Tonight’s musical aperitif is a cheeky dip into the brat-punk pool of London artist So Good, backed up by band members in pink balaclavas, and singers in stompy doc marten boots. Frontwoman Sophie is decked out in pleated denim, neon pink socks and a matching Beret, spitting feminist anti-fascist lyrics with wild abandon – but giving distinct Leslie Knope’s Pawnee Goddess girl-guide energy.
I’m absolutely here for it, this infectious riot grrrl fun is coming back around, thanks (no thanks) to the state of the world around us right now, and we need more of it. “Her ex boyfriend is from Birmingham you know” Sophie points at one of her singers, “…so this one goes out to him, middle fingers up!” and the crowd obliges by joining in with the salute.
‘I Hate It Here’ about our repeatedly shit Prime Minister situation is very tongue in cheek funny, but also hits the nail on the head in so many ways. The line “…you ain’t stopped abortion just abortion that’s safe…” comes at a time where our news is full of professional victims hiding behind religion and free speech, to attack women in lawfully protected safe zones. Again, this kind of nonsense needs disrupting – and if it comes in the loud bright fun packaging of women’s rage-music, all the better in my opinion.
Just to break up the political discourse for a minute, “I heard a rumour that people from Birmingham have big dicks?” Sophie giggles before launching into ‘If I had A’ – a hilarious lament on penises and a very 70’s-porn twangy backing track.
Finishing up with a dose of blasphemy, ‘I Rewrote The Fucking Bible’ is the ultimate angry girl theme tune. There’s a hint of Lady Sovereign, a bit of Bikini Kill, and a lot of London. Straight on the protest playlist. So Good might already be my biggest band recommendation of the year, and it’s only April.
It’s a packed-out shoulder-to-sweaty-shoulder affair in the O2 tonight, a sold out show for the return of Brit-rock royalty Skunk Anansie. The stage, moody with fog and blue lighting, centres on a drum riser crowned with black inflatable spikes. Drummer Mark Richardson makes his way to the centre of the sea urchin structure to immediate roars of appreciation from the crowd, as Cass and Ace take to the stage below.
The electric opening bars of ‘This Means War’ provide the perfect promenade for a duffel-coated Skin to enter the stage. Like some kind of menacing caterpillar waiting to break free, she bounces in on gigantic metal-plated boots, with a huge hood obscuring her face as she tears through the call-to-arms lyrics. Swapping into trainers and ditching the sleeping-bag for ‘Because of You’, we are treated to the soaring top notes Skin is famous for, the awed silence of the crowd as she holds an impossibly long note mid-song is truly something to behold.
Wearing a hybrid Adidas track top-turned tailcoat with the bouffant arms of a retro Nike shell-suit, and a swathe of leather and fabric kilt-ish skirts, Skin is known for her quirky stage dress – but this might be the one I would most like to own. It is hitting all the right nostalgia buttons for a fairly homogenously aged crowd – big up the 90’s teen crew, I see you all.
“Wonderlustre was released 15 years ago, this is the first single from that album… it’s called ‘God Loves Only You’. They’re loud. You know those Christian nationalists who think God loves only them? How can God love only you? With all the different races and genders?”
A huge roar of agreement erupts as Skin laments,
“They’ve aligned themselves with the far right, the KKK, fascism and Trumpism… which to me seems the opposite of religion. They want to go after immigrants, after women… the only way to defeat them is to go into our communities and families, and BRING EVERYONE BACK TOGETHER!”
“We are Skunk Anansie, we believe everybody is always equal. SMASH FASCISTS, SMASH RACISTS” comes the rallying cry. The following frenzy of the crowd serves a cathartic purpose for the pent-up anger and energy for the current state of the world, it’s obvious everyone needs this.
‘Weak’ is undeniably the anthem of the night, Skin’s voice is stunningly vibrant, perhaps better than I’ve ever heard her – but there is no vying for attention nor eclipsing of the band, who are non-stop pumping the energy as well. It may be as close to a perfect balance as I’ve come across in music, they just deliver on all fronts. The crowd is eventually singing along so loud that Skin gives over the spotlight to the voice of the masses.
Caressing the bald head of one of the security guards, before jumping down to the pit barrier to sing with the crowd during ‘Twisted (Everyday Hurts)’ it doesn’t take long before she has jumped into the melee full throttle.
Another Wonderlustre classic ‘My Ugly Boy’ keeps the hits coming with barely room to breathe, and the room is an absolute furnace with all the jumping. So much so that someone appears to have suffered a collapse near the middle of the room. Skin stops the show to check staff can get out to retrieve the person, and it’s all very quickly and efficiently done. Rolling onto a track from the new album (releasing on May 23rd – ‘The Painful Truth’) called ‘Animal’ – a full heavy metal moment, with a NIN-esque dirty beat behind it. I can tell this is going to be one of my most played albums of the year.
‘Yes It’s Fucking Political’ sees Skin calling for a circle pit, and the momentum of the night shows absolutely no sign of dropping. After a short exit, the encore houses another new one ‘Cheers’ which tiptoes the pop rock line in a very accessible way. I think this is going to be the one that draws in new Skunk fans for the 2020’s.
The iconic ‘Hedonism’ is followed by Led Zep’s ‘Whole Lotta Love’ for a bit of riffy fun while doing band introductions. ‘The Skank Heads (Get Off Me)’ gives another opportunity for Skin to dive into the crowd, in which she calls for “all the girls to the mosh pit!”. Closing out with “We’ll do one more. Something loud? Something fast? Something delicate?” as she puts it, is another new song ‘Lost and Found’ – a slow, but gorgeous almost operatic wind-down, to a furiously dynamic show. As they thank the crowd and send set-list paper aeroplanes shooting out to grabbing hands, I think I can safely conclude that this might rank as my top gig of 2025 already.
As the new ‘Lost and Found’ lyric goes “Heavy is the crown” – but Skunk Anansie are really out here, 31 years into their career – seemingly lifting that crown higher each time I see them.
Arriving at the Birmingham O2 Academy, we were surprised by queues winding around the block, only to find that the venue is not only host to Twin Atlantic tonight, but also Rag ‘N’ Bone Man. There’s a marked difference in attire and style for the two crowds, but it’s really uplifting to see so many people out for live music on a frosty Sunday night in November.
Heading upstairs to Academy 2, I am instantly transported back into the gig nights of my youth. Sticky floors, a merch stand on a trestle-table in the corner with hand scribbled prices, and youths in patch jackets shuffling about. I like knowing that the tune might change but the feeling is still the same. If you don’t get that pang of excitement before a gig, I am truly sorry for you.
Daytime TV
First out of the gates is fellow Scottish band, Daytime TV – with enigmatic frontman Will Irvine practically bouncing onto the stage, in his black suit and stompy creeper shoes. Sitting somewhere in the rock/pop-punk sphere, but with a well-blended electronic sound; Daytime TV immediately pique my interest.
Songs ‘Fear’ and ‘Little Victories’ sport elements of indie alongside the clean rock edge, and it’s easy to get swept into the very singable lyrics early on. This is something I feel has been missing from mainstream rock for a while – an undeniable hook, and this band have it in spades. Yelling out “Make some noise Birmingham, thanks for coming down early to check us out tonight. This is a hometown gig for our Guitarist, he’s a Walsall boy!” Will elicits a huge cheer from the now dense crowd, before launching into the very fun ‘Domino’.
One thing I would really like to note about Daytime TV, is that they genuinely just look like they’re having a great time on stage. Dancing around, smiling and laughing through a stellar performance – closing song ‘Lost In Tokyo’ makes for a dynamic ending, and they’ve even managed to get the crowd clapping along – no easy feat for an opening band (especially on a Sunday night). I’d love to see them on some festival bills next year.
Twin Atlantic
Scotland for round two, tonight’s headliner Twin Atlantic hailing from Glasgow are preceded by the ethereal outpourings of… ahem… Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. Just as the crowd is singing along (in a very Wayne’s World way, obviously) to the penultimate note, we are top-tier trolled into oblivion as the drop is interrupted by Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Boys Just Wanna Have Fun’. You’ve never heard a room full of people groan so loudly, I tell you.
As the band take to the stage in near darkness and enough smoke to power the entire Upside Down, frontman Sam McTrusty heads to the front to shout Hello to the Birmingham crowd – “Ohh it’s gonna be a good one, I can fuckin’ feel it”.
Starting off strong with ‘Meltdown’ from this year’s (their seventh) album, it’s instantly clear that tonight’s audience are not the casual gig-goer brand, these are all full force Twin Atlantic fans singing along to every word, and I’m here wondering why they haven’t been back on a Download festival bill since the Pandemic Pilot era.
Barry McKenna (keys, vocals) looking like a slightly cooler version of Nandor The Relentless (IYKYK), laughs along when Sam yells “This is our last show in your country this year we realised, so thanks for coming to the last one! So… Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!” and we are treated to the extremely Scottish twangy ‘Free’. I may not be to roll my R’s but you’re damn right I tried to join in anyway.
‘Barcelona’ is an absolute earworm of a song, it’s been on repeat on our car journeys and it’s not hard to see why – everyone is absolutely belting it out at the top of their lungs under the pulsing red lighting. I should mention here though, that it has been some of the worst lighting I’ve ever experienced in a small venue, there are no uplights on the band themselves and so much smoke that it’s hard to even see who’s on stage. Luckily the sound is banging to make up for it so we all shout back the refrain “I’m not invincible”.
“Is the the fatigue of Sunday setting in? You all good, you all where you wanna be? Sound, we’ll keep going then” they joke, before playing the gorgeously sentimental ‘I Couldn’t Miss You Much More’, as couples hug each other in the crowd. Ramping back up with ‘The Chaser’ and some intense strobe-lighting which further silhouettes the band into anonymity, and the heavier ‘No Sleep’ (my song of choice in the set) almost blows the roof off the O2. Again, I am left wondering why Twin Atlantic aren’t hitting more big festival bills.
‘Heart and Soul’ is another sing-along situation, but with minutes to spare Sam calls “Do we have time for one more?” and they sign off on the beautifully sombre ‘Crash Land’. “The last two weeks in England have been fuckin’ class” they lament, before (literally) bowing out. It might have been the smaller of tonight’s offerings at the O2 in Birmingham, but the actual Heart and Soul in tonight’s performance and the fact that this many people wanted to come out and pogo around on a Sunday night before work? Unquestionably awesome.
