Tommy Caulker, founder of World Headquarters, shares records that shaped his career, followed by an all-evening live set, part of the 2026 Mercury Prize Fringe.
Tommy Caulker is taking over Gingerinos in Ouseburn on Saturday 17 October, with Public House Hi-Fi running the whole thing. If you know the name, you'll know him as the founder of World Headquarters, and he's spent a good part of his life sharing music through records and shaping the city's music culture along the way. This one is built around that, and it's split into two very different halves.
The afternoon is a seated listening session on the Public House Hi-Fi sound system. Caulker plays the records that shaped his career and tells the stories behind them, so it's as much about the talking as the listening. After that, residents Diz and Vinny Vins take over, playing records they first heard Tom play. It's a bit of a hand-off: the records that influenced him, and then the records he passed on to them.
Then the night shifts gear. At 6pm, Caulker takes back the decks for a five-hour all-evening set, running right through the night. If you're only around for the afternoon, you'll get the stories and the records that started it all; if you stay on, you'll get the full five hours of him playing out.
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The whole thing is part of the 2026 Mercury Prize Fringe, a week-long programme of more than 30 events across the city surrounding the prize. The Mercury Prize is returning to Newcastle for the second year running at the Utilita Arena, after local hero Sam Fender won it in 2025. This is one of the fringe events running alongside it, so there's plenty more going on across town that week if you're looking for more than just this one night.
