“Nu-grunge” band Overgrown kicked off the day, unusually do this with persistent smiles, performing a slightly gloomier and bass heavy nu-metal revival set, that might not have sounded out of place on The Matrix soundtrack. They clearly impress the crowd within a few minutes. Frontman Callum Tee Morsche thanks everybody for arriving early, and laughs when thanked back by fans for making the long trip from Berwick-upon-Tweed (the northernmost town in England) to the south coast. Introducing new song Give Up as “probably the heaviest song we’ve got”, bassist Will Taylor acknowledged that “it’s a bit early for a mosh pit, but a bit of head nodding will do us”. They get just that, and would likely have got more later in the day.

It is just 2PM, and as Artio arrive on the main stage, the audience is already bigger than it had been for most of Friday. Vocalist Rae Brazill has remorselessly decided that now is time for everybody to get far angrier. Focused upon contemporary culture looking into a dark future, damaged by past generations, Artio define their mood pretty clearly when opening a song entitled Head In The Sand, Finger Of The Trigger with a scream of “what in the post-apocalyptic fucked up shit is this?”. Still, Brazill looks ecstatic to introduce Patty Walters and Benjamin Biss of As It Is onto the stage to sing recent collaboration Full On Fight For Fun.

Making their third visit to the festival, to perform for their “Takedown family” as vocalist/bassist Cait Bowyer lovingly calls the crowd, pop-punks Slackrr’s mood is more consistently optimistic. In fact, it is bright and summery enough that vocalist/guitarist Scotty Perry is wearing sunglasses indoors. Neither singer can go a single song without switching microphones, cheerily darting across the stage and switching places. It is to be expected when performing songs like Better Days, which Perry describes as “a song about overcoming your darkest hour”. This is likely the case for most of them.

The aesthetic is all-change once again when gothic rock duo Zetra appear, who with black and white corpse paint, and a backdrop of rippling water, appear to have developed an allergy to colour. Although their bass hum doom introduction, and physical imagery was ominous to begin with, there is something much calmer about their performance itself. The electronic beats, Jordan Page’s synthesiser, and the duo’s breathy and clean vocals have an unusually cold presence, both against Adam Saunderson’s guitar, and within today’s line-up as a whole.

Within their thirty-minutes onstage, even without a stage show and masks (more on that later), Lastelle’s post-hardcore performance and presence feels like the biggest of the day, and it is of no surprise that they were invited back after just one year, moved to the main stage, allegedly due to popular demand. The packed out main hall definitely believed it, and likely wouldn’t be surprised if the same claim were made in a couple of years when they perform much higher up the bill. This is the festival that squeezed Sleep Token onto its bill just three years ago, and this year were bold enough to book a band with just one EP as a headliner.

Could Takedown have the audacity to claim Lastelle as their next big discovery? I think so. Every chorus of the set sounds like a booming finale, as vocalist Adam Rigozzi screams, high kicks and beats his chest. The unique appearance of trumpet by multi-instrumentalist Fred Whatmore in songs such as Pine and Bitter Roots, brings an illusion of a production far larger with more personality. Before finishing their set with Breath Me In, Adam Rigozzi signs off as though it is still their first visit – “some of you might not know who we are”. They do now, and there was a very long queue to meet them at the merch hall.

Another act aiming for big sound, and very much succeeding, are Vower. Expect no less of a progressive post-rock supergroup of sorts, featuring former members of Palm Reader (vocalist Josh McKeown) and Black Peaks (guitarist Joe Gosney, and drummer Liam Kearley). The spooky feedback and jagged math beats are still there for anyone who wants to hear their next chapter, and there are many here. Even Gosney is taken aback by the scale of the response when he asks who saw him with his last band, and he felt sure that more people cheered than had even been at the festival before – “it doesn’t make sense!”.

Noisy post-punk trio MOULD, on the surface, sound like substantially less organised chaos. The dual shouting vocals of Joe Sherrin and Kane Eagle clash with one another, over the top of very unpredictable skilled rhythm changes by drummer James Buxton, shows just how much they revel in their shambolic but deceptively deliberate sound.