Taylor Swift – 19th August 2024, Eras Tour London, Wembley Stadium
Right. I’m going to be brutally honest with you here, and caveat this with a plea to Swifties not to rain fury down on me for being an imposter in their midst… but I am categorically not, a Swiftie. Yet here I am, dressed in a very loudly pink floaty skirt and heart shaped handbag, covered in hastily acquired bead bracelets, masquerading as one.
All things considered, I have a very eclectic musical taste which leans more towards rock and metal than anything else. That said, I do like a good pop song and have enjoyed many of TSwiz’s hits (I even own the Fearless album on CD, give me a gold star immediately). Believe it or not I am even wearing a Taylor tee, though in order to assert some kind of childish pushback it is one with her name made up in black-metal lettering, I couldn’t resist.
Having made it down the M1 and queued to get into the Wembley red carparking, we traipsed our way over to grab our tickets, following a trail of fans taking photos in front of all the Taylor themed backdrops dotted around the arena. Upon grabbing said tickets we discovered that we would be in the left stage standing area, and didn’t really realise what that meant at the time – more on that later.
The process of getting into the arena itself is really straightforward and easy, head to your colour coded entrance area, scan your ticket and push through the turnstile, quick bag search and get your wristbands (including a very cool light up one specific to the tour). After that the concourse is yours to inspect the merchandise shops (lots of small ones about instead of one massive one, really helps with the queue situation). As we were running a little late we headed down to our entrance and launched ourselves out onto a set of steps, and the absolutely breathtaking view of thousands upon thousands of people and one of the biggest stage set-ups I’ve ever seen in my life.
First support act Maisie Peters modifies her song ‘Lost The Breakup’ to include “er… I’m kinda busy like, I’m with Taylor tonight!” in a starry-sequinned white mini dress and stompy black boots. Having seen her earlier this year at Hyde Park, I knew to expect a good set and she did not disappoint – her lyrics are fun, she has a beautiful voice and her songs are ultimately singable. What’s not to love.
Tennessee punk-rock royalty Paramore are up next, representing the other side of the girlhood-coin with a barrage of loud and rowdy songs. Talking Heads cover ‘Burning Down The House’ is a consummate banger (I love the original too, to be fair…) but we are whipped into a frenzy by the epic anthem ‘Misery Business’. Hayley Williams, wearing a slinky black punk princess dress – even comes to visit us at the stage side and I kid you not, I could reach out and shake her hand we’re so close. I don’t though, because that would be super weird. It’s a cracker of a set, albeit short.
As Paramore’s amazing transparent orange drum-kit is forklifted from the stage, I am already in awe of the slickness of production that has gone into this. The stage is cleared in what seems like seconds, a *ahem* Swift turnaround if you will… we are suddenly staring at a countdown clock on the enormous stage screen, and the crowd erupts in the most deafening scream I have ever heard in my life. I’ve been to a lot of rock shows, but the pitch range is a lot lower – this is the force of 90k soprano shrieks entering my eardrums at speed.
The screaming only increases as the countdown finally ends and giant billowy silk-sheeted petals fan out from centre stage, on the backs of cat-walking dancers. They remind me of something you’d see on Pandora from James Cameron’s Avatar, but that’s probably not the kind of thing normal people talk about at a Taylor Swift concert is it. Anyway the nice leafy things make their way to the centre diamond of the runway and flop down on top of each other in a circle before popping up to reveal the queen herself, resplendent in a pink bedazzled bodysuit and matching boots.
Starting off with ‘Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince’, she is lifted skyward on a centre riser, making her visible to every eye in the audience which obviously, elicits yet another wild scream. Ending the first song with a strong power stance, Taylor shouts “Of all the wonderful sights you could come to London to see… I’m sure this view I’m seeing right now is absolutely the best one!”. Taylor then spends a little time pointing at various sections of the crowd to get them hyped up, before ‘holstering’ her gun-finger at her side with a wry smile. It is at this point that my sister and I both opt to jam loop earplugs in, I refuse to go deaf over teenage fanaticism.
Now wearing a pink sparkly double breasted suit jacket, she says “Wow, I can feel it immediately going to my head… the way you’re making me feel tonight… a sold out show for 92 thousand people… you’re making me feel like I’m The Man” leading into the namesake song, where she climbs an abstract office building set up on the stage. The dancers are incredible, I know there’s such a thing as stage clothing but anyone who can do that in a full suit gets my admiration.
“London what a delight, and an honour, and a privilege… London welcome to the Eras Tour!” yells the pop princess on this penultimate night of the European leg of Eras, now standing centre stage holding a pink acoustic guitar. She spends a minute thanking Maisie Peters, who she credits with amazing songwriting skills, and then Paramore, stating “We grew up together as teenagers, and now we got to travel Europe together”.
‘Lover’ features dancing couples overtaking the stage, including same-sex pairings – I will always applaud platforming inclusivity on a large scale, particularly with the state of the world at the moment. The song is gorgeous I have to admit, but the transition into ‘Fearless’ means I am finally at a part I really know and I’m… ready for it. You see what I did there right?
With an incredible downpour of firework rain from right across the top of the stage, Taylor reemerges in another bedazzled fringed bodysuit and a matching sparkly guitar, her signature red lipstick in stark contrast. “You wanna go back to high school with me?” is the herald into ‘You Belong With Me’, and then ‘Love Story’. I actually know all the words to these ones, I think I’m doing an excellent job of fitting in frankly.
Onto the next section with barely a pause, red balloons signal the beginning of Red with ‘22’ and Taylor wearing a t-shirt saying “This is not Taylor’s Version’, and the iconic black hat. I am reliably informed that every Swiftie has been awaiting the drop of ‘Rep TV’ which for quite a long time I thought was some kind of weird streaming service she was launching. No, they of course mean Taylor’s Version of Reputation – the re-recording of her earlier works to eclipse the contract-locked originals. Anyway, is this t-shirt she’s wearing an easter-egg of epic proportions for an announcement, or is she just trolling you all in the funniest way? Answers on an Eras postcard.
The iconic 22 hat is gifted to a rather small girl who is crying her eyes out and shouting “I love you so much” repeatedly, which is too cute not to shed a small tear at, but the bit I’m enjoying the most is all the giant cheerleading megaphones and the confetti cannons, it feels like a proper party now. The t-shirt is whipped off (thank you Chippendales for bringing velcro clothing to the people) to reveal a black and red ombre sparkle outfit for ‘Never Getting Back Together’. Apparently the enigmatic dancer known as Kam, says something different in the refrain each night, but tonight it is “Are you havin’ a laugh?” in a Cockney accent.
‘Trouble’ blows up with giant plumes of smoke erupting from the stage every time she hits the high notes, and Taylor stops for a breather to chat. “Are we enjoying the Red era London? This show is my favourite I’ve ever gotten to do… better crowds than I ever imagined I’d play for in my entire life. You have every song memorised, every lyric. This is a dream crowd”.
The black diamante encrusted matching trench coat and guitar is absolutely the number one thing I want to steal from the Eras closet, imagine how good I’d look swishing round Download festival in that thing. However, 10 minutes of ‘All Too Well’ is a little past my threshold, so we take a chance to go grab some water. Here I have to mention that there are free water points all along the barriers of the standing areas, with cups being constantly replenished. The standing areas as well, although sold out – are not overcrowded at all. You can comfortably move and stand without being on top of anyone, something I find seriously unusual and at the same time, fantastic about this show.
Speak Now’s ‘Enchanted’ might be a standalone, but it does feature a delightful Cinderella-esque ballgown, before being swapped out for it’s antithesis aesthetic – a one legged black jumpsuit covered in red snakes, to match the writhing snakes on screen. Red and white lights adorn our pulsing wristbands to welcome Reputation to the chat with ‘Are You Ready For It’. I think I like this Taylor best in terms of aesthetics, she’s in her zero fucks era, her clapback era, I love that for her – but especially with the caged Barbie dancers in ‘Look What You Made Me Do’.
Eventually the snake on screen slithers into a firefly lit, serene woodland, signalling the beginning of the Folklore/Evermore portion of the night, featuring a giant swamp shack set-up and some really weird trees that have grown directly from the stage. Apparently this is known as ‘The Folklore Cabin’ but as this is my least favourite album you’ll forgive me for not being up to date on the history. Taylor is kind enough to fill me in anyway though, “The folklore cabin is the imaginary cabin I pretended I lived in while I was writing this album, during the pandemic… confused and isolated… but I still wanted to connect with people”. Explaining that, during this album she deviated from autobiographical songs to write about characters as the narrator, she flits through the light, airy songs to arrive at the moss-covered piano for Evermore. Unfortunately a technical issue slightly tarnishes the mood “Um ok, this is in the wrong key… how do I get into here?” Taylor asks a techie who comes out to fix the problem, inadvertently showing us all that the grand piano is in fact merely a house in which an electronic keyboard sits. Slight chink in the armour there, but she recovers quickly.
We however are starting to feel the halfway mark of being on our feet, and take a trip to the barrier for a sit-down during the slow stuff. Another huge kudos to the arena staff here as we were repeatedly asked if we were ok, and handed water whilst we were sitting down. You can even see most of what’s going on from there thanks to the enormous screens.
No respite from the fan-screams though, even Taylor takes a few minutes to stand in awe of the constant wall of noise after she finishes; “That might have been the loudest sound I’ve ever heard in my entire life”. ‘August’ has all the Folklore girls swooning and swaying (they’re all dressed as elven forest maidens – some of whom have fallen backwards through a bush, but in a cute way).
The sun has finally gone down on Wembley and the light up wristbands are really coming into play. The dark blue forest backdrop and blue tinged soft lights of the bands for ‘Willow’ are so beautiful. On stage sparkly dementors are swishing some glowing orange balls about, and appear to be summoning something, but I personally am watching a pair in the crowd next to us who have done the absolute genius cosplay of bringing a yellow balloon each, and using their phones to light them up and join in. Bravo niche-Swifties, good work.
Back to the party stuff with 1989, Taylor hits the stage in a sparkly miniskirt and top for ‘Style’, ‘Blank Space’ and ‘Shake It Off’ while the wristband lights flash orange and blue to match her split outfit.
‘Bad blood’ is accompanied by huge bursts of fire from pyro cannons around the stage and on top of the lighting rigs, before we swap over to newest release The Tortured Poet’s Department. Taylor is resplendent in a white dress and microphone with black sparkly gloves, the floor is decorated with projections of stained glass windows, and ‘Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me’ is sung with wild abandon by every single voice around us. She zooms around on a silver robot platform during ‘Down Bad’, laments and swoons on a giant bed set with typewriters and then throws on a white military dress jacket to march the stage for ‘The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived’.
