Live Reviews

There are more encouraging build ups to a major UK summertime festival than an entire week of continuous, heavy rain, but for the regulars of Download Festival, it’s nothing out of the ordinary. Lovingly nicknamed Drownload, it’s often plagued by inclement weather, but while clothes, bodies and campsites may be sodden before a single band has even played a note, it takes more than adverse conditions to dampen the spirits of UK metal fans.

2019 sees Taking Back Sunday celebrating 20 years as a band by embarking on a world-wide anniversary tour. We headed to the Bristol show to see them perform debut album Tell All Your Friends along with a second set of their favourite tracks from across their career.

Fever 333 are no ordinary live band. With their interlaced combination of charismatic chaos and uncompromising lyricism, the enormous line that formed outside of London’s Electric Ballroom spoke a thousand words regarding how quickly they have gained a serious following.

The Barrowlands is a legendary venue. Easily Glasgow’s best, and though it’s criminally underused these days, when a band books there it tends to be a sign of “we know we’re on top form and we need a venue that can handle that.” What tonight proves is that there’s an exception to every rule.

Booking the cavernous O2 Academy in Glasgow is a bold move for Fatherson. The band have long had a dedicated cult size following, packing out smaller venues all around the country, but this is a seriously big room. It’s a real statement of intent for this band, a sign they want to be on those bigger stages, and if this show is anything to go by they’re liable to get there.

Toronto’s Alexisonfire had been quiet for most of 2018, but since the beginning of this year they have already sent shockwaves through the industry and fans alike with their two new singles 'Familiar Drugs' and 'Complicit'. The band's resurgence into touring was met with a scorching hot reception at Alexandra Palace, both in weather and vibes.

Can you believe Slam Dunk Festival has come round again? The yearly Bank Holiday celebration of noise and shenanigans officially holds its own as a gigantic bat signal, announcing the arrival of festival season to masses of alternative music fans across the UK.

Over the course of its fourteen year history, The Great Escape has set itself an extremely high standard to maintain, yet each year it somehow exceeds expectations. We leave Brighton with a fresh new list of unearthed talent and immediately hit the countdown timer in anticipation for doing it all again next year. Here's what we got up to on our third and final day...

After a successful first day at we’re welcomed on day two by glorious sunshine, so what better way to start than to head to The Great Escape's purpose built pop-up stage directly on the beach. Here's what we got up to on the Friday of the festival!

Brighton’s annual festival of musical discovery, The Great Escape, is one of the major opening acts of the British festival season and every year it sets an ever-raising bar for the rest to follow. The endearing, close-knit setting combined with a line-up that covers all genres imaginable, from an array of countries, provides a level of diversity and variation that you simply can’t find anywhere else over the festival season, making this annual weekend of discovery a truly unique and memorable experience.