So, onto the masked electronic-tinged metalcore headliners PRESIDENT. Let’s get it out of the way. There is no way that it is not Charlie Simpson of Busted and Fightstar fame. There is even a singalong of Year 3000 in the crowd before the encore.

As of yet, the character has not offered much. Regardless of who is behind the mask, there does not seem like much reasoning behind the waxwork-like character. As of yet, it is as empty as a political reference can be. Without context, it looks as though they are riding on the coattails of the coolness of complaining about politics, but have not got any further than calling their band PRESIDENT.

They have a blank canvas waiting to be a much more intriguing and complex project. The true mystery today is what the band could bring to the table for their first festival headlining set, kicking off their new tour. It could be so much more. What about their forty-seventh performance could make an ecstatic audience brag forevermore that “I was there when on the day that PRESIDENT…”?

Now that it is here, very little has changed about the show since the act’s debut performance at Download Festival 2025. There are more lights, there is a big glowing logo, and branded balaclavas at the merch stand. The performance is just forty-minutes long, with ten-minutes of it taken up by pre-recorded monologues (an atmospheric reading of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, used to introduce the debut performance of their new song Mercy, is longer that the song itself), and time spent offstage while waiting for their encore. There is also still a reliance on a cover song to pad it out, though it is a good one – Deftones’ Change (in the House of Flies).

Nobody seems remotely disappointed though, and the atmosphere is electric, although the audience is more still than they had been for the last couple of main stage acts. As opposed to throwing themselves around, nobody wants to miss a second. They are absorbed as he alternates between slowly moving and groaning like a creaky old man during shuffling electronic verses, and bursting into motion, skipping across the stage during each roaring chorus.

As the final address to the “Citizens of Portsmouth” concludes with “stay alert, and above all, stay loud” there is a roar of applause. It has been a deafening couple of days. However, an excited audience seems motivated rather than worn out. If today really has been about hinting at what heavy music means and what it could become PRESIDENT, and Takedown as a whole have done a decent job of continuing to tease us all.

Live review of Takedown Festival 2026 at Portsmouth Guildhall on 4th April 2026 by Nick Pollard. Photography by Rebecca Cairns. Photography of President @ Download Festival XXII by Sarah Louise Bennett.

Takedown Festival 2026 – Friday: Honouring Legacy, Fuelled By Riffs

The Wildhearts - Takedown Festival @ Portsmouth Guildhall

The Wildhearts - Takedown Festival @ Portsmouth Guildhall (Rebecca Cairns)

One week before the festival, the former Motörhead guitarist Phil Campbell sadly passed away after complications from surgery, aged 64. Northern Irish alternative metal trio Therapy? were announced as headliners of the main stage just days before the event. However, even without Campbell there in person, his presence and influence is felt all weekend, not least when there is a “minute of noise” in his memory on the main Kerrang Phil Campbell Stage.

The festival begins on the Total Rock Stage with Hampshire’s own Stone Soup, who perform a sludgy but energetic stoner rock set, entirely of material ready for their upcoming third album. Well, almost ready, as lead vocalist Paul Davis admits that the introduction to new song Chronos is not yet finished, and asked that guitarist Chris Gilday improvise an opening. Even during Broken Scales, a song about financial problems (“alright Portsmouth, it’s time to get angry!”), there is no convincing anybody that they are not having fun, however furiously Davis played his tambourine. Just try to look and keep a straight face when someone is wearing a pink tea cosy on one’s head (as he did during Fuzzy Brain).

Welsh-American supergroup Kill The Lights formed in 2019, when Bullet For My Valentine’s original drummer Michael “Moose” Thomas wanted to return to his heavy metal roots, making them appropriate for today’s tributes, even with their more modern melodic metalcore sound. Now with the addition of a second former BFMV member, bassist and backing vocalist Jay James, there is noticeably a lot of nostalgic glee amongst both the band and the crowd (even though he joined five years ago), as he begins to growl during Scapegoat. As more people arrive, there were more clapping hands aloft, peaking with latest single Iron Bite.

