Darlington Library Darlington reviews by real event-goers

Review of BIG Little Gigs Family Rave - 5pm-6pm

Myself and my daughter ended up not being able to go but my sister and nephew did and she was dissatisfied with the music choices and the event itself, he little boy didn't have much fun and it was very overpriced as the adults had to pay to attend with their children

Review of BIG Little Gigs Family Rave - 5pm-6pm

Overall a really fun event with a great family atmosphere. Initially the music was very loud and most children seemed to be finding it too loud, and it was a bit too much for our son. After a while though the volume was lowered to a more manageable level for young children and after this our son had lots of fun especially when the giant balloons came out!

Review of BIG Little Gigs Family Rave - 5pm-6pm

Review of BIG Little Gigs Family Rave - 7pm-8pm

Thought it was fab for the kids, but paying the same price for an adult seemed a bit steep

Review of BIG Little Gigs Family Rave - 7pm-8pm

Review of BIG Little Gigs Family Rave - 5pm-6pm

We had lots of fun. The lights, the music and new dance moves. Hoping we can make the next one.

Review of Hark! The Sound of Stories: wintering

So good, a great venue and beautiful music!

Review of Hark! The Sound of Stories: wintering

Review of Hark! The Sound of Stories: wintering

Review of Hark! The Sound of Stories: wintering

Review of Hark! The Sound of Stories: wintering

Review of Hark! The Sound of Stories: wintering

Fabulous night, fabulous music. Well worth the drive to Darlington on such a cold night.

Review of Writing Workshop: The Sound of Stories (rock/blues)

Well-organised, really interesting workshop.

Review of HARK! The Sound of Stories: haunting histories

Review of HARK! The Sound of Stories: haunting histories

Great music and story telling and a lovely new performance space in Darlington library.

Review of HARK! The Sound of Stories: haunting histories

Let's get the bad out of the way first. The event started late and finished well before the advertised time so if you were relying on the times for pre-booked taxis etc then yeah it was not ideal. It seemed a little disorganized as the sound check was still going on when the doors were opened.

And the drinks prices were outrageously expensive. As in £2 for a can of c**e that clearly came out of a multipack. There was also no indication that the bar was card or exact change only which did cause some minor difficulties at the bar. However as the bar was provided by someone outside of the tracks organisation this might not necessarily been their fault.

The lighting was not great choice either. Not at all disabilities friendly. The colour changes, although not enough to bring on fits was enough to bring on migraine for my partner and it was hard for my eyes to adjust. I also found it uncomfortable to deal with as someone who is Neuro divergent. I was glad for the intervals just to get a break from it, next time If the organisers are reading this could this be looked at. It was enough to put me off attending another event which is a shame because the acts and readings were enjoyable but I couldn't really get into the show because of this.

Now onto the good. The 3 acts we saw on the night were excellent. Spooky music was promised and spooky music was exactly what we got.

We three things had excellent harmonies and some great banter between themselves and the audience. It set the mood perfectly for what was going to come up.

Frankie Archer was super informative about the origin of the songs she played and about the equipment she used. I also appreciated the trigger warning about the content of her song,and she give audience time to leave if required. I also enjoyed the audience participation element of her set. I will definitely be looking up more of her stuff.


The shining levels, despite being down band members put on a fantastic set. It was super dark in content but the singers were fantastic, the way the female singer sang was powerful and almost primal(Laura I think her name was) and the violin just added to the effect. Just awesome and I will be looking up more of this bands stuff to.

Review of HARK! The Sound of Stories: haunting histories

Review of Writing Workshop: The Sound of Stories (folk/country)

Review of Hark!

Review of Hark!

It was a lovely evening, we thoroughly enjoyed it, especially The Shining Levels. I hadn’t heard of any of the bands before or the book ‘The Gallows Pole’ so it was a great discovery experience to be exposed to new music and literature. The lighting created a great ambience and it was so nice to have a pop up bar so we could get a drink. Only having one toilet in the building is really going to limit things though and I drank less than I otherwise would due to this. We arrived late so it was entirely our own fault, but we couldn’t see the stage hardly at all. Perhaps due to the small space and lack of adequate toilet facilities it might be best to limit the number of tickets a little bit more and charge a slightly higher price? Just a thought. The building does need more adequate toilet facilities in any case though and has since I started going there as a child in the 1970s.