Philip Selway drums at Middlesbrough's first BBC Prom

Philip Selway played drums with The Unthanks and Royal Northern Sinfonia at Middlesbrough Town Hall on 23 July, the first BBC Prom ever held in the town. David Whetstone reports in Cultured North East that Rachel and Becky Unthank danced clog rhythms during the night and Selway kept the same time as their feet at his signature kit. BBC Radio 3 broadcasts the concert tonight.

The Proms named him among The Unthanks' guests in early June. English Teacher, the Leeds band led by Lily Fontaine, played three of their own songs with the orchestra. Conor O'Brien of Villagers pulled out before the night because of illness in his family, and The Unthanks still sang his “I Want What I Don't Need” without him.

Ellie Slorach conducted a programme that put songs from across The Unthanks' records beside traditional North East songs, all newly arranged for the orchestra, among them Johnny Handle's “Felton Lonnin” and Lal Waterson's “At First She Starts”. The concert opened this year's Proms in the North East.

For the sisters it was close to a homecoming. They grew up in Ryton on Tyneside, but their father is from Middlesbrough and their mother from Redcar, and their only earlier Prom was at the Royal Albert Hall in 2018. Rachel and Becky Unthank have parents from Teesside and lots of family still living there so playing in Middlesbrough is always a special event for us¹, Adrian McNally of The Unthanks said when the guests were announced.

What Radio 3 broadcast