Asomvel are rooted very much in riff-heavy hard rockin’, rollin’, and making sure that they do so at such a volume that everyone notices (with a ridiculous array of amplifiers). It is to be expected of any band with such song titles as Born To Rock ‘N’ Roll, Louder And Louder, and If It’s Too Loud, You’re Too Old. They even roll out a cover of Motörhead’s Born to Raise Hell – one of many tributes across the weekend.

South Of Salem, members of a New Wave of Classic Rock resurgence, push the horror aesthetic further in a fun direction, with a stage set-up featuring glowing coffins, cheerleaders, and a spooky green and pink haze that turns blood red with vocalist Joey Draper’s every scream. The chorus of Static got a lot of people singing as the band dropped out, and Draper turned his microphone on the crowd, regardless of whether or not it was working, as the beginning of the set was plagued with technical difficulties. For anyone curious, their hometown of Bournemouth is indeed further south than Salem.

On the Total Rock Stage, hard rock heavy hitters King Kraken are not content with choosing between either volume and horror. Frontman Mark Donoghue, clad in a Phil Campbell t-shirt and a kilt, makes clear just how absorbed he was in his music. Whenever he isn’t singing, he closes his eyes and waggles his fingers like a conductor – “make some noise! Make some fucking noise!”. Whether he is instructing his band, or their audience, they succeed on that front, as he delivers a monologue about gloomy goings on “deep in the forest”, and howls lyrics inspired by The Evil Dead during Chainsaw Saviour.

Instrumental sludge and stoner rock duo Wall may be the act that one would have expected to deviate from classic riffs, especially considering some of their influences. The twin brothers have cited names such as Radiohead and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, as those who shaped some of their “spacey and ambient” moments, but today they bring fewer of these extended squeals and atmospheric whirrs of feedback. That is not to say there is anything remotely generic and simple to follow, as complex rhythms cannot make up their minds for long. The most straightforward moment is actually a cover of desert rock band Karma To Burn’s Nineteen.

Second from the top of the bill are The Wildhearts. Just days before this performance, frontman Ginger Wildheart revealed that he suffered from aggressive cancer, and had decided against treatment. Despite the upsetting announcement, the band choose not to make the performance any more sentimental than they have to.

Over the next forty-five minutes, not only does the normally very talkative Ginger choose not to speak much, but he chooses not to even sing very much either. Instead, The Wildhearts perform only five songs, and a gargantuan medley of riff after riff, with total abandonment of their latest album. They make the very respectable and entertaining decision to cram as much as physically possible into what little time that they had onstage. Ginger smiles almost non-stop through the set. As they finish final song Chutzpah, he nods approvingly to guitarist Ben Marsden, and then proudly the room at the applauding crowd, giving everyone a thumbs-up.

After three years, InMe make their eagerly awaited return to Takedown, this time headlining the Metal For Good stage. To celebrate thirty years as a band, and twenty years of their sophomore album White Butterfly, they perform every track from it. There is “a bit of a side quest” when they perform new song Prove Yourself before getting “back to butterfly business” as very sweaty frontman Dave McPherson described it.

It is quickly apparent how much the album means to some in the audience, who heckle for various tracks from it, although McPherson is quick-witted in response – “we’re kind of doing it in order. It’s coming. We’ll get there.”, only to play You’ll Get There. He seems to respect the intelligence of their audience enough to make a pun that way, particularly after saying that this was the first audience not to have anybody ask him what the title of the album’s title track is. Yes, it is White Butterfly.

The only reason that that there isn’t much physical movement is just how tightly packed the room is – this hour-long set belongs on a larger stage, and the many fans left watching from outside the door would agree. When the room became slightly more sparse, as the main stage headliners are about to begin, there is just enough room for McPherson to perform Safe In A Room (another pun?) from the middle of the crowd, and for there to finally be enough breathing space for moshing chaos during Just A Glimpse.

As Friday draws to a close, Takedown Festival proves that even in the face of loss, the spirit of heavy music is unshakable. What could have been a sombre opening instead becomes a powerful tribute — not just to Phil Campbell, but to the enduring legacy of the genre he helped shape. Across three stages, riffs reigned supreme, blending nostalgia with raw, unfiltered energy from both veterans and rising acts alike.