Ending lying on stage with the remnants of a burned white flag, the theatre of this show is unmatched. After being posed on a broken heart couch by two tailcoated helpers, she is made to move like a marionette and re-dressed in a silver ringmaster set to absolutely crush ‘I Can Do It With A Broken Heart’ – the wormiest earworm of all her new material. I won’t lie, a lot of the most recent album feels quite samey to me overall, but this is a total hit.
Next up, purple lighting and another outfit swap for the much anticipated secret songs section, which turn out to be a ‘Long Live’ and ‘Change’ mashup, then ‘The Archer’ mixed with ‘You’re On Your Own Kid’. I’m really out of my depth here, but it’s clearly important because everyone in my vicinity is hugging and crying, while she plays on a floral painted piano.
We’re two and a half hours in at this point and I’m not sure how she has anything left in her. She’s barely had a 30 second breather between playing, singing, dancing, talking and costume changing – and she’s got to do this all again tomorrow. In answer to my disbelief, she takes a running jump into a stage pit, and then projections of her swimming down the length of the runway pull her towards crashing waves on the screen, amidst the soft deep blue of our sea of wristbands around the arena.
At this point, some very weird paper mâché looking clouds atop rolling ladders are wheeled out, for the start of final section Midnights, with ‘Lavender Haze’. Of course she has an outfit for this – a giant furry lavender coat, that looks like she skinned a muppet to get it. ‘Anti-Hero’ featuring the weirdest line “Sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby” if you hear it that way (and I do, every time) but is probably the most audience-sung-song so far. Dancers with umbrellas hide Taylor for a costume change into a sparkly star and moon bodysuit, and chairs are placed on the centre risers for a very saucy burlesque routine during ‘Vigilante Shit’.
Our wristbands flash all different colours during ‘Bejeweled’ and the girl in front of us who has hand sewn giant jewels all over her top, responds by turning the rainbow lights on inside her mesh skirt. 10/10 no notes. Enduring the endless screaming once again, Taylor comes up for air “I cannot believe a crowd exists this loud… but also that you did this on a Monday night!”.
Closing out with ‘Karma’, in yet another pink sparkly jacket, this time with fringing – is deservedly the anthem of the night. I cannot believe she’s made it to the end of this still looking as absolutely magical as she does. Either her makeup artist is a real life wizard, or she is actually the ethereal being she portrays, because I look like a toad who has been zapped back to life and propped upright against the barrier. It even rained tonight and her hair still looks good, TELL ME YOUR SECRETS TAYLOR.
There’s fireworks, there’s confetti, there’s screaming, there’s crying, there’s hugging and dancing. It’s a truly celebratory ending to a mammoth night of entertainment, one that I can scarcely believe has been upheld by a single artist.
So what were my main takeaways from tonight you ask? Well, firstly… someone has to spend presumably aeons sticking tiny rhinestones to every single thing Taylor Swift owns, from guitars to boots to trenchcoats and mic stands. This is fabulous, I’m so down with that part.
Next, Swifties have a seemingly endless reservoir of tears, and will cry at almost anything – including but not limited to, if you give them a bracelet that matches their outfit, or if Taylor looks their way at any point in the night. I now understand the real need for the water refill stations everywhere.
Following that train of thought, the Eras tour is one of the safest and best run events I’ve ever been to (and I’ve been to a LOT). The attention to detail and thought about logistics has been second to none, but more than that – all of the staff members have been genuinely fantastic, helpful and nice. I wish it wasn’t unusual in live music, but it is.
After the show I found out that Taylor Lautner (and I think his partner… Taylor Lautner… who are all friends with… Taylor) was hanging out in the VIP section, alongside TSwiz’s very own parents, and that I could have sidled up there as it was next to our section. Damn it. Where have I been Loca?! Anyway, as we head out of the arena after collecting some confetti to put with our tickets… I sense my sister, who is with me (also a phony-fan), is already on the turn towards Swiftdom – she has given two security guards bracelets, marvelled over the police dogs who have bracelets all the way up their leads, and bought us both tshirts.
So finally, to close this ridiculously long review (which really is an ode to a ridiculously long show) my thoughts boil down to this. Taylor Swift has an incredible voice, clever songwriting, and the ability to back-to-back intense 3 hour shows, in which she never stops. I might not be the kind of Swiftie that can sing all the lyrics, nor the kind who knows the ex-boyfriend lore, or even the kind who talks show tactics on the forums. BUT. When she inevitably comes back around, you can count on me to be there with silly bracelets on singing the same 5 songs I know, at the top of my voice. So long, London!
Image credit: TAS Rights Management
SETLIST
Intro
(The Alchemy/Fearless/End Game/Speak Now/gold rush/TTPD/evermore/Red/Lavender Haze/Lover/Bejeweled)
Lover
Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince (shortened)
Cruel Summer (extended outro)
The Man (spoken intro)
You Need to Calm Down (shortened)
Lover (spoken intro; extended outro)
Fearless
Fearless (shortened)
You Belong With Me
Love Story
Red
Red – Intro (contains elements of “State of Grace”, “Holy Ground” and “Red”)
22
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (Kam Saunders: “you having a laugh?!”)
I Knew You Were Trouble (shortened)
All Too Well (10 Minute Version; spoken intro)
Speak Now
Speak Now – Intro (contains elements of “Castles Crumbling”)
Enchanted (shortened)
Reputation
…Ready for It?
Delicate
Don’t Blame Me (shortened)
Look What You Made Me Do (extended outro)
Folklore / Evermore
cardigan (shortened)
betty (spoken intro; shortened)
champagne problems
august
illicit affairs (shortened)
my tears ricochet
marjorie (shortened)
willow (extended)
1989
Style (shortened)
Blank Space
Shake It Off
Wildest Dreams (shortened)
Bad Blood (shortened)
The Tortured Poets Department
Female Rage: The Musical (contains elements of “MBOBHFT”, “WAOLOM”, “loml”, “So Long, London” and “BDILH”)
But Daddy I Love Him / So High School
Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me? (shortened)
Down Bad (shortened; with “Fortnight” outro)
Fortnight
The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived (shortened)
I Can Do It With a Broken Heart (extended intro)
Surprise Songs
Long Live / Change (spoken intro; mashup on guitar; tour debut for “Change”)
The Archer / You’re on Your Own, Kid (mashup on piano)
Y Not initially came into existence as an overspilled house party in 2005; the sort of party that the cool kid would throw while their parents were on holiday. Cut to 20 years later, and it has clearly gone from strength to strength, with huge named headliners sharing stages with bands making their first foray into festival territory. Despite the phenomenal growth, it is clear that Y Not has maintained that ‘feel good’ ethos.
Taking on a ‘when in Rome’ mentality, we made the most of the time we had and arrived on Thursday afternoon, expecting unbridled chaos in parking and clearing security. However we were (generally) pleasantly surprised here; smooth sailing up into Pikehall, everything well signposted, and straight into the car park. This could be in part due to the fact that the Thursday tickets were an add on – turns out that the Thursday tickets were worth the additional premium, but it does detract from the affordability side of things if you’re then paying piecemeal for the “extras”, especially if you’d be festivalling with a larger group of people, or bringing the family.
Stepping out into the lush greenery and looking out at the clear skies, it looked to be a promising weekend weatherwise, though we daren’t say that too loud (post note: aside from a smattering of rain on Friday, we stayed mostly dry!). Navigating wristband collections and clearing security in itself wasn’t awful, though it was clear that people were still finding their feet – we got sent on a bit of a wild goose chase trying to find the box office, but once we were through both sets of security and had the arenas laid out in front of us, we were golden.
As things were still warming up, we took a little time to explore and get a lay of the land. There’s a large array of food options available, with something for everyone – a number of veggie and vegan choices too, which is great to see. Some of the options were a little unexpected (G: I’m looking at you, fudge shop that is shaped like a bus) but safe to say it feels like this weekend is going to have some character to it, if initial impressions are anything to go by.
On our initial wander toward the merch, we caught a snip of Club Malibu starting strong with the dulcet tones of “Karma Chameleon” blaring across the Gold City. The usual fare was available (Y Not t-shirts & hoodies, and reasonably priced too at £25 and £35 respectively). In fitting with the vibe so far, there were of course bucket hats and football stye t shirts too, in a bright pink colour. Those t-shirts were a little steeper in price but were sold out in no time. Interestingly there were also band-specific shirts available to purchase at the merch stand, which was lovely. As we discovered later on in the weekend, these were on rotation, with headliner shirts on sale each day.
We strolled back across a fairly quiet site, grab a gyros (chicken for Gavin & halloumi for Reuben, and park ourselves in the sunshine. Lexie Carroll provided a fantastic, floaty tone during the part of her set that we were able to catch – similar in feel to the wispy tone that Billie Eilish put forward in “What Was I Made For”. Shame that it was being consistently challenged by the dubstep from the Flying Dutchman ride, but it comes with the territory I guess!
As another mood-setter for the weekend ahead, we caught bits of Ten Tonnes on the main stage, setting the vibes for the rest of the evening with some steady but admittedly tonally monotonous rock to a rapidly growing crowd.
R: I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve not listened to Scouting for Girls since 2009, but tonight I got to hear Scouting for Girls in 2009. Energy and feel of the band hasn’t changed in a decade and a half (complimentary, obviously). They had an absolutely impeccable festival energy though, exactly the right band for this atmosphere and crowd, revelling in the response they got for Elvis Ain’t Dead. Their accompanying guitarist, Nick Tsang, demonstrated his musical prowess on multiple occasions during the set, including leading the crowd in a confusing but delightful rendition of Year 3000 as popularised by Busted. Definitely felt like a cheese dream but it was, admittedly, a lot of fun.
Closing out the Thursday were Kaiser Chiefs, a band that we’re both fans of but neither of us expected quite the performance they gave on that stage. There was a reliance on their earlier work, but honestly, we get it. With a professionally crafted and tight set, blistering from song to song, with classics like Oh My God and Ruby getting the crowd riled. Also good to hear beyond six seconds of I Predict A Riot without being cockblocked by Yorkshire Tea.
Plan was to hit up the silent disco after this, but the combination of being knackered and the fact that it comes at an additional cost (no thank you!) had us calling it a night here.
Friday
Another day of basking in the sun of the Derbyshire Dales – once we finally clear security, at least. As expected, the number of people arriving today has spiked, meaning that clearing the first set of security is taking an age. Wish there had been an easier way to sort out day entry, but we don’t always get what we want, eh? When we eventually manage to clear security, we make a beeline for the loos (bad choice – TL;DR the queues are HUGE and the toilets are frankly a state), then get to the Big Gin just in time to catch Black Honey.
