Live Reviews

Set away from the wandering eye, down two dingy sides streets and decorated in what looks like a Sons of Anarchy’s Motorbike collection is Camden’s hidden gem of a venue, The Black Heart. Tonight we are here to welcome Canadian rockers The Dirty Nil to their first ever UK show! With its usual broody buzz, on top of a free show on offer, the venue is filling up nicely for a Thursday night.

Following the release of their debut EP Come Get Some, tonight saw punk outfit Counterfeit playing their debut show in London’s O2 Islington Academy. With support coming from Dead! and Straight Lines, this sold out show looked set to be an early Christmas treat.

Just under a year on from their sold out show at Electric Ballroom, Japanese quartet One OK Rock made their return to London. With this being the final date of their UK run of shows this year we had high hopes, especially with support coming from Dead! and We Came As Romans.

A dull Friday night in Bournemouth looked set to be turned around when we walked into O2 Academy for Scouting For Girls tour date in support of their Still Thinking About You album. We’ve made it no secret that we’re fans of the band having been at their previous Bournemouth show when we had a chat to them beforehand, so we knew tonight was set to be memorable.

Renowned as London's borough of live rock and metal music, there's no better place in the Capital to host a festival than in Camden. The annual Camden Rocks Festival was upon us at the end of last month, completely taking over the venues across Camden High Street and beyond - here's how we spent our glorious Saturday afternoon!

Every once in a while, the British scene gets graced with a truly great band, Fort Hope are one of these. Following on from the release of their Manne of Lawe EP they’ve embarked on a hefty 22 date tour, including a sold-out date at London’s Barfly. We couldn’t help but have a feeling feel that tonight was going to be something pretty great.

You want to invite us to a ‘Hometown Brodown’ tour you say? Well, okay - we don’t mind if we do! With some of the UK’s best up and coming talent on offer in Adelphia, Breathe In The Silence, Pavilions and of course, the almighty dirt, it would be hard not to. Each of the four shows have been catering to each bands’ town of origin, and tonight it’s the turn of London, where (at least a few of) the lads in dirt hail from.

A crowded room with a sticky floor, other people’s bodily fluids, and an almost inevitable hangover looming the next day might not be everyone’s idea of a good Wednesday night, but if we’re perfectly honest, there’s not many other places we’d rather be. Tonight, As Lions are out in force to dominate Camden Barfly, and they achieve their aims entirely.

Any losses on bar tonight are easily made up in the droves of young fans who’ve parted ways for tickets to see what we can comfortably assume are their idols. It’s clear that this is a tour that has worked very, very well, merging You Me At Six and All Time Low - the crème de la crème from both sides of the Atlantic - in such a way that’s so commendable, it’s almost genius.

When you’re genuinely questioning whether or not a band are miming for the best part of 30 minutes, something’s either gone horrifically wrong or very, very right. Fortunately for dirt, it’s the latter. Tonight, the band play their debut - and sold out - show to celebrate the long-awaited release of EP Mirrors at London’s Islington Academy 2.