There’s a sense of unity running through the Guildhall — a shared understanding that heavy music isn’t just about volume or aggression, but about community, catharsis, and carrying something forward. From heartfelt tributes to sweat-soaked celebrations, Friday sets the tone with grit and reverence in equal measure. Where does it go next? With a whole second day still to come, Takedown looks ready to answer that — loudly.

Live review of Takedown Festival 2026 at Portsmouth Guildhall on 3rd April 2026 by Nick Pollard. Photography by Rebecca Cairns.

The Wildhearts vs. Meryl Streek Ignite London’s O2 Academy Islington

Creeper @ Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth

Creeper @ Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth (Simon Reed)

After the lights go down, black-clad openers The Howling, comprised of As Sirens Fall and James And The Cold Gun alum, come on to the monologue of The Louvin Brother’s Satan Is Real. As their frontman lets out a demonic cackle, over abrasive feedback, he addresses the crowd: “Portsmouth! How the devil are ya?”. With entertaining theatrical emo songs with names such as New Religion and Unholy, one would have thought that there was a deadly serious ungodly pattern emerging. That is until they perform “a song you might know” – Madonna’s Like A Prayer, laced with guitar solos and growled chorus.

It is precisely what they position on the bill, before glamorous gothic rockers Creeper who rise from the underworld in favour of a different realm of evil. Opening monologue A Shadow Stirs introduces rock music as “a horny vampire, and tonight it is feasting upon you”. The performance does not have a narrative as such (although the setlist is built almost exclusively of songs from their latest two concept albums Sanguivore and its sequel Sanguivore II: Mistress of Death), this overture does suggests that a full, face-melting experience has been planned out. After all, they are about a rock band of vampires (“glampires” maybe?) on tour during the 1980s.

And the setlist has been planned out peculiarly intricately, the very moment at which frontman Will Gould removes his eyepatch is marked on his setlist. Already, it feels as though the lucky four-hundred fans who are crammed into the sold-out Wedgewood Rooms, are here to watch an intimate work-in-progress performance, before the theatrics are introduced on a much, much bigger stage. After all, they have supported both Black Veil Brides (2024) and Ice Nine Kills (2025) at Wembley Arena. However, everything feels far more polished than that, even squeezed into here.

There is an admirable attempt by everybody to sing along to the over the top, operatic oohs and aahs, that start opener Mistress Of Death. Gould’s lyrics, along with the maximalist sound of the band, are a sure sign of influence from Jim Steinman. “Mistress of death, angelic underworld huntress / Lay down on me, sister, the sharpest kiss of death” sounds like a lost verse from Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell. It is of no surprise then, that Creeper also took a shot at writing a nine-minute song, Further Than Forever, and they nailed every second of its performance tonight.

Gould has unfathomable control over the adoring fans, who always know exactly what to do – “when I do this [points mic at already screaming crowd], you do that”. The rapid, heavy, Judas Priest-influenced Headstones induces one of the show’s biggest mosh pits. Anybody who is feeling too hot and sweaty could be fanned with foam headstones that were being waved around.

There is a tease of a change of mood at the beginning of Sacred Blasphemy with the sound of Hannah Greenwood’s twinkling piano, but not all concept albums need miserable melancholy. This lasts only a few seconds before blasting into motion, right up until the song’s big, spectacular key change chorus (of which there are quite a few tonight).

Halfway through the show, Gould leaves the stage to hand the spotlight to Greenwood, for a powerful, slinky and seductive performance of Razor Wire. She is introduced as the album’s titular Mistress Of Death. It’s quite an imposing title to have to live up to, but once again, the lyrics make her character work believable, regardless of whether or not this is a play – “decapitation is a lifestyle, baby/Come on and give me your head/To crave my kiss implies sadistic desire to touch/razor wire”. This song even had a finger-clicking and piano section that sounded uncannily like The Addams Family. It goes to show their playful use of horror imagery, which is a passion that harks all the way back to their debut album, even if none of its songs are performed tonight.