Black Honey kicked off the festival proper with their distortion heavy melodies tinged with a sweetness echoed in the country music aesthetic of the lead vocalist. If you think Dolly Parton if she fronted 90s band Hole and you’re almost there. Needless to say that 90s grunge is very much alive in 2024 while Black Honey are around (R: And I’m living for that). Lemonade was their stand out song from the set, and was preceded by an anecdote about their first ever main stage at Y Not with a crowd of 3 and an exploding bass. Far cry from that now, with hundreds of people sitting in front of the big gin absorbing their sound. (G: I last saw them do a set at Bestival in 2018 and they’ve developed so much, but haven’t lost that unique and raw sound. I also particularly appreciated their shout out to women and non-binary people in the crowd, with the explicit statement that “everyone exists here”).
We had a little bit of a gap, and a bit of a gap at a festival means one of two things; a drink, or picking a stage at random. Venus Grrrls were the result of us taking the second option and what an incredible set. Wistful lead vocals mixed with far more aggressive guitar riffs than expected, creating a glorious “fuck you” atmosphere. To put it in their words, “the best way to get rid of creepy men is to hex them”. They shared meaty bass lines that LITERALLY made the floor shake in The Giant Squid. Initially a small crowd, but they were all clearly vibing, and it didn’t take long for them to catch the attention of passers by.
Next we caught Soft Play, a punk duo formally known as Slaves, who burst onto the stage with a visceral energy that feels like it’s missing currently in music, which is probably due to their opening claim that Punk’s Dead. If this is true though, to incorrectly quote Rachel from Friends,Soft Play had a hell of a time at the wake. They closed the set with The Hunter too, a great call too, which let the new songs to breathe (or scream). G: While we had a great time, I get the feeling that Soft Play were a bit of tonal whiplash from other acts on The Big Gin today; similar to their Download set there were shouts to “fuck the hi hat” which caught a few parents on the back foot when their kids joined in with the chanting. Delightful, in its own way.
Another returning artist to Y Not, following their Thursday headliner slot in 2022, and it is clear that there are some avid fans of The Kooks that have been waiting for their return. After opening with Always Where I Need To Be, the energy stayed high, though it quickly felt less like a festival set and more like a Kooks gig – don’t get me wrong, they sounded great, but felt almost formulaic and uniform.
They did share a new song with the crowd; the catchy Sunny Baby. It contained all the energy you’d expect from The Kooks but felt musically more complex, with a lovely use of layered vocal harmony in the choruses. Seemed to be a hit with the numerous kooks fans at the front! As to be expected, they closed out with Naive, which went over like a dream.
R: At this point, I went off on a little adventure of my own, having seen the start of The Kooks, there was a band on my agenda I was feverishly excited to see live. I traded the open air and indistinguishable fruit scented vape clouds for the darkened enclosure of The Quarry stage to watch The Lottery Winners. This was a band that were clearly having a lot of fun with it, to the point that they feel like the only band so far that was genuinely enjoying themselves. They played Burning House as expected, but the highlight was their anthem for neurodiversity Letter to Myself.
Next I swung by my headliner for the Friday, The Mysterines, ending my Friday on a melancholy note in the best possible way. Sultry vocals, bits of vocal distortion and some of the quite frankly sexiest bass lines I’ve heard (honestly, just listen to Sink Ya Teeth). This wouldn’t be out of place playing in the background of the Blade films, and I mean that as a compliment.
G: As the Friday headliner, the pressure was on for Snow Patrol, but they came out of the gate strong with their 2006 hit You’re All I Have, paired with an eye catching snowflake decal on the screens behind them. As an audience member, you can see that they clearly want to be there – Gary Lightbody’s regular audience interaction pays testament to this, with an opening joke about “falling on his hoop” due to the unexpected fine rain, and bantering with the crowd about sharing some new music (“are you having a good time? Well, let’s put a stop to that!” Which raised a few giggles).
Naturally, there were some of the expected classics interspersed in the set, including 2003’s Run (which had everyone singing along in a frankly moving way), Open Your Eyes, which received a brilliant reception, and their pre-encore closer Chasing Cars which went down about as well as you would expect. There was also material from their upcoming album The Forest Is The Path – they played The Beginning, which felt slightly meatier than the rest of tonights set, but it got the seal of approval from the crowd, which seemed quite rare for any new material this weekend. Disappointingly, their set wrapped up earlier than the billed time, but on the whole it was fantastic.
Regrettably the loo situation has gotten markedly worse. Y Not have shipped in some more portaloos, but the queues for those are still stretching across the site. Heading back from Snow Patrol to meet Reuben, I made unfortunate eye contact with a girl who had tried to pee in a bush, gotten stuck, and was having her friends try to rescue her with all the discretion of two seagulls fighting over a bag of chips. Poor lass.
The energy today is a lot more relaxed than yesterday (though that might well be fatigue from the Sigma DJ set last night…), though people are generally still in very good spirits. There are a number of people drifting around the festival in fancy dress (we’ve seen a fair few gaggles of nuns) which is causing equal parts confusion and delight for those who clearly were not aware that there was a fancy dress contest happening.
The annual paint fight has already taken place when we arrive, and safe to say there are a number of victims wandering around. Turns out that Y Not weren’t kidding when they said that the powder paint would be hard to remove, as evidenced by a number of festival goers who are markedly much more citrus and/or blue than they were on Friday.
A genuinely incredible start to the our Saturday, Pale Waves injected our days with a jolt of indie pop energy. Not much audience interaction but a tight set performed flawlessly and it’s always a sign if people are walking away from your set singing your songs, which we spied a couple doing after this. A highlight of the whole festival so far.
In the short amount of downtime we have today, we made a break for Sgt Pepper Meadowsto scope out some of the other retailers that are here. It’s clear from our excursion that a lot of people were not expecting the sunshine this weekend, with a LOT of people looking quite pink, but in fairness who expects sunshine at a British festival? One retailer that caught our eye was The Jazzy Frog, a quirky craft shop selling assorted jewellery knick knacks. Cue Gavin leaving with two pairs of earrings, because they just have no impulse control when it comes to unusual jewellery. The Dexter’s Laboratory earrings are already a firm favourite for the collection.
As is tradition by now, festival grub is high on Gavin’s ‘to do’ list. Order of the day is carbs, so we head over to The Yorky Roast and treat ourselves to The Duchess; veggie sausages, mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy all loaded into a giant Yorkshire pudding (R: The most expensive single thing we ate at £14, but worth every damn penny). Made a welcome change from the freebie Swizzels Squashies and Coke Zero, which has been the usual fare so far today.
Another perfect match to the energy and audience of Y Not, Declan McKenna was one hell of a crowd pleaser. The biggest response was to Brazil, as entirely expected, but most of his set went down well. It should be highlighted to that this was the only act to use the screens on each side of the main stage in an interesting way with colour filters for each song, and an excellent 3D-glasses-like effect used at one point.
We had a little time here for a quick breather – and by breather, of course, we mean cheesecake. It isn’t like we would have been short of options, but the loaded cheesecake van caught our eye on the way in. While £7.50 seems like a lot for cheesecake, this was RICH. One of few times that Gavin has been able to share a dessert without being told to do so.
G: At this point, I slunk off, making the pilgrimage to see fan favourite, Frank Turner. Making another triumphant return to Y Not, Frank graced the crowd at The Quarry stage with show number 2929 (not like he has been keeping count or anything).
Armed with only his guitar, Frank Turner delighted the crowd in the packed out Quarry with music from his newest album, Undefeated, and safe to say it carries the same sharp balance between humour, rebellion and occasional existentialist sentiment that he has become well known for. Notable highlights from this section of the set were Do One and The Girl From the Record Shop, which both pulled in a huge crowd singalong.
Notably, during a musical interlude, Frank took the time to get applause for those “on the ground” who are making the festival happen, from security to bar staff and everyone in between – a real ‘good guy’ move.
The set closed with Polaroid Picture, which felt raw and real. The crowd were encouraged to learn the lead vocal line from one another and continue to sing while Frank took on the other vocal line, and honestly it sounded (and felt) fantastic. A definite Y Not highlight.
R: With a packed out crowd around the main stage a long time before they even started, Saturday main headliner Jamie T was due a warm reception and the screams of the crowd proved that immediately. There wasn’t a blistering start to the set, with a few slower tracks to open. But, soon it kicked into energy with their typical cheeky London charm and catchy guitar licks. He hit all the greats from his close to 20 year career, of course, with Sticks N’ Stones and Sheila getting incredible reactions. Then closed with a high energy, almost punk, version of Zombie to end the night on a tremendous high.
After clearing two lots of security again, we made a beeline to see Milton Jones at Flamingo Jacks; unfortunately for us, so did everyone else. That definitely pays testament to the popularity of a great comedian, but it also feels a little like Y Not had perhaps underestimated how popular he would be (R: Didn’t help that his set time changed slightly too but the app hadn’t updated the times).
Admitting defeat, we headed over toward The Quarry, and caught Leicestershire local Rainbow Frog Biscuits in action. She put forward a diverse set with strong vocals and a range of musical styles, and it’s clear to see how she has become as popular as she has. Her music was interspersed with some audience interaction, with a recurrent theme being surprise and delight at how many people had turned out to see her, and honestly it was refreshing to see an artist be so open and frankly human about their experience while on stage.
After (yet another) browse of the various shops, we returned to the main stage to catch Holly Humberstone and her trademark folk/indie pop to continue the feeling of levity that we started with Rainbow Frog Biscuits. Genuinely hard to pick a highlight from what was such a strong set, but if pressed, The Walls Are Way Too Thin and the bittersweet Falling Asleep at the Wheel were must listens. (R: Honestly would have loved more than the 45 minute set as it flew by. One of my personal highlights of the festival)
Time was not on our side here, as Sunday was jam packed with bands we frankly NEEDED to see, so in the half hour gap we had, we swung by Chick’n Tenders for, you guessed it, “chicken” tenders. The cheapest meal that we got all weekend at £9.50, and frankly it was delicious. G: as an absolute carb fiend, I give this a huge thumbs up. Simple, filling and too damn tasty for its own good.
