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From Thursday 05 October 2023

LIVE: Highly Suspect @ O2 Forum Kentish Town

A Highly Suspect show is very much a family affair. The crowd is scattered with balding dads taking their teenagers to their first rock show and, to their credit, it’s a good choice for a first experience. When they’re on form, Highly Suspect are a rock band who deserve

Wednesday 27 September 2023

LIVE: Reading Festival – Saturday + Sunday

As another day of Reading Festival dawns, the girls in bikinis have switched to tracksuits for comfort and the need for coffee becomes more urgent. Fortunately, a day of hardcore awaits with enough heat to blister paint, let alone merely drive off autumnal chills. Words: Kate Allvey. Images: Abbi Draper-Scott All

Tuesday 26 September 2023

LIVE: Burn it Down Festival, Torquay

Now in its fifth year, Burn it Down Festival has evolved from its tentative beginnings into a well-organised two-day event, boasting a diverse line-up of up-and-coming rock and metal acts across its multi-venue harbourside setting. Bringing a host of moderate-sized touring acts to Torquay and plonking them smack bang in the

Monday 25 September 2023

LIVE: Hot Mulligan / Spanish Love Songs @ Kentish Town Forum

Tonight is one of those shows that reminds you why you do this. The tube was out of commission so we all had to re-route, it was twenty six degrees even after the sun had set, and the crowd had packed themselves in like Tetris cubes half an hour

LIVE: Reading Festival 2023 – Friday

Is Reading still a rock festival? The last half decade has seen a slow descent into pop acts. The teeth bared by previous headliners have definitely been blunted and worn down. However, while Reading’s no longer snarling in your face, there are more than enough vicious acts lurking among

Friday 15 September 2023

LIVE: Mutoid Man @ Oslo, London

Mutoid Man are not what they seem. Beneath layers of fuzz and noise there’s an intricacy, and a ferocious intelligence, in everything they touch. The four hundred people crammed into the sold-out Oslo in Hackney know that well. The crowd is overwhelmingly male (around ten women can be spotted

Wednesday 13 September 2023

LIVE: Chris Farren @ The Lexington, London

Chris Farren shows are less concerts and more emotional exhibitions. He takes us on a guided tour of his sincerity via gently cynical humour, dynamic animations and a bucketful of heart. Formerly the frontman of Fake Problems, Farren is now a cult sensation

Thursday 07 September 2023

LIVE: Magnolia Park @ Boston Music Room, London

Outside, the late summer sun drifts into autumn here in the year 2023. But inside the Boston Music Room, it’s springtime circa 2006. It’s the evening of Magnolia Park’s festival warmup show, some three days before they would take to the stage at Reading and Leeds, and it’s very

Tuesday 05 September 2023

LIVE: ArcTanGent Festival 2023 – Saturday

Saturday starts with the muddy remnants of the previous day’s rain still lingering, but with the weather looking slightly brighter. Everyone is dirty, sleepy, and exhausted but taps into their final stores of energy for another stacked bill of the best bands heavy music has to offer. Words: Ash Bebbington

Monday 04 September 2023

LIVE: ArcTanGent Festival 2023 – Friday

ArcTanGent is the sort of festival where more you put in, the more you get out. Almost all of the bands on the bill are underground, so there’ll be a good chunk of bands you’ll have never heard of. However, the curators are incredible at what they do, so