Upon returning to the stage, Gould devoted The Crimson Bride to his father, who was somewhere in the audience. Once upon a time, his last band performed at the smaller secondary venue next door (The Edge Of Yhe Wedge), and he told the story of how his father bought everyone drinks. There are a few too many people here to do that tonight. After an emotional performance of More Than Death, he gives a very honest thank you. Whatever scale of performance Creeper puts on next (this feels like a show that needs a much larger stage, as soon as possible), this room will clearly mean a lot to them forever. It is as though selling out “the big room” had been on their bucket list all along.

Live review of Creeper at The Wedgewood Rooms, Southsea on 11th April 2026 by Nick Pollard. Photography by Simon Reed / Musical Pictures.

Henge Bring Psychedelic Rock From Parts Unknown To Portsmouth’s Wedgewood Rooms

Ure is entitled to take as long a break as he wants. However, he is just as aggravated with himself, as his fanbase might be. “No! You should be rude and ask why it took so long, because I ask myself that as well”. I got to speak to Ure about how moments in his artistic career are still felt today, and with a new album and tour on its way in May and June 2026, why he still feels more is yet to come.

Midge Ure

Midge Ure (Nathan Roach)

Creating The New Album

“There is a whole slew of factors. There is no record label banging on your door insisting this has to be ready for the summer, like they used to. There’s no clock counting down to the day you get kicked out of the studio, so you don’t have that deadline looming over you anymore.”

His upcoming double album A Man Of Two Worlds, and its accompanying tour, represents staring a lot of creative and practical hardships in the face to create a huge project, and it all began with the COVID-19 lockdown.

“There’s the fact that I do this 99% of this alone. The only way I can gauge if it’s good or not is to walk away from it and do something else. During lockdown, when I was writing songs, there was nothing to walk away to! I couldn’t just go out on tour and play a few dates to clear my head, and then go back and listen to it.”

The new album has two distinct halves – one album of songs, and one album of instrumentals. Experimenting with instrumentals was key in the process of the concept of A Man Of Two Worlds coming to fruition.

“I ended up with an album that I thought was two albums until I played it to a friend, and he said “no, these are sister and brother. These two things belong together. They were created in the same environment, at the same time, have the same essence, the same atmosphere, the same melodic structure – they belong together”. And that excited me – the idea of putting out a double album”.

Ultravox and instrumental music throughout Ure’s career

While this is the first instrumental album of Ure’s career, he has dabbled with individual instrumental tracks on most of his albums. He seems almost fascinated by the additional challenges, and his voice noticeably escalates as he lists all of their components.

“Instrumental music is very different from writing a backing track and forgetting to write the lyrics. It’s a piece of music that has to stand up on its own right, and tell its own little story, which can mean something different for everyone. But do it without the aid of lyrics, without the big chorus, or without a big build-up to the chorus, or the mid-section, or the intimate verse”.

He remains remorseless for opening even Ultravox’s biggest album, 1980’s Vienna, with a 7-minute instrumental. Even the length of the synth-pop, smash hit, title track was too long for many radio playlists (an epic 4:37). “The Americans weren’t happy about it! They freaked when we played them the album. They said we had to change the running order, because we had to start with the radio-friendly hits. And we said no! It starts like that because that’s how we want it to start. That’s a lovely way to start it, I think. But, I’ve always been a bit awkward”.

Ultravox lost their argument, and the running order was changed on US pressings. Ure reflects upon what he thinks captured so many listeners’ imaginations, even though record execs might not have seen Vienna as an accessible record.
“The thing that made it work was that none of it was sequenced, and all of it was played live – it was human. There are a lot of electronics in it, but there are a lot of traditional rock instruments in there as well. A lot of guitar throughout it. A lot of the music that came out straight after that, using new technology, was all sequenced and quantised, and the human element was really taken out of it. All very robotic, where a lot of the old – stuff really wasn’t.”

Creating a new live experience

The A Man Of Two Worlds tour will be another departure from the norm. The concept of the tour had been brewing for a while, before the decision was made to put a new album out in 2026. Ure decided that it would be unfair to unleash a wave of unfamiliar material on an audience in one go. He explains that those older instrumental tracks will be integral to how the performance unfolds.