A swift dart back to Big Gin, and we just catch the start of The Vaccines. Honestly, we both forgot how much we knew by The Vaccines until their set, and recognised a hell of a lot more than we thought we would. They carried the good feeling that was brought in by Holly Humberstone with a frankly excellent set. The stage was set with carnations, in keeping with the theme from their newest album – a nice touch! You can tell they’re good at what they do – they sound JUST LIKE their recorded music, tonally, so they’re not victims to autotune hell. The use of reverb is enough to fit the style without being a distraction, and Justin Young was as suave and charming as ever.
R: Another solo excursion for me and football themed intro aside Dylan John Thomas kicking off (pun grudgingly intended) with Jenna immediately brought the energy of the small audience to a fever pitch (another terrible pun). I’ll stop now because I don’t like football and am running out of knowledge to draw on. The crowd might have been small, but they and I loved every second. Both Fever and Up in the Air were the clear highlight, with the latter blending melancholic lyrics with music dangerously close to ska. Exquisite.
From the soft indie tones to the politically charged rap metal of Bob Vylan proudly proclaiming to start war against the state. Genuine passion blazed through this set and great banter with the audience that the whole of the Giant Squid tent were absolutely living for. They named themselves “Best Band in Britain” during one such chat, and it’s hard to disagree after a set like this. Highlights were Ring the Alarm and the damn timely despite its age We Live Here.
G: Noel Gallagher was also there.
If you’re a Noel Gallagher fan already (and there are many if we go by the amount of bucket hats and shades nearby) you’re set, but otherwise there’s very little to catch your attention in the early portion of this set.
Notably, theres an unusual change in cinematography compared to other artists. While the likes of The Kooks and The Vaccines cut to the crowd at regular intervals, the camera seems fixed on Noel and occasionally other band members. There also seems to be a lot of just dead time between songs. Screens off, everything just stops until he’s ready. There’s a very interesting use of the screens behind him during the songs though, moving through a city skyline for Council Skies and a kaleidoscopic effect for We’re Gonna Get There In The End.
As expected, there is some classic Oasis in there, which fills the second half of the set as well as the encore. Surprisingly, there’s a cover of Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division as the pre-encore close. The cover felt very different from the original, with a wiry Britpop spin that I’m sure some people would have enjoyed. The set fully closed with Don’t Look Back in Anger, which went down a storm. Despite personally not being a Noel Gallagher fan, I couldn’t help but get involved here.
G: Having had chance to unpack and get my head clear, I’ve got a few closing thoughts about Y Not this year. It was my first visit, so I can’t say whether this is the standard fare, but Y Not is easily one of the best “vibes” festivals I’ve been to. It was clear from the off that everyone was just there to have a good time, and that feeling carried on right the way through from the Thursday afternoon to the end of the headliner on Sunday.
There were a few issues around organisation, and I’m hoping that these are tackled before Y Not 2025 – the main one being the loo situation. It felt as though Y Not might have been a victim of its’ own success here, though, and an attempt was made to rectify the situation by plonking in extra portaloos, but it just wasn’t enough. This problem could have been lessened if the loos in VIP were working as they should, but as only one of the four toilet blocks was working in there, people were being filtered out into the main arena to use the already overcrowded facilities.
Particular shout out has to go to The Oktoberfest Band – over the course of the weekend they have been doing some LONG sets in The Watchtower Bar, playing fantastic arrangements of well known feel good bops and interspersing it with some great banter. While I wasn’t able to catch a great deal of their performances, the parts I did see were high energy and really engaging, and it’d be frankly rude of me not to give them a mention.
Overall I had a blast – same time next year?
R: As a music festival goer, not a vibes festival goer, I wasn’t sure how much I would get out of Y Not, but I’ll admit I was surprised. Folks weren’t really there for the music, but to have a good time and this was obvious from the moment we walked through the security checks. Everybody was happy and friendly and chatty, all in ways I’ve not experienced at all festival before. Even if I’m pretty certain I’ve seen enough bucket hats now to last me until roughly 2034.
It wasn’t without problems, of course, and the toilet problem that Gav mentioned cannot be understated. I have genuinely never seen a toilet situation at a festival that bad before. Also, I truly believe that festivals should stop taking the piss so much with the pricing of things when you’re there. The food was great but the prices were exorbitant, and the sheer amount of things billed as activities during the festival that had additional charges was audacious.
As a huge music fan, it’s hard to pick my highlights from the many sets we saw. But, I would say that you owe it to yourself to see The Lottery Winners live at least once, and Venus Grrrls and Rainbow Frog Biscuits are a couple of artists to keep an eye on in the future. Whether I will be raring for Y Not next year definitely depends on the lineup of bands, but if there’s some choice bands on the roster, I’ll see you at the main stage.
2024 is emo resurrection year, you can’t convince me otherwise. With a sold out BMTH tour last month, the sneaky reappearance of the skinny jean, and the Download festival line-up stacked with pop-punk, you can sign me up for a summer of giant fringes and sideways stud belts thanks. Tonight we are in Nottingham at the Motorpoint arena to delve further into the early noughties nostalgia with the iconic Enter Shikari.
Up first on the bill is firecracker Noahfinnce, blasting some garage-band style punk rock into our earholes and yelling “Rishi Sunak can suck my sweaty balls” to the unanimous approval of the crowd… obviously. It’s an infectiously fun set, the hooks are catchy enough to sing along and I’m always going to love an anti-tory rhetoric to be honest.
Laughing, Noah claims “Ok now I’m gonna be the big sweary transgender the Conservatives think I am” before ripping into his ‘Impression of Green Day’. Closing with ‘Life’s A Bit’ is proper punk rock simplicity. The lack of over-production brings me back to teenage gig trips to the local dive, and by the end I’m singing along “moral of the story, I’m a bit of a dickhead”, so I hope to see Noah on some future festival stages.
Up next, Cali rock/politipunk band Fever 333 come no holds barred, with opener “Burn It” ringing in our ears from the off. Despite this being the newest iteration of the band after an all-change in members except for lead singer Jason Aalon Butler last year, they sound crispy clean and like they have come to war.
Guitarist Brandon Davis and bassist April Kae are a force to be reckoned with, heavy riffs and oh so much bouncing around. Drummer Thomas Pridgen’s beats are hard hitting and provide Butler the perfect backdrop to his insatiable need to move, and jump. Lyrics depicting inequality, capitalism and anti-fascism are screamed across an arena of nodding heads, and there’s something really comforting about the fact that there are still bands out there doing this.
Activism and music have always gone hand in hand, but Fever 333 are out there unabashedly pushing forward with a flavour reminiscent of Rage Against The Machine and Napalm Death. Above all else, they are undeniably entertaining – how can you not jump around when every member of the band is going absolutely beserk?
Under their Black Panther backdrop, yelling “Free Palestine”, they perform in white boiler-suits covered in black patches, which I now dub ‘Battle-Scrubs’ with the number 333 appearing repeatedly. 333 represents the band’s three core principles of Community, Charity and Change – immediately apparent in their commentary on misogyny in the music world, as Butler calls out “I want to make one thing clear, women should feel safe, respected and honoured in this venue tonight” before dedicating ‘One of Us’ to their “Queen”April.
For my choice ‘$wing’ goes so hard the entire crowd was bouncing, and if you’re a Ferris Beuller fan the lyrics are incredibly accessible, it’s going straight on my playlists. ‘Ready Rock’ sees Butler leap into the crowd only to be lifted by the feet above the throng of grasping hands. The mic is fed by a line of techs across the sea of bodies so he can complete the song before spin-jumping into the fray. Miraculously he makes it back to the stage to apologise for stepping on someone’s bonce “I’m sorry, if you go to the merch stand and prove a nine and a half converse stepped on your head, you can get an item for free” he jokes, before thanking everyone for making them feel welcome and shouting out “POC Punks, WE SEE YOU!”. I think I’ve found my new binge listening band in Fever 333, this is action music.
As the lights dim once more, there is a palpable electric energy of anticipation in the room. For many attending tonight, this is a long-lived relationship with a band that has spanned 2 decades of the UK rock scene, and I notice a fair number of kids along for the ride with their thirty-something parents as well. Taking to the stage, lit by a single spotlight, lead vocalist Rou Reynolds begins his spoken word soliloquy of ‘System’ like a professor at a lectern, before the lights come up and Enter Shikari absolutely rip into the electronic power of ‘Meltdown’ under screens of scrolling matrix-style code.
There’s something to be said about the sheer performance factor of this band, being able to smoothly direct the flow and energy of the crowd in this way is actually not too common a talent, but they are masters of it. Seamlessly blending techno, dub and trance into metal and punk rock is not the easiest task either, but it gives Shikari an undeniably unique sound that has a cross-genre appeal that I am absolutely enamoured by. With their politically charged lyrics and open defiance of the status quo, it isn’t hard to see why they chose their touring partners in Fever 333 and Noahfinnce – it’s one of the best curated line-ups I’ve seen in a while.
Screaming “Shall we test out this sound system?” Rou bounces enthusiastically into ‘Anaesthetist’. After a little jazz trumpet interlude, Rou gushes “You know what, I am so fucking grateful to be alive on this stage… I wanna dance with you” before pillar beam lights from the front of the stage pierce the darkness to represent prison bars for ‘Jailbreak’. This time the entire crowd is undulating like the sea and hordes of crowd-surfers take the opportunity to glide over the barrier into the waiting arms of the twenty-strong security team.
Rou then scales a ladder alongside one of the two light towers flanking the stage, only to perch on the edge of it, in the beam of a soft spotlight. Like something out of a movie he reaches his hand into the tower and it is displayed on the screen as a dip into a body of water. Yeah, at this point we kinda know what’s coming as he turns his back towards the ‘water’ but it doesn’t make it any less fun, the circus of him tumbling backwards into the tower and showing up swimming on the screen ignites all those little fires of childhood magic awe.
After his stunt he reappears eating a banana, and the band take a mini break to discuss the useful nutritional properties of said banana, before the hard hitting dubstep intro ‘Sssnakepit’. Laughing “Fucking hell I love this venue! I love Rock City don’t get me wrong, but this is so good” Rou comments on the circle pits which have been swirling all night. As if to up the ante yet again, the band are joined by Jason from Fever 333 for ‘Losing My Grip’ and they both run riot along the gangway slopes to drummer Rob Rolfe.
Returning atop the other stage tower, Rou sits for a couple of chilled solo songs with his guitar ‘The Pressure’s On’ and ‘Juggernauts’ before heading into the second part of the show, held on a mini platform in the middle of the arena. It’s the kind of production I expect of giant bands at festivals not arena tours, but I absolutely love that they’re as focused on the atmosphere and feel of the show as they are the music.
