The Cask & Keg – Whitby Special featuring Mackie, Ten Foot Tom and the Leprosy Crooks and Panda Lasagne, 3rd October 2025.

[So we have to start the review with a note that due to unforeseen circumstances, reviewer Callum had to miss Mackie’s opening set, so our photographer steps in briefly with some wordage]: “Yeah. Brilliant.”

Then we decided that was too brief, so she added, for those who haven’t experienced Mackie’s performances before, that his adept guitar work and a voice like honeyed whisky with a hint of gravel (is that a thing?) pair with a sharp lyricism running across topics and tones from the bittersweet to the playful, combining in a set and an outlook that is both charming, amusing, down to earth and relatable.  So make sure you check a Mackie set out for yourself at your next opportunity.

[Ok, back to Callum.]

If you live here, you know ‘Ten Foot Tom and the Leprosy Crooks’. Their name has been swinging around for a number of years, and always to great applause.

I’m embarrassed to say that this particular Friday was the first chance I’ve ever had to see Ten Foot Tom (accompanied by his less than savoury Lepers) actually play live. Which was rather bittersweet for me, as I stood there listening, my girlfriend slowly lifting my chin off the floor, I felt an annoyance that I’ve gone my whole life until now missing out on these guys.

Firstly, I must say, the whole thing made me feel like I was in a Neo-Western, which let’s be honest, is pretty cool. Like a post-modern Cowboy Western, with long sustained riffs and licks that bounce off the walls and into your cup, you just drink them down.

If the bass was a beer, then it’d be the coldest beer on the warmest summers day, best enjoyed in a beer garden with your closest  friends and loved ones. [Worth noting The Cask & Keg has a bloody lovely beer garden].

The drums rip through like a tornado in Texas. The use of cymbal work to accent moments and add dynamic was noteworthy; it often felt like a cascade of polyphonic emotion enveloping you. Which is never a bad thing, I might add.

Special shoutout to Mr Jim, on the guitar and backing vocals. Whether it comes in the form of a minor indent, or lick, big chord, or a doubling, the beef that Jim was serving was hot off the grill and ready for devouring, and devour it I did.

It’s hard to give a final note on these guys: just exceptionally tight, exceptionally well written, well-formed tunes. Something you have to experience for yourself.  I could use big, fancy, smart words from the depths of the English language to impress on you the skill level and craftsmanship on display from Ten Foot Tom and the Leprosy Crooks, but honestly I don’t know any big, fancy words. So instead, I’ll leave this here by saying these guys are absolutely class, and I thoroughly enjoyed standing there, savouring my beer, listening to them. What more could you want than that?

Now. How do I write about Panda Lasagne? Because genuinely, I wasn’t sure until I sat down to write this.

Indeed, as I sit here, on the eve of my 29th Birthday, reminiscing about the year and thinking onto the Big 30 next year. I can’t help but pause to laugh.

I’ve never laughed along so much with a punky/skater set than I have with Panda Lasagne.  However, I’m not a comedy reviewer, so I’ll keep it about the music.  That being said, it did very much at times feel like I was watching an episode of Bottom, but if Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson had amped it up a few notches for good measure.

Funnily enough, the music had that feeling too. Everything was 30mph above the speed limit and it felt good.  These guys are what Busted could have been, and who McFly wanted to be. But edgier, punkier, and writing about localities that I think most wouldn’t think to write about. A song about seagulls stealing your chips wouldn’t have felt out of place here.  Panda Lasagne are the greatest example of “Organised Chaos” on the East Coast, in my opinion.

With the nature of the music comes a natural tightness to the band. It’s quite funny to notice the subject matter and the performances being given compared to the musicality.  I think I’d liken this to Steel Panther and [Insert early 2000’s skater band] making music and potentially children together, and then sending them off with the Storks, to fly to Whitby to grow up, knowing this musical fire was inside of them the whole time, and that it had to be intricate and loud, fast and precise.

It’s THAT.  Whatever THAT music is you’re imagining, you’re probably pretty close here. But maybe just speed up the vocals so you’re hearing some UK Drill style delivery and boom: you have Panda Lasagne.

Cheers lads, you were a great laugh, definitely deserving of a rowdy and raucous crowd.

I think I speak for everyone in that room when I say, Whitby has got some real talent residing within its spooky metaphorical walls. This night proved it, and for somewhere so close, our neighbours and friends, I hope another night like it occurs again soon.

So the next time I’m grabbing a pint of Whitby Whaler at Whitby Brewery, I’ll stay for a pizza and a local act, because apparently, there’s a pretty cool scene in Whitby, and I’ve not been privy to it. That’ll change.

Links

Mackie: Facebook : Instagram : Bandcamp

Ten Foot Toom and the Leprosy Crooks: Facebook : Bandcamp

Panda Lasagne: Facebook : Instagram : Spotify

The Cask and Keg: Facebook : Instagram

You can also catch Mackie chatting and playing a track, and James Forster from Panda Lasagne talking about the Neil and Ed Festival, on episode 4 of North Sea Sound Check, the music show for the Yorkshire Coast.