Sunday for Sammy’s glorious return: A night of celebration, surprises and full circle moments
After six years away, Sunday for Sammy roared back with two unforgettable shows - honouring its past, embracing a new generation of performers and renewing its mission to champion North East talent
It has taken me a while to write this.
Not because there wasn’t anything to say about the return of Sunday for Sammy at the weekend (Feb 15) at the Utilita Arena Newcastle – but because there was almost too much.
The weekend was, in equal parts, utterly exhilarating and emotionally and physically exhausting. A blur of rehearsals, sound checks, backstage hugs, last-minute rewrites and the kind of adrenaline you only get when you know something matters. And this one really did.
Sunday for Sammy is woven into my family’s story. I think I’ve been at every one of the fundraising gigs bar the first. My dad, Geoff, was the man behind the cameras, directing the shows for the DVDs which sold in their droves, helping to swell the pot that has now raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for young performers and creatives across the North East.
Since he died in 2022, I’ve joined the board to carry on that connection. Which meant that sitting in the arena on Saturday – backstage for the matinee and out front in the evening – I was watching the show unfold through a very particular lens.
A gorgeous tribute to Dad’s work and love for the event played out on the big screens to both audiences, prompting a roar of affection that seemed to roll down from the rafters. It was tough to get through in one piece, but heart-swelling beyond measure. To see – and hear – the regard in which he was held, both on stage and behind it, was something me and my kids will carry forever.
And that spirit – of family, of loyalty, of pride in this region and its talent – was everywhere. He would have absolutely LOVED it.
The last Sunday for Sammy concerts took place in 2020. Within weeks, the world locked down. What followed – Covid, spiralling production costs and huge uncertainty – left the future of the much-loved “Geordie Command Performance” hanging in the balance.
The charity was founded by Tim Healy and Jimmy Nail in memory of their friend and fellow actor, Ronnie “Sammy” Johnson, who died suddenly aged 49 in 1998. What began as a one-off memorial fundraiser at Newcastle City Hall in 2000 grew into a biennial celebration of North East talent across music, comedy and drama - raising vital funds to help the next generation realise their potential .
The return of the concerts was announced a year to the day before this year’s shows. But as soon as rehearsals began last week, any sense of absence disappeared. It was like slipping back into something wonderfully familiar.
Producer Ray Laidlaw – founding drummer of Lindisfarne and the Sunday for Sammy band’s indefatigable beatkeeper – masterminded the comeback with new partners including Gateshead College, the Community Foundation and the North East Combined Authority.
And then, suddenly, here we were.
A hectic weekend of rehearsals and run throughs culminated in two three-hour (and then some!) feasts of entertainment that once again blended music, stand-up and sketches into something uniquely Sunday for Sammy.
Backstage is always a village. A slightly chaotic, carbs and sugar-fuelled village populated by household names who proudly call the North East home – no matter where in the world they actually live.
There is something genuinely magical about watching such a complex show come together in a matter of days. Yes, months of planning go in behind the scenes. But charity gigs mean rehearsal time is scarce. Just ask a fella called Sting. More of him later.
This year felt like a moment of transition. Alongside stalwarts and regulars like Tim Healy, Angie Lonsdale, Billy Mitchell, Ray Stubbs, Stephen Tompkinson, Chris Connell, Jeff Brown, Glenn McCrory, Laura Norton and Phillippa Wilson – were performers making Sunday for Sammy debuts.
Stand up comic and singer Kelly Rickard stepped out from the backing vocal line-up (where she has been a mainstay since 2012) to take over from Billy Mitchell as master of ceremonies. She opened the show with a blast of Chris Rea’s Let’s Dance – and did a top drawer job of steering proceedings across both performances.
Musical debuts came from Ernie and Imogen and the Knife, and podcast superstar (and genuine triple threat) Rosie Ramsey.
Sketch troupes Metroland Comedy and Your Aunt Fanny and the cast of Gerry and Sewell (fresh from a recent West End run) brought the house down.
So did headliner and Sunday for Sammy patron Matty Healy, who arrived with some very special friends – including members of The 1975 band (Jamie Squire and John Waugh), Boston folk trio, Tiny Habits three-piece choir from Boston, his teenage songwriting hero, Jonny Kearney from Hexham and Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi.
