Pendulum Come Alive At BRITs Week 24 for War Child

Somewhere under Tottenham Court Road, under the LED billboards, the Friday night partygoers and wandering tourists, there’s a tempest brewing. Pendulum, Australian Electronic Rock and Drum and Bass legends – the soundtrack to the millennial British university experience, are taking their place in the BRITs Week for War Child 2024 lineup. While they’re back in the UK in march to headline The O2, this is an altogether more intimate and intense experience here at Outernet: no support acts, no merch and absolutely nothing to take away from Pendulum’s short, sharp set. Old school ravers mingle with metalheads and hipsters with city workers in the slick corporate basement. We’re all here for the same reason: to go absolutely wild.

PENDULUM @ HERE At Outernet as part of BRITs Week for War Child

PENDULUM @ HERE At Outernet as part of BRITs Week for War Child (Richard Mukuze)

“We haven’t played in three months, we might be a bit rusty,” apologises lead vocalist Rob Swires after Driver as an apocalyptic beginning to their set. There’s never silence between their songs, only ripples of ambient beats as breaks. While Pendulum have always lurked in the crevice between drum and bass and metal, their set proves that they’re still on the mission to unite the genres into one, brutal sound. Propane Nightmare’s gorgeous weightless pause generates a pitching, seething pit until knockdown beats glitch into an extended outro, then we’re all fully jumping, feet off the ground, to Come Alive’s dreamy 8-bit retro sound and the first guitar solo of the night. A red fuzz descends and we scream out the melody to Blood Sugar, revelling in the stark joy of this tune, with chunky bouncy bass in the bridge and a breakdown with a ghost of the melody. Seamlessly they mix Blood Sugar into Voodoo People and our phones swing upwards to remember this moment.

Dry ice obscures our view, bathing the band in swampy green as tripping and shaking xylophones introduce Colourfast. “Gonna take it down a notch,” explains Swires, singing like he’s trying to breathe his soul into the ultra-electronic future. A mother and daughter duo dance like they’re in a rave and hold their hands up to touch the lights. The Island Pt 1 takes us back into classic dance territory, and the slight tint of sadness in the vocals is buoyed up by endless hazy beats. Latecomers shove in to muscle their way to the front as Gareth McGrillen runs to the back to the stage, reflecting the light from his bass like a mirrored laser over a happy hardcore breakdown. Neon raindrops fall down the LED walls as Nothing For Free’s punchy beats move quickly and slowly simultaneously and the first crowd surfers are ejected. This is a show on the scale of a festival crammed into a basement nightclub.

Just when we’re at the peak of our endorphin rush, the iconic introduction to Tarantula drops. “We’re definitely taking this one out the set if you guys don’t go off. It’s already on the fucking chopping block,” threatens Swires. Sly guitar slinks in before a bass drop strong enough to crack the foundations and for three minutes, the entire room dances with no exceptions and no inhibitions. Fading chords continue as Pendulum go off stage, then we’re sent on our way with Watercolour’s scraping and gliding synth distortion and snapping bass drops. It’s a very short set with a curfew earlier than most West End Musicals, but that’s what BRITs Week is all about: providing something special and unexpected to support War Child. It’s just a taster of the absolute sonic chaos Pendulum will bring to London in March for what’s bound to be one heck of a genre-smashing show.

BRITs Week 24 For War Child continues in the run to to The BRIT Awards at London’s The O2 on 2nd March along with a super-special Hebden Bridge show from this year’s baroque-rock darlings The Last Dinner Party on 4th March. The remaining shows are:

FEBRUARY
26th – AURORA – Lafayette, London
27th – Gabriels – Ronnie Scott’s, London
28th – Sleaford Mods – Scala, London

MARCH
1st – CMAT – Bush Hall, London
1st – Venbee – Omeara, London
4th – The Last Dinner Party – The Trades Club, Hebden Bridge

Review of Pendulum @ HERE at Outernet, London on 23rd February 2024 by Kate Allvey. Photos by Richard Mukuze.

Keane Are Somewhere Only We Know At BRITs Week 24 For War Child

Ronnie Wood & Imelda May @ The Long Road Festival 2026 (Henry Finnegan / @finneganfoto)

The Long Road Festival 2026 – Day Two: – Who Needs Sunshine When You’ve Got Ronnie Wood?

If Friday had been about The Long Road Festival fighting the weather, Saturday began with everyone looking at the sky and wondering whether we were about to do the whole thing again. Unfortunately, we were.

The Long Road Festival 2026 (Henry Finnegan / @finneganfoto)

The Long Road Festival 2026 – Day One: Come Rain, Shine Or Biblical Thunder

Last year, The Long Road Festival takes place a week earlier in August and, had it done the same this year, Stanford Hall would probably have been basking in the heatwave temperatures and sun-scorched grass that have defined much of the British summer. But The Long Road has become synonymous with the August Bank Holiday weekend and, right on cue, as thousands of country fans begin arriving in Leicestershire, the heavens decide to open.

The Samurai Seven Return With First New EP In Almost 25 Years, ‘Make It Real’

Cult favourites The Samurai Seven have made their long-awaited return with the release of their new EP Make It Real, marking the Oxford band’s first new release in almost 25 years.

The Great Emu War Casualties Unleash ‘Cold Food Ave’ Ahead Of New EP ‘Mal Du Siecle’

The Great Emu War Casualties return with their brand new single Cold Food Ave, unveiling a rowdier side to their sound just months after the release of their debut album Public Sweetheart No. 1.

Natalie Imbruglia @ CIRCUIT Kingston (Kalpesh Patel)

Natalie Imbruglia Makes Kingston’s Circuit Her Own At Intimate ‘Algorithm’ Launch

There is something wonderfully disarming about seeing Natalie Imbruglia on a stage this small. At The Circuit in Kingston, the singer-songwriter is close enough to her audience to make eye contact with people in the front row, close enough to laugh with them and, crucially, close enough for the nerves of the evening to be impossible to disguise.

EELS Share New Track ‘Congratulations To Me’ Ahead Of 16th Studio Album ‘Cookie Happened’

EELS have shared their new track Congratulations To Me, offering another glimpse into their forthcoming 16th studio album, Cookie Happened, which arrives on 16th October via E Works / Play It Again Sam. The latest song finds E, the creative force behind EELS and the stage name of singer, songwriter and producer Mark Oliver Everett, looking at one of life’s more unexpected turning points: the moment when you finally realise that some things simply are not worth taking so seriously.

Natalie McCool Releases New Album ‘Good For The Soul’ And Shares ‘Sleeping Beauty’ With She Drew The Gun

Liverpool alternative-pop artist Natalie McCool has dropped her new album Good For The Soul, marking a bold new chapter for an artist increasingly willing to push beyond the boundaries of conventional alternative pop. The new record arrives following a run of singles including Coming Of Age, We’re The Ones, So Lonely, Lonely and I Fantasise, each offering a glimpse into an album that refuses to settle into a single sound or mood.

Cameron Whitcomb Announces European & UK Tour For ‘Kingdom Of Fear’

JUNO Award-winning country artist Cameron Whitcomb is set to bring his electrifying live show to Europe and the UK in February 2027, announcing a run of dates in support of his breakout hit Kingdom Of Fear.