Neu! Reekie!: The First and Last in Pictures

They came. They conquered. Edinburgh-based curators Neu! Reekie! made a rare appearance south of the border in January with The First and Last, an evening of poetry and music at LEAF in Liverpool.

The night brought an eclectic mix of talent to LEAF's fairylit stage. On the bill was spoken word sensation Hollie McNish, making her Liverpool debut and reading from her new book, Nobody Told Me: Poetry and Parenthood. She was joined by Eugene Kelly of The Vaselines and Pete Wylie of The Mighty Wah!, who both performed stripped down sets, and Forward Prize-shortlisted poet Eleanor Rees, who read from her collections including Eliza and the Bear and new book Blood Child. 

The night's ringmasters also got in on the act, with the Neu! Reekie! duo – Polygon-published poet Michael Pedersen and fellow poet and activist Kevin Williamson – regaling the LEAF audience with dynamic poems about everything from politics to Highland coos.

Said Highland coo's "triassic tusk" (listen to the poem here!) inspired the name of a new record label, Triassic Tusk, for which the event served as launch – though the label crew joked that, unfortunately, they hadn't been able to bring along any actual records due to a (good-natured, we presume) disagreement over the artwork. You can keep an eye out for developments at the label – which has been set up to compile and reissue rare records from the FOUND Collective's vinyl collection – over on their website.

There was much more besides, including tunes from DJ Whisky Stephen – we cannae do it justice.

Browse the gallery above to see what our photographer, Tom Adam, caught of the action.