely a band we'd see again.

We then headed back to the Corn Exchange to settle for the rest of the evening. First up, Murder Club, a cutesie indie-pop band who we'd previously seen supporting the Primitives at Le Pub. We weren't overstruck with them then, but they were still better than the Primitives! They sounded a bit better this time, but they were a bit too "girly" for my taste. Mind you, they did draw a big crowd.

Next was a band I'd heard a lot about but for some reason never got round to checking them out. Ynys hail from Aberystwyth and are led by Dylan Hughes whose previous manifestations were as frontman of Radio Luxembourg and the rather excellent Race Horses. With that history, it's no surprise that they were very impressive and will continue to be front and centre of the Welsh language scene for a while to come.

Finally, the band I'd been waiting for. Melin Melyn released one of my favourite albums last year, the country-tinged psych-pop odyssey 'Mill On The Hill', so I was keen to see how they'd pull it off live. I wasn't prepared for just how good they were. You can't help but smile while watching Melin Melyn, they are great fun. They plumbed their back catalogue, but the undeniable highlights were The Pigeon And The Golden Egg (because they'd heard a rumour that Newport loves to boogie, they tell us) and the hillbilly stomper Running On MT. To finish off, they threw in a shock cover of Orange Juice's Rip It Up, replicating that squelchy bass sound and the staccato guitar that made the original what it was. It sounded nothing like Melin Melyn, but I get the feeling it's exactly what we should expect Melin Melyn to do! Are they the best band in Wales right now? Well, that's subjective of course, but they've definitely thrown their hat into that particular ring.

What a way to finish, and once again, it was all FREE! What more can you say? Newport really isn't as bad as people make out. We're lucky to live here when we have events like the Newport Music Trail. With any luck we'll do it all again next year.

terrible photography by TheRobster

 

Some videos. I'll add more as I find them...

The end of Melin Melyn's set - most of Running On MT and the surprise cover...