Live Reviews

Jamie Lenman took his Road To Lenmania to Saint Luke's in Glasgow for an evening of live music which saw him performing two special live sets. One of these an acoustic set pre-supports and then a full-on triumphant headlining set to round off an incredibly special night.

Having been around for nearly two decades, Comeback Kid have spent the entirety of their career churning out a seemingly endless stream of metal-infused hardcore punk tracks influencing countless younger bands along the way. Tonight in the DIY punk surroundings of Boston Music Room they took to the stage alongside British hybrid outfit Svalbard.

Tonight BABYMETAL play their first headline show in Britain in 3 years. Even more exciting is that the rumour mills are going crazy, apparently there’s a new face in the band. With the band ending the night with a huge announcement, BABYMETAL at Brixton was a night set to go down in history.

This year has already seen indie-rock outfit Foals release their first record of the year Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost - Part 1 and in support of this they have recently been out on an arena tour across the UK and Ireland. We headed to the Bournemouth date of the tour where support came from Yak to see their ferocious live show in all its glory and dance away our Wednesday night in style.

Redhook kick us off on the final day at Download and as it happens, it's their second show of the weekend, following the Aussies' Saturday lunchtime acoustic set for Carlsberg. Today, they ramp things right up on a nearly astronomical scale to a tent that's absolutely packed for 11 in the morning.

Despite the weather-related camping challenges at this year’s Download, a decent sized crowd have woken up early and amassed at the Avalanche Stage to watch Parting Gift open the stage on day two.

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.