“This time around, I wanted to add more of the older instrumental stuff. So I figured out how to incorporate them in amongst all this other stuff. The way that I’m thinking of doing it is to kind of sequence maybe half of the show where it’s non-stop, and it takes people on a journey. Maybe starting with an instrumental piece, which morphs straight into an album track, which morphs straight into a single of some description, which morphs straight into something else, and then goes back into another instrumental piece.”

Midge Ure

Midge Ure (Coal Poet Media)

Metal Gear Solid and finding a new audience today

Ure is well aware that with such a lengthy career and so many projects, that he is going to have a variety of fans at his concerts (“50% of the audience who come and see you, probably don’t know more than 5% of what you’ve done, because they are there with their other halves!”), but not even he had anticipated that he would “touch base with a youth gaming audience, that [he] didn’t even know existed”.

In 2015, Ultravox’s Dancing With Tears In My Eyes, and a solo cover of David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold The World, both recorded during the 1980s, featured in the popular video game Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. Over the following years, they would both become the most streamed songs of his entire catalogue. So, how does it feel to become a part of a new entertainment medium at this stage?

“It’s fantastic. When Ultravox got back together again (in 2013), Hideo Kojima who was the creator and director of Metal Gear Solid, who I didn’t know, was a massive Ultravox fan, and he turned up to see Ultravox in London. Through his interpreter, he said “I want to use your version of The Man Who Sold The World”, and I said okay, thinking that it would never happen. But of course, it did! Hideo Kojima and I have become friends since that point. So it was quite something.”

It was a similar resurgence to that of Kate Bush classic Running Up That Hill, after the song was used in the Stranger Things soundtrack. Speaking of whom, Ure was also lucky enough to collaborate with the enigmatic singer when she appeared on his 1988 track Sister And Brother.

“It was wonderful. I’m a huge Kate fan. I’m just annoyed that I wasn’t in the studio when she sang it. I gave her the multi-track tape and sent it across to her studio, not expecting to hear anything for weeks. She was in the middle of her own album. Then she called up a few days later, and said “do you want to come over and hear what I’ve done?”. I expected just a single Kate vocal, and of course there was a Kate choir on the end! I just stood at the back of the room with a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye. It’s Kate Bush singing my song, this is just ludicrous.”

Live Aid lives on (In the West End)

Ure is no stranger to collaboration, and of course, philanthropy, having co-wrote and produced the 1984 charity single Do They Know It’s Christmas, performed by the supergroup Band Aid, organised with Bob Geldof. He also organised the legendary Live Aid and Live 8 charity concerts with Geldof. In 2024, musical Just For One Day opened at The Old Vic in London, telling the story of the original Live Aid. However, as Ure explains, that this almost wasn’t the case.

“When they kept coming to us, asking if we could do a musical, we (the Band Aid Trust) kept saying no, because it’s such a miserable story to tell. The whole point of Band Aid and Live Aid was all about famine. They managed to tell the story incredibly well, so it was very balanced, and it wasn’t just fluff and nonsense. They asked the awkward, cynical and important questions that had been asked over the years about why it had to happen. The whole thing was funny, and poignant, and incredibly touching at times.”.

Over forty years since the original single and concert, their importance is still felt, and the Band Aid Trust continues to raise money. The musical’s first run rose over a million pounds for the trust, and it will soon tour around the UK.
“We tend to think that it’s such a weird thing to write a musical about, but we forget that it was a massive social moment. A historic social moment when the masses stood up and said “this isn’t right – we need to do something about this”, and it was at a time when music was still powerful enough to carry that.”

Whether or not he feels that music has that power, he is not remotely deterred from continuing to release exciting new material, and taking it on the road. It should have that power once again.

Midge Ure

Midge Ure (Coal Poet Media)

New album A Man Of Two Worlds will be released, and Ure’s UK tour will begin on 8th May 2026.

Interview with Midge Ure by Nick Pollard, March 2026.

Peter Gabriel From The Fireside To Artificial Intelligence: Input/Output Tour At The O2 Arena

Crystal Lake @ The Brook, Southampton

Crystal Lake @ The Brook, Southampton (Rebecca Cairns)

Openers Diesect have come all the way from Brisbane, Australia. “It took us about twenty-eight hours to get here, and honestly, we don’t know how we’re gonna get home”, laments frontman Damien Bigara, explaining the extent of their battle to perform their first ever UK show tonight. All flights home are cancelled due to war in Iran.