Watching Matty back on this stage felt like a full-circle moment. He grew up around the charity his dad founded. Now he’s a global star choosing to stand shoulder to shoulder with the region that shaped him.
And then there was the moment.
The biggest surprise of the weekend came in the evening show. A whisper rippled through the crowd as a familiar silhouette walked on stage. “Is it him?”
The name went up in lights. The unmistakable opening chords of Message In A Bottle rang out. It was indeed Sting.
The roar that followed was visceral. The woman behind me summed it up perfectly: “It is. It’s bloody Sting.”
If You Aunt Fanny’s Geordie Mams Choir had still been on stage, there would have been a resounding ‘Eeeeeeeeeeeeeh…. Neverrrrrrrrrrr!”
The Wallsend superstar making his live Sunday for Sammy debut with not one second of rehearsal. Peak Geordie Command Performance energy right there. Generous. Joyful. Slightly unbelievable.
Surreal, too, was seeing Brenda Blethyn reprise her role as Vera. Her 2018 debut got one of the biggest cheers in Sunday for Sammy history. This time she returned to rafter-shaking delight, joining a job centre sketch where Steph McGovern attempted to teach her to Irish dance, alongside Jeff Brown, Rosie Ramsey, Glenn McCrory, Dave Johns, Stephen Tompkinson and Phillippa Wilson.
Catching them rehearsing their jig backstage while a be-devilled Billy Mitchell looked on – red horns in place ahead of a storming rendition of Lindisfarne’s Devil of the North – is an image that will probably be my subconscious’ fever dream go to from here on in.
Musician Nev Clay delivered a gorgeous piece bursting with North East references, while a monked-up Scott Tyrrell recounted the origins of the Angel of the North. Jill and Chelsea Halfpenny offered a beautiful duet of Always a Woman. Lorraine Crosby belted out, Hit The Road, Jack. Ray Stubbs - flanked by Sam Fender band legends, Johnny Blue Hat and Dean Thompson - brought the blues in “by its collar”. Miss Rory and James Baxter were deliciously sharp as sniping ice cream sellers. Dave Johns and Cal Halbert delivered excellent stand-up sets.*
*I know this is essentially just an effusive list… but it’s the only way of packing them all in and not writing a dissertation.
Sketch for Sammy winner Hendrika Segura Bigg imagined a Geordie AI helper called YI featuring Chris Connel and Micky Cochrane (with recorded contributions from Ant and Dec), while Angie Lonsdale hosted BlindGates… Heed, with Sammy Dobson, Georgia Nicholson, Laura Norton and David Nellist as the lucky lad with a decision to make.
And of course, there was the signature Auf Wiedersehen, Pet sketches which saw Dennis, Moxie and their young apprentice (played by Tim’s younger son, Louis) taking a break from refurbishing the Tyne Bridge.
Backstage, Matty’s partner Gabbriette Bechtel was an absolute delight – and gives very fulsome hugs, I can confirm.
Students from SA Performing Arts Centre in Byker tore the roof off with a montage from Madness musical Our House. And beneficiaries of Sunday for Sammy grants were given their moment in the spotlight: 18-year-old Savannah Lily from Jarrow delivered a stunning I Can’t Make You Love Me, and Emma Ditchburn sang Waters of Tyne alongside musical director Peter Tickell.
Those moments are the heartbeat of this whole thing. The reason it exists.
Sunday for Sammy has always been about more than a great night out – though it is that, in spades. It is about making sure talented young people from this region get the chance to chase their dreams.
Across 25 years, the concerts have given out hundreds of grants to support emerging performers and creatives. Watching grant recipients step into the arena spotlight was a powerful reminder that this isn’t nostalgia. It’s investment.
As the final bows were taken to the Run For Home finale – and as the matinee and evening audiences rose to their feet – there was a palpable sense that something precious had been restored.
For six years, we didn’t know if this beloved North East institution would return. On February 15, it did. Gloriously. It felt like a homecoming. For the artists. For the audience. For families like mine.
And absolutely worth the wait. I may have recovered to do it all again in 2028.