Fresh from his celebrated debut appearance on Live at the Apollo, Tom Ward brings his new tour, Anthem, to Newcastle’s Stand.  Promising to be offbeat observations on themes including love, sex and gender it’s one for anyone fancying a good laugh.  Damian Robinson caught up with Tom to find out more about the show, including his appreciation of the North East audience and his observation that many of us are obsessed with individuality.

Hi Tom, what we expect from Anthem when it comes to Newcastle?

It’s a show about a number of different topics including things like the class system and how many of us are still obsessed with it.  It’ll also look at things like gender and sexuality and how we’re asked more and more to be aware of who we are and the effect that’s having on us.

That sounds really interesting

I hope so.  It sounds really serious, and some of the points are of course, but it’s trying to find the humour in those topics, like how individuality is becoming some sort of competition or currency and the lengths some people seem to go to in the spirit of individuality.  It’s also about our culture and how we’re obsessed with things like crime and murder – there’s so many shows and podcasts around and they’ve got huge viewing rates.  What do these things tell us about ourselves?

You must see some regional differences with some of the content of the show? Especially if you’re talking about things like class?

Yeah, there is a bit for sure, but maybe not as much as I thought.  I thought being a southerner that northerners were supposed to not like me, but that’s not true, so I think there’s more similarities than differences.  It is interesting though what each part of the country picks up on and what makes them laugh and what topics have the most level of interest.

Anything you’d predict from a Northern crowd?

Not really, but I’ve gigged up in the North East a number of times.  The last time I was at the Tyne Theatre and the crowd were an absolute dream, really warm and friendly and interested in giving the stories time rather than be rushed.  If the show at the Stand is like that again then it’ll be a great night as I think the show will really connect with people and we can all have a good night.

Tom Ward’s Anthem show is on at the Stand, Newcastle, on the 26th July