Despite the dilemma, Diesect are dead set on making the best of the situation – “As you can tell, we like to play big breakdowns. If you mosh in this country, we wanna see it”. The crowd is keen to return the favour. Beginning the night with the title track of their latest EP Hide From the Light, the tone is set by the sound of mechanical clatter and a robotic voice that speaks of inner turmoil and darkness.

This peaks with Four Walls, during which there are unpredictable stabs of squealing distortion, and malfunctioning breakbeats. As the floor rumbles throughout, it is akin to a self-destruct siren, and furious panic as Bigara realises there is no escape from the haunted power plant that is melting down around him. It is about as huge as hopelessness can sound.

According to Ethan Harrison of New Hampshire quartet Great American Ghost, this is as cheery as tonight will get, and the worst of the horror is yet to come – “Are you ready to have a good time with us? That was the last band! Are you ready to have a bad time with us?”. He might be thousands of miles from home, but he is has no issue with finding the next target for his politically-charged lyrics – “This next song is called Kingmaker. It’s about Andrew.”.

Like every other band tonight, Great American Ghost enjoy shaking the room between songs with a volcano-like bass grumble. However, they put it to the most appropriate use with strobing orange and red lights during Kerosene – a horrifyingly direct commentary of universal misery in warfare. Harrison throws the microphone to the ground with the other at the end of Altar of Snakes, having seemingly forgotten that the equipment needs to survive for the rest of the UK tour.

First headliner Miss May I with their more polite name, pride in the most inspirational lyrics, and their dual scream/clean vocals, are perhaps most deserving of the label of “melodic metalcore”. But that isn’t to say that the show wasn’t getting louder still. Miss May I are on their first UK tour since 2018, and it is instantly obvious just how long fans had been kept waiting, as the entire room explodes into motion with everybody punching the air to Masses of a Dying Breed.

Despite the fact that the venue almost seems purpose-built to prevent circle pits, due to its pillars, many fans accept the challenge and run around them like a mosh pit maypole during I.H.E.. After an early evening that dwelt so much on sorrow, it is striking just how much everybody seems to be enjoying themselves. Frontman Levi Benton would agree as he introduces Into Oblivion – “this song is about wanting fucking more!”.

And more everybody gets. There is a big vocal call-and-response during Under Fire, and even at moments when the new material is less familiar (such as new single Die On the Vine, everybody claps along. Drummer Jerod Boyd cannot stop grinning and twirling his sticks, and Benton audibly regrets taking so long to return to the UK – “Thank you for all these years, and cheers to many, many more.”

Second headliners, Japanese metalcore and deathcore group Crystal Lake, must have been well aware of their brutality when they chose their moniker, having chosen to name themselves after the location of the Friday the 13th slasher films. Similarly, with a new album and title single entitled The Weight of Sound, they are well prepared to come down hard and heavy on the UK. Since the departure of previous vocalist Ryo Kinoshita in 2023, new powerhouse vocalist John Robert Centorrino has filled his space very convincingly, even when performing older favourites such as SIX FEET UNDER and Apollo.

“We’ve been touring for four weeks, and I’m tired, but that doesn’t matter. The show must go on.”. Regardless of how weary the band might be, they do not show it for a moment. “Southampton, how the fuck are we doing? Thank you for hanging out with us, but now we need your fucking energy! I need every motherfucker to jump! Are you with me? Jump!”.

If the atmosphere of the night can be defined by one moment, there is a slightly saccharine sense of community, as Centorrino signals to the crowd (or his “hardcore kids”) – “this is not Crystal Lake. We are Crystal Lake. You are the blood.”. He then pretends to mow down the audience with a machine gun, in sync with the punishing double bass drums during BlüdGod.

It is a strange combination that feels as though it could not work anywhere else, and nobody would have it any other way.

Review of Crystal Lake And Miss May I at The Brook, Southampton on 16th March 2026 by Nick Pollard. Photography by Rebecca Cairns.

Slaughter To Prevail Level Birmingham On The Grizzly Winter Tour