While the band run through ‘Gap In The Fence’ Rou takes to the crowd seating area for ‘The Sights’ where he makes his very best attempt to make it around the stands. “They told me I couldn’t get round the venue in one song and they were right” he laughs as he makes it to the three quarter mark, but still makes sure to fist bump everyone he can reach on his way back round to the stage.
‘It Hurts’ into ‘The Dreamers Hotel’ is joyfully bright, another side of Shikari’s multi-faceted musical personality, along with a side of heavy confetti across the crowd, delaying the progress of the little video drones we’ve seen all around the arena tonight from Dirty Dishes Productions – I can’t wait to see that footage though.
For the real encore ‘Sorry You’re Not A Winner’ sees Rou being held back by the pants at the crowds edge, and bassist Chris Batten straight up launching himself into the crowd on his back, still playing. “Christ on a Caribbean cruise” Rou breathlessly says when they make it back out, but he obviously has more to give as he goes hardstyle dancing his way into ‘A Kiss For The Whole World’ to finish up.
Leaving us with “Thank you so fucking much for having us, we’ve been looking forward to this for a very long time” and thanking the security in the pit for keeping everyone safe tonight, is another testament to the ethos and values of Enter Shikari that are alive and present in their music. The sheer number of crowd-surfers over the barrier tonight tells you the impact this band have on a visceral level, the production and the choreography were all almost cinematically brilliant too, but the discourse of the evening, the music – that’s what stays with you.
Roll on Download festival, because the bar is suddenly very high for everyone else.
Thursday 1st February 2024 – The Great Escape today announces 100 new artists set to play at this year’s festival in Brighton, featuring a monumental and dynamic selection of some of the most promising new acts from across the globe and a breadth of genres including pop, electronic, punk, R&B, folk, rap and soul.
Welcoming some of the most exciting new acts to Brighton this May, the latest line-up additions feature sibling hyper-pop duo Frost Children, buzzy American indie-sleaze act The Dare, NYC electronic trio Fcukers, finger-picking blues and roots guitarist Muireann Bradley, Korean post-rockers Jambinai, Melbourne indie-pop trio Tamara & The Dreams and many more
In addition, The Great Escape has also revealed details of 2024’s first TGE Presents show, in partnership with Ticketmaster New Music. The free entry show will take place on 22 February and is the first in a series of monthly gigs set to be held at London’s Old Blue Last in the lead up to the festival. London art-rock six-piece Flat Party will headline the event, with support from gritty punk-tinted five-piece Saloon Dion and gothic shoegaze quintet Velvetine.
Alongside the festival, The Great Escape also hosts the UK’s leading music business conference, which is undergoing a transformation this year as a brand new network of music industry collaborators coming on board to shape its programming with the very best in cutting-edge knowledge and expert speakers. Look out for an exciting announcement on the conference coming soon.
Synonymous with new music discovery and acting as a springboard for rising artists, The Great Escape is the festival for new music. Playing host to over 450 up-and-coming artists and hotly tipped talent across 35+ walkable venues, alongside the music industry-led TGE conference, the festival will kick off the 2024 season from 15 – 18th May 2024 in Brighton, England. Tickets for The Great Escape festival start from £89.25 and are on sale here.
ALT / INDIE
Flat Party | The Shambolics | The Clause | Tamara & The Dreams | Bnny | Soft Launch | Fabiana Palladino | Nightbus | Bel | DellaXOZ | Rachael Lavelle | Brockhoff | The Dare | Kaeto | Soft Loft | Mali Velasquez | Humane The Moon | Kayla Grace | The Big Day | The Belair Lip Bombs | Platonic Sex | Cruel Sister | The Crooks | The Sheratons | Radio Free Alice | Colour TV | Winona Forever | Velvetine | Saloon Dion | Marathon | Brògeal | Good Neighbours | Faux Real | Man/Woman/Chainsaw | The Life | Fold Paper | Gut Health
The Great Escape has historically championed indie and alternative music and 2024 is set to see the festival continue to support the genre’s upcoming artists with Melbourne indie-pop trio Tamara & The Dreams, Chicago indie-rockers Bnny, American indie-sleaze star The Dare, the unpredictably slick Glaswegian band The Big Day and energetic Hamburg pop-rocker Brockhoff all added to the line-up. They will also be joined by Manchester late-night trio Nightbus and eclectic indie-rock quartet The Belair Lip Bombs.
Art-rock offerings come in the form of London six-piece Flat Party and noise-driven Man/Woman/Chainsaw, while shoegaze fans can get a lo-fi fix thanks to alt-rock soloist Cruel Sister, gothic quintet Velvetine, East London grungegaze duo Good Neighbours and Amsterdam-based post-punk band Marathon. Electronically-infused artist Rachael Lavelle, raw-edged Nashville native Mali Velasquez, Scottish five piece Brògeal and Aussie four-piece Platonic Sex add a folk spin to the line-up, while frenetic post-punk energy will be provided courtesy of buzzy melodic band Radio Free Alice, alt-rockers Saloon Dion, visual artist Kaeto, LA-based glam-rock brothers Faux Real and Canadian four-piece Winona Forever.
Other new indie additions include The Shambolics, The Clause, The Life, Fold Paper, Gut Health, Soft Launch, The Crooks, The Sheratons, Bel, Colour TV, Soft Loft, Humane The Moon and Kayla Grace.
Festival-goers can also expect to catch an array of exciting talent plucked from the worlds of folk, Americana and country including contemporary singer-songwriter Elinborg, Canadian folk darling St Arnaud, blues and roots finger-picking guitar star Muireann Bradley, Irish songwriter Anna Mieke, Canadian songwriter and baritone ukulele player Desiree Dawson and soulful Scottish serenader Lizzie Reid. Fans who like their folk more full-bodied won’t miss out either, as the line-up also features Irish folk-rock band Kingfishr, three-piece contemporary ensemble Amble and mystical indie-folk duo Moira & Claire.
ELECTRONIC / GRIME / RAP / HIP-HOP
KIIMI | Bolis Pupul | Michael Diamond | Coex | t l k | Lucy Tun | Fcukers | YARD
The Great Escape 2024 is also looking forward to welcoming an array of electronic artists to its stages as jazz-fuelled producer Michael Diamond, classically trained producer and vocalist KIIMI, Belgian electro-pop master Bolis Pupul and British-Burmese pop singer and DJ Lucy Tun all join the line-up. The new announcement also features warped NYC trio Fcukers, intense and immersive electro-noise band YARD, Bristol-based producer and vocalist t l k and Irish electronic artist Coex. For fans of rap and grime, TGE 2024 will also play host to a selection of some of the genre’s finest new acts and today’s announcement sees sharp and energetic wordsmith Chowerman added to the line-up.
Flying the flag for jazz, soul and R&B at the festival, fans can look forward to catching emotional and energetic Kuzi Cee with his afro-beats and hip-hop-inspired sounds, modern soul storyteller Caleb Kunle, intimate jazz and folk singer Hohnen Ford, blues, jazz and indie-fusion artist Ruby J, multi-disciplinary act Romy Nova and comforting alt-R&B songwriter Forest Claudette. They will also be accompanied by Landel, Jackie Moonbather and SHVVN.
POP / DANCE
Frost Children | Angélica Garcia | Go-Jo | Mackenzy Mackay | MAD TSAI | Canty | SafeSp8ce | Vox Rea | Beattie | Leah Kate | Begonia | ASHY | Asha Jefferies | Maggie Andrew | Alessi Rose | Uly | Deeps | Tom Lark | Alfie Jukes | Tyler Lewis
Pop and dance music fans will also be treated to an enticing selection of some of the brightest new artists on the scene, including confessional pop-rock star Leah Kate, genre-bending emo bedroom pop artist SafeSp8ce, Paul Institute alum Fabiana Palladino and luscious noir-pop duo Vox Rea. They will be joined by self-produced silky-pop songwriter Alessi Rose, immersive multi-instrumentalist Uly, bedroom-born alt-pop artist Tom Lark, Australian singer-songwriter and producer Go-Jo, Canadian indie-pop powerhouse Begonia, breakthrough alt-pop artist DellaXOZ,infectious R&B-infused ASHY, Latin-inspired electro-pop artist Angélica Garcia, singer-songwriter Tyler Lewis, gripping genre-hopper Mackenzy Mackay and melancholic pop songwriter Maggie Andrew.
Elsewhere, fans of social media can look forward to raucous hyper-pop from ‘hyper-online’ sibling duo Frost Children, sad queer pop anthems courtesy of American artist and TikToker MAD TSAI and a performance from Brighton’s own TikTok sensation Alfie Jukes.
PUNK / ROCK / METAL
Southern River Band | Joe & The Shitboys | Aggrasoppar | Alien Chicks | Aziya | Arrows in Action | Holy Wars | Bound By Endogamy | Dirty Blonde | Johnny Hunter | Unpeople | iDestroy | House of Women | Jambinai | Really Good Time | Full Flower Moon Band | Zheani
This year TGE will also play host to a huge selection of artists plucked from the punk, rock and metal genres. Traditional rock’n’roll fans can strap in for a heady dose of guitar-driven rhythms Australian four-piece Southern River Band, five-piece glam-punks Johnny Hunter and warped rockers Full Flower Moon Band. On the more experimental end of the spectrum, Brixton-based trio Alien Chicks will be offering up dynamic power-punk while Dublin’s Really Good Time will deliver a set filled with convulsive crunk-rock, Switzerland’s Bound By Endogamy will serve up their innovative industrial brand of punk and Australia’s Zheani will bring her boundary-breaking ‘fairy-trap’.
Representing the Faroe Islands’ burgeoning rock scene, queer vegan punks Joe & The Shitboys have also joined the line-up alongside flower-punk supergroup Aggrasoppar. Additionally, rock revellers can catch rising alt-rock star Aziya, buzzy Nashville trio Arrows in Action, heavy alt-rockers Holy Wars, fierce female duo Dirty Blonde, metal maestros Unpeople, Korean post-rockers Jambinai, Bristol punks iDestroy and teen trio House of Women.
Scuttling down the dark back streets of Leicester city on a Sunday night would normally mean you’re up to something dodgy, and as we sidle up to the queue of distinctly eclectic looking folk bathed under the faint green glow of a neon sign, it occurs to me that this is exactly the sort of reputation the ‘alternatives’ always had – dodgy. Luckily our band of choice tonight, made their mark singing about precisely this sort of thing, so we’re in good hands.
