Cass McCombs and Ethan Johns, The Sage, Gateshead

Double headers don’t come much more impressive than this. It’s safe to say that the Sage have assembled some phenomenal line-ups as part of this years Summertyne festival, but this is up there with the best. It's an early show, taking to the stage promptly at 2:00pm Ethan Johns brings has band on for their final show for some time.

Whilst it is rather early and it feels extremely odd being indoors in a dark room, we’re quick to forget the rest of the world as Ethan Johns serenades us with his awesome catalogue of tracks. As Ethan is currently in the process of recording a new record, there are a number of new additions to his repertoire on display this afternoon.

Both ‘Judgement Time’ and ‘ Twenty First Century Paranoid Blues’ sound absolutely fantastic. Both have a stereotypically bluesy feel, yet it's hard to put into words how great Ethan Johns truly is anyway; a legendary producer now making some really great music. New tracks may shine, the brilliant ‘Black Heart’ rings out, its hefty bluesy riffs kicking up a storm in hall two this afternoon.

Similarly ‘Talking Talking Blues’ brings down the pace a little, yet it still possesses that awesome blues sensibility. The crunching of the guitar, the hefty reverb, this is truly one of the stand out tracks of this afternoon's set. Its easy to see why Ethan closes with ‘Twenty First Century Paranoid Blues’ though as it’s a huge number with some awesome riffs and it leaves us breathless with more yet to come.

Hot on the heels of Ethan Johns is the equally exciting Cass Mccombs with his own brand of Americana, Cass is here to rock out. He seems in particularly high spirits, and again has a huge collection of songs which he can choose from. This afternoon sees him picking from across the board, the down tempo ‘Home on the Range’ is a beautiful track. The touching lyrics delivered in such a sweet manner that we can’t help but be mesmerised by Cass.

‘Home on the Range’ is a stark contrast to ‘Prima Donna’ which today feels grittier. The benefit of a full backing band really sets this track alight. ‘Big Wheel’ has a similar effect it stands almost head and shoulders above the rest of the set, with such a great feel to it. Throughout the afternoon, Cass’ delivery reminds us of the likes of Conor Oberst.

A true master of his craft with today being nothing short of exceptional, ‘County Line’ gives us with goose bumps. Its phenomenal lyrics leaving us almost floating on air as we exit the venue.

We leave completely filled with adoration for the amazing artists that we’ve seen; men very much on top of their game at the moment. We feel truly privileged to have been able to experience this today, and must thank The Sage for their immense programming and bringing such phenomenal acts to the region.