As we slip past the giant sage green tour bus, jammed like a conga eel down a tiny alleyway, and head into The Soundhouse venue, we are greeted by friendly faces and an absolutely tiny room. Now, I must note two things here. Firstly that I adore gigs in small venues. There is an intimate and special quality that definitely dies in larger places. Secondly, I have no idea how we’re all going to fit in here, nor the band on the miniscule stage.
As it turns out, I need not have worried – the tattooed skinheads, stoners and hipsters have all filed in just fine and there’s a decent amount of dancing room. I do slightly fear for the health of the two very on brand dirtbags at the front, who have come in full ‘Loser’ movie regalia of parkas and furry trapper hats. Exemplary dedication to the cause.
A small merch stand is selling the very last of their tour tshirts, signed posters and such. There are quite a few items that have sold out, presumably due to the fact that we have ended up being the very last date on this tour due to Brendan B Brown’s illness causing the cancellation of the previous show. I’d also like to highlight how brilliant it is that they and The Soundhouse worked together to get this night stuck on the end instead of just faintly promising “they’d be back at some point” – we are truly grateful, and it’s a sellout show for a second time.
Up first is the perfectly awkward purveyor of (as he puts it) Nerdcore Rap, MC Frontalot. Ascending (and by ascending I mean taking one slightly elevated step) the stage wearing a very convincing Dwight Schrute outfit, and a head-torch he yells “I’m a nerdcore rapper, from San Fransisco to Knife Crime Island” and laments that this is the 47th and final time he’ll have done this show on this tour.
Instantly taken with his self-deprecating rhymes, we giggle our way through the likes of ‘First World Problem’ and ‘Power User’ – “I’m in a sadomasochistic relationship with my desktop computer” he says, deadpan. The beats are distinctly 90’s in feel, and I guess the intersection of rap and rock was a lot lower in the UK than it was in the US, so the crowd is unfortunately kind of flat, which is a shame as Frontalot is actually really fun.
There’s a definite Flight of The Conchords style familiarity about him, which I obviously enjoy, and joking about being dressed like a sixth grade English teacher has us in stitches, mainly because my plus one for this gig tonight actually *is* a high school English teacher. Finally the ‘Tut Tut’ song requires a bit of crowd participation and at this point everyone seems to decide it’s ok to join in and have a bit of a boogie, which obviously serves to rocket the temperature of the room. Anyway, MC Frontalot – I salute you, that was a kickass set, and I shall join your Nerdcore rap movement by subscribing to you on Spotify later.
As Wheatus sneak onto the stage to start setting up, a commotion in the middle of the room is brewing. It seems that a lady has passed out and they’re trying to get her to the fire doors for some air. As Brendan B. Brown calls for security to come over and help before they start, I joke “Well, you’ve got them passing out before you’ve even played a note” and he replies “Ha, well… it’s not my first choice”.
Once the situation has been appropriately handled, the gap in the crowd closes and all eyes turn to the now very cramped stage. Brendan is sporting a rather excellent semi-acoustic guitar whose sound holes are shaped like the Wheatus stylized ‘W’, and yells out a quick hi to the crowd before asking what we want to hear. Now, I knew that for the rest of the tour they’d been taking requests, but I simply wasn’t ready for how far they would go – this night, we had an entirely crowd-curated set list. Mixing hits with B-sides, never before heard-live tracks and the band working their asses off to keep a 63 song repertoire live in their heads, is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen at a gig.
Starting out strong with ‘Pretty Girl’ and then my yelled suggestion ‘Leroy’, I am already absolutely delighted to be here tonight, Brendan’s voice sounds fantastic despite the recent illness, until he has to stop for a short cough-break after ‘Semolina’. “That’s the sound of pneumonia… it’s not Covid, I tested negative five times! This is just regular sick. See they love that!” he laughs as the crowd cheers.
Swigging from a paper coffee cup he quips “I’m actually completely drink and drug free, so when I get the chance to have medicine and 4 shots of espresso, I take it, woo! But yeah don’t do drugs, especially don’t do cocaine it fucks up your nose then you can’t sing the girl part to teenage dirtbag.”
Flowing into ‘Truffles’ with an extensive solo on the end, it’s more like we’re earwigging on a jam session than at a gig, I can’t rave enough about how collaborative and interesting it feels to not just be played *at*. “That was some lead singer gratuitous bullshit there… I decided I’m not a good guitarist halfway through.. was it OK? You don’t have to cheer you know” Brendan says, underestimating a UK crowd who immediately 180 to giggled booing instead. “Oh bollocks” he replies in a British accent.
‘F.B.S.M’ comes with a side story about how this forgotten song was rebuilt due to Neil (in the crowd)’s shitty flip phone recording at a previous gig, which of course galvanizes the record-everything crowd to hold their phones aloft for ‘Temporary Song’. It’s irritating in a small room, and they’ve memorised all 63 of these songs already my guy, put your phone down and enjoy the music.
Perhaps in karmic response, suddenly the stage goes dark as the lighting desk goes kaput and a very frantic fiddling begins to try and fix it. ‘Tipsy’ is played in a blueish twilight (totally useless for the iphone videographer crew, ha), but apparently Saviour tech ‘Archie’ manages to harrass a new board in place before ‘Hump’em n’Dump’Em’ which then morphs into some sort of disco rave situation. Following this, a full crowd karaoke ensues for their hit cover of Erasure’s ‘A Little Respect’, which is weirdly poignant on this Remembrance Sunday, amid the news of Gaza – “We can make love not war”.
When someone yells out ‘Punk Ass Bitch’ I expect to be singing my head off, but they instead play their alternate lyrics version written for Jackie Chan’s Adventures, called ‘Chan’s The Man’. It’s cute, and again something unique… but I am damn well singing the OG lyrics over the top.
‘Marigold Girl’ is a bit of an emo dirge, but you know – so am I, so I liked it. “This song is about a Zombie apocalypse. This is my dead people song. This is a tour first, we haven’t done this yet in the 46 other shows we’ve played, it’s the only one we haven’t played so we’re gonna complete it”. Up next, ‘Sunshine’ is the absolute antithesis of the previous song and it sounds every bit as excellent as teenage me thought it might, back in 2000, listening on a silver CD walkman.
‘Wannabe Gangstar’ has everyone singing along again, into ‘Whole Amoeba’ and when someone yells out “PLAY THE LEICESTER SONG” the band quickly whip up a few bars of funk and call it ours. ‘London Sun’ and ‘Lemonade’, are two of my favourites that aren’t from their debut album and for a final show set of a long tour, plagued by illness and extensions – I am surprised and awed that the band continue to sound this good.
Someone calls out ‘Mr. Brown’ – another great debut album track, and then it’s time for *the song*, ‘Teenage Dirtbag’. Rocking a safari style bucket hat, Bendan says “So, Dirtbag… back in the charts… I don’t know how you did that but it’s down to you, thank you so much. Anyway, we know it’s your song now, not ours. Here we go”, and then it is a deafening crescendo of crowd singing through to the ‘girl part’ which hits the kind of sound barrier that makes neighborhood cats scarper and brain fluid fizz. “You wanna hear me do it?” BBB asks to a chorus of agreement, and thankfully most people understand the brief and let him actually sing the section before ending on a full house high. Oh, but not before we get some inserted bars from the returning MC Frontalot. I love it.
At almost 11pm a few people prematurely head for the doors, but the chants of “one more song” ring out and we get to hear ‘People’. “Thanks for supporting my illness these last few shows, your love is felt. Oh, yes we’ll definitely be back don’t worry” Brendan enthuses. “This song is about how it’s better to have more diverse people, and less of the same people” brings about cheers and clapping, and sadly, the end of an epic set.
This version of the band, although almost entirely changed from the original line-up, have an energy and connectivity that flows so organically that it truly feels as if you’re being swept by the tide of them. I can’t rave enough about how special and interesting this one-of-a-kind show was. Yeah, I know we were number 47 on the roster but, if you weren’t at this one, you’ll never see it again – and that, is the power of live music and a band who are brave enough to let their fans run the show.
It’s one of the hottest days of the year, we’re edging up against the solstice, and we’ve decided to spend the day in a giant greenhouse. Yes, we’ve finally made it back to Eden Project Cornwall, for The Eden Sessions – a series of gigs held in arguably the world’s most beautiful venue. This year so far, Eden has hosted the likes of My Chemical Romance and Noel Gallagher but tonight we’re down for day one of the iconic Nine Inch Nails double-header.
Along with your ticket for one of the Sessions, you are able to visit The Eden Project itself on the day of or the day after your event. Given that standard tickets are around the £30 mark, this is a great way to experience the biomes as an added bonus. We take a tour of the Mediterranean biome first, which is full of citrus, herbs and grapevines – it smells absolutely incredible, but good grief is it hotter than the seventh circle of hell today. There’s so much to see and learn about, but our favourite occupation is lizard spotting.
The bigger Rainforest biome is actually slightly cooler (owing to the canopy and the humidity, we did learn something) and there are water stops all the way around. We took the treetop walk, found some cooling mists and marveled at giant bamboo. Actually, the best bit was all the black-clad gothic types sweating it out, and having a lovely time taking selfies in the daylight for a change. Dipping out of the biomes into the central café, we recharge with burrito wraps and Cornish Cola (yes, it’s a thing) – followed up with ice-cream in the sunshine and a look around the outside garden area. There’s a tipi bar (with special commemorative Sessions cups on offer) and a regular bar, either side of the arena.
Heading into the arena area, a banked-sided perfect bowl amphitheatre, it’s obvious that everyone is going to get a great view from wherever they stand tonight. With around a 6,500 capacity, it’s a smallish venue which definitely makes for an intimate show. Despite the still sizzling heat of the day, the crowd of black tshirts is amassing ready for support act Nitzer Ebb.
Nitzer Ebb (sans Doug McCarthy), 80’s Brit-EDM with a very industrial sound, are raucously good fun – and vocalist Bon Harris’ gives a convincing portrayal of dingy-club-basement-rave, in the Cornish sunshine. I think they’ve managed to secure more than a few new fans tonight.
Nine Inch Nails are hailed in with a wall of smoke so dense that it takes half of intro track ‘Somewhat Damaged’ to even see the outline of Trent Reznor, but when we do – an almighty roar goes up from the arena. It is wild that a band who sell out huge stadiums all over the world, are here tonight in the sleepy leg of England, but there are some die-hard fans here who have travelled great distances for it.
Reznor and bandmate Atticus Ross take no time at all to bring the fury, the full force of Reznor as a performer – backed by an incredible line up of talent (Finck, Cortini, Rubin), it’s already everything we were waiting for. Dressed in a beaten leather jacket and a muscle-hugging black tshirt – it’s clear Reznor has left behind the angsty teen pvc-gloves and visible ennui behind, and is giving off big John Wick vibes. The huge lighting rigs behind beat to the heart-stopping wave of sound for ‘The Day The World Went Away’, and the crowd goes absolutely beserk.
‘Mr. Self Destruct’ and ‘The Frail’ are stunningly epic, and we are treated to a rare outing of ‘Love Is Not Enough’. ‘Wish’ buries itself deep into your soul, but it’s ‘The Perfect Drug’ that just has the entire arena bouncing with wild abandon. There’s a visceral freedom in NIN’s music that allows for chaotic expression, and it’s clear this crowd has come to let it out – the nihilistic need for post-pandemic self-destruction.
Grabbing up a guitar, followed by a saxophone, followed by a tambourine, you get a glimpse of the passion Reznor has for music in all forms – and I can’t help but giggle that he’s basically screaming the iconic lines (you know the ones…) from ‘Closer’ across the sleepy Cornish countryside. I wonder if he finds the juxtaposition as amusing as I do, this certainly isn’t your standard insulated concert venue.
‘Copy of A’ has the whole arena singing/shouting along, and the show is absolutely relentless, with the band taking hardly any breaks between song after heavy song, Reznor is a machine. However he does have time to quip “We love this place, but does the sun ever goddamn go down?! Feeling exposed up here, there’s too much light” – which in retrospect of the following night’s weather, might have been a touch too close to tempting fate.
Referencing our dear friend the global pandemonium, Reznor confides “It’s been disorienting to come out and play shows, but it’s also been fucking great” hitting on the nerve I think many are feeling tonight, before going full grunge cover in homage to late friend and mentor David Bowie, with ‘I’m Afraid of Americans’ and ‘Fashion’.
The night finally descends over Eden, in time for ‘Head Like A Hole’ to absolute bury us in the ecstasy of pure live music joy. The biomes are lit in time with the music, rippling through blues and purples to pure white matching the stage lights. The encore, ‘Everything’ and ‘March of the Pigs’ are amazing, but there may be nothing that comes as close to a perfect concert moment as closer ‘Hurt’ does tonight. The air is vibrating with anticipation as Reznor lines up those opening lyrics, and then it becomes the most gut punching dirge outro you can imagine. We wish there was more, we will there to be more, but it’s over. This one goes down in my personal history of one of the most iconic shows I’ve ever seen. Both the venue and the music, will be hard to live up to.
London based band Bears Den stopped off on their ‘So That You Might Hear Me’ tour at the legendary venue Sheperd’s Bush Empire, in which is a very important place for them as noted during the show as one member was formerly an employee at a local pub just along the same road as the venue. Both London shows were sold out and it was their last UK show before jetting off to play all over Europe.
Arriving at the venue with a capacity of 2000, the room is filled with excitement from the crowd. Whilst patiently waiting for the first act Tusks to arrive on stage, people were sipping at their beverages , chatting amongst themselves with many also observing the merch stall.
The stage was lit with blue lighting with a gentle haze of smoke while two vintage styled rugs were seen covering the floor. Around 8:00pm, the lights began to dim and support act Tusks took to the stage. Tusks is actually the stage name for performer Emily Underhill. Her style of music is most suited to an electronic indie pop genre. Her sound can be likened to that of London Grammar. The artist expressed that she was very grateful to be supporting Bears Den and especially for two consecutive nights as it is a venue she has always dreamed of performing in. Her set showcased a total of six songs including the single ‘Be Mine’, which is featured on her new album that is due for release in June. She was well received with the crowd who were now really looking forward to the headliners.
The stage was cleared quite quickly and was all set up for Bears Den. With guitars all ready and also a little wooden piano. As the lights dimmed they had the most nostalgic sci-fi style intro as the Terminator theme tune played them in. The duo walked on with four supporting musicians. It was still pretty dark with just a few white lights that focused on the band from below as they played their first song ‘Fuel On The Fire’. Shortly after, their second song of the evening saw singer Andrew Davie said how great it was to play the venue again and that we do have more songs to play. The crowd swayed and danced during the performance. When playing ‘Sophie’ the band turned off all equipment and came to the front of the stage and asked for complete silence and kept it simple with an acoustic rendition of the song. They also performed an unplugged song in the crowd later on in the show which was ‘Blankets Of Sorrow’.
When performing, ticket holders enjoyed singing the lyrics along with the band. Bears Den played a wide range of new and classic songs which included music from their latest album which was only released this month (April 2019). The album is due for release just a few short days after this gig at Sheperd’s Bush. Band member Andrew toasted the show with a shot and expressed a huge thank you to everyone who has supported them over the years.
At the end of the evening the band brought their show to a close with probably one of their biggest hits to date. ‘Agape’. It was the perfect way to end the evening. You can catch the band on their European tour and also at Citadel Festival in London on 14th July 2019.
SlamDunk Festival 2017’s lineup promised to pack a punch and after spending the day at the NEC Arena watching one great band after another, the festival proved itself successful in delivery.
Attending both as photographers and a music fan's, we shot and watched the likes of Blackpool derived ‘Boston Manor’, to Texas natives, ‘Waterparks’ and we was not disappointed.
I began my day with ‘Crossfaith’ who unleashed their energy across the Jagermeister stage; with great anticipation from the crowd and an epic countdown intro it only added to the hype. Kenta Kole (Lead singer) came onto stage waving a large flag and beckoned everyone to jump up and down before going into XENO.
Jagerbomb was the third song from their set and the crowd opened up and bodies flew forward keeping the security on their toes.
Crossfaith
Photo: Sophie Jones | Love And Light Images
They also encourage participants of their show to ‘put their middle fingers up’ in salute during the ending of their set. Overall from the start their set packed a punch and was full of engery and if you didn’t get to see these guys you really did miss out.
Setlist:
XENO
MONOLITH
JÄGERBOMB
KILL
OMEN
HELL
LEVIATHAN
VUKOVI
Photo: Sophie Jones | Love And Light Images
Vukovi were one of the new exciting acts gracing the smaller stages around the venue and what a treat it was for those that caught their set. The band have made themselves unavoidable after dropping their riotous debut album earlier this year; making quite a racket on the music scene. Armed with their heavy riffs, super-charged tempo they had the crowd singing and dancing along to each track they played. Front woman Janine Shilstone’s came out singing “La Di Da” and played well into the camera’s creating some great shots for the photographers who were down there.
Boston Manor
Photo: Hollie Turner | HollieVFilm
As previously mentioned Blackpool lads, ‘Boston Manor’ made full use of their slot during the festival over on The Key Club stage. They proved themselves to be tough contenders for the main stages sometime soon, after they pummelled themselves through their set, much to the crowd surfers delight.
Bury Tomorrow
Photo: Hollie Turner | HollieVFilm
‘Bury Tomorrow’ played the Jagermeister stage in their usual style. Screaming and growling for photographers, and telling the audience to crowd surf as much as possible during their set.
Don Broco
Photo: Hollie Turner | HollieVFilm
‘Don Broco’ also playing the Jagermeister stage encouraged their fans to ‘get the fuck down’ before then telling them to jump back up from the arena floor as the music kicked in.
Cute Is What We Aim For
Photo: Hollie Turner | HollieVFilm
‘Cute Is What We Aimed For’ provided fans with a much needed throwback, to their old teen favourites including ‘The Curse of Curves’. Happy fans even got to meet lead singer Shaant Hacikyan who was very grateful and humble to his long time loyal fans.
Deaf Havana
Photo: Hollie Turner | HollieVFilm
Deaf Havana were also lucky enough to score a slot on one of this years main stages, playing their set as the night began in a run up to the headline acts.
Madina Lake
Photo: Sophie Jones | Love And Light Images
After a four-year hiatus Madina Lake return to play the Impericon stage at SDF17.The crowd waited with anticipation and one by one each member came out before quickly dropping into their first track but it wasn’t long before Nathan Leone flew over the top of the photographers heads landing in the crowd and he did this more than once. It was a comeback performance that everyone should of seen and Nathan made it a very up close and personal experience for those who attended their set.
Enter Shikari
Photo: Hollie Turner | HollieVFilm
Enter Shikari finished up the festival on the Jagermeister stage with a bang. Lead singer Rou Reynolds, flailed his arms about in an 80’s style conservative outfit. This band were definitely the band of the festival for me. They exploded with instruments, energy, and a colourful, laser themed set that was like electricity to be a part of.
Shikari’s summed up how I and thousands of other gig goers felt about this years Slam Dunk in one lyric ‘this is all I need to feel alive…’
“ I thought the queuing system was better this year; faster and the bags check were more thorough so I felt a lot safer considering recent events in Manchester. The performances were good and the sound, lighting etc were good; although on a couple of stages due to technical issues it resulted in sets being shorter. Also the atmosphere was great and I felt safe the whole time, which is important in my opinion, the staff working at the venue were friendly and helpful! Only thing id complain about is I’d like to have had a map like previous years with the stage times on the back which weren’t given out like before” – Freya
“ Once again Slam Dunk didn’t disappoint this year; It’s the only place where you can bump into people you’ve just seen or will be seeing on the stages, its so laid back and causal. The loyalty and passion of the crowds is always a warm sight from hardcore fans in the pits to newcomers searching for a new sound or act to listen too. Acts like Crossfaith that are building a huge fan base due to their wild style and high energy its easy to see why people turn up every year. Acts like I Prevail, Madina Lake and Enter Shikari who are legends in the industry are the types of diversity a festival needs and Slam Dunk give you that and is a perfect introduction to a festival if your just starting out” – Sam
“ Getting into the festival and security was so much faster and efficient this year and the lay out the venue was good and easier to get around given last year stages were far apart; Only part of the layout I didn’t like was at the main stage it was only accessible from the one side. Some acts were late on stage and I think their needs to be more people helping between sets to strip and set up the gear. I think some acts needed bigger stages like I Prevail as it was there first time in the UK. Also I wish there was more food options next year as there wasn’t much choice.
The staff were very friendly and helpful given what has happened recently; I felt very safe and I even twisted my foot at the show and the second I fell down everybody helped me back up and made sure I got out safely; when I got checked out they were kind and helpful so big up to the staff. Overall id give a 9/10" – Jak
Review: Sophie Jones And Hollie Turner Photographers: Sophie Jones And Hollie Turner
