Pet Needs Are Primetime Entertainment At The Old Church

by | May 5, 2025

It’s lunchtime in sunny Stoke Newington, the part of London that really feels like a village. Most of the crowd lined up outside the historic Old Church are making this the first stop on their weekend, and as they mingle among the old tombstones with beers in hand, the anticipation is fizzing in the air. For the fourth year in a row, Pet Needs are about to kick off their Fractured Party weekender, and we’ve so far beyond ready for it.

Pet Needs

Pet Needs (Vanessa Söllner)
Pet Needs (Vanessa Söllner)

“Welcome to London’s only surviving Elizabethan church!” Johnny Marriott beams. The punk-ish frontman wouldn’t seem like a likely figure to rejoice in trivia like that, but so much of this show is an unexpected delight. Their last record, Kind Of Acoustic, sent the grassroots heroes spiralling into new reimagining of their first four albums, and in a setting like this, taking a back to basic approach feels like a riot. Scratchcard shoves Marriott’s street poet side to the foreground, with gorgeous starts and stops and the first hint of a roar in his voice. We raise dust from the stone floor as we jump, and a couple slow-dances to the side, overwhelmed by seeing their favourites in person.

This connection between Pet Needs and their fanbase is what propels this show: in between crazy golf stories and familial anecdotes about midlands accents, we feel like we’ve come to know the band personally, following their stories immortalised in song. Fingernails, all roots and rough edges, boosts this organic flowing of feeling and sends the frontman bouncing across stage. He flicks out his arms to direct us through Ibiza in Winter, twitching amd emoting his way through a chorus we repeat like a mantra of hope. When they take on tender, slice-of-life songs like Fear For the Whole Damn World they do it incredibly well: it’s as raw as a confessional, with a twist of anger at the end of each line. “Can you play that again please?” A Scottish guy sheepishly shouts as the last chord dies.

They’re completely unphased by their setting, and as a framed contrast for their rowdier numbers, it only serves to make them seem louder. “This song is a punk song, it’s a dance song!” Marriott shouts, and Lost Again creates the effect every guy with a guitar at a party hopes for, an absorbing golden dance off, spontaneous but necessary. Self Restraint bursts with everyday joy as guitarist George Marriott raises a shout and a holler into the sky before Punk Isn’t Dead; It’s Just Up For Sale starts a fists up jump that fills the compacted stone floor. Someone climbs onto the lecturn and shouts her heart out across the sacred space. Their acoustic experiment has proved a success as Sleep When I’m Dead drags us back away from the real world, dancing shadows across brick walls.

Pet Needs

Pet Needs (Vanessa Söllner)
Pet Needs (Vanessa Söllner)

It’s their willingness to completely open themselves up to us that only makes us love Pet Needs even more. Dear Abi, Marriott’s song to a long lost sister, is a beautifully simple diary of what he wished he could say, a building set of wishes poured into a rough tune from a single guitar. The tiny narrative crammed into Prime Time Entertainment expands in the pauses and whispered echoes, more powerful than the chords themselves. It’s wise and poignant, modern metaphors flowing out that crack into a roar as the light glows purple, rich yet hollow in it’s expression. “We don’t know any more acoustic songs after this,” the vocalist apologises when we scream for an encore, but the fact that their set is the entirety of what they can offer us makes it that much more meaningful. Toothpaste explodes as victorious payoff for the hardcore, it’s quickly shifting tempo with a hand clenched in our hearts creating the happiest mosh pit which opens in the middle of a the tiny floor. Our feel spill over the carpets, our voices loud.

We mill around dazed afterwards. The hardcore fans will stay for the second show at The Old Church, then head to Pet Needs’ sold out show at The Garage tomorrow night. Some of us slip away into the early evening sunlight. Wherever we’re headed, we know that this strange and unique show from underrated stars Pet Needs contained more than a pinch of punk magic.

Review of Pet Needs live at the Old Church, Stoke Newington on 3rd May 2025. Words by Kate Allvey, press photos by Vanessa Söllner.

Alice Phoebe Lou Enchants London At The Roundhouse

Alice Phoebe Lou @ Roundhouse (Sam Eve)

Alice Phoebe Lou Enchants London At The Roundhouse

On Friday, 2nd May, 2025, the Roundhouse in London played host to a spellbinding performance by South African-born...
Lizzie Esau @ The Grace (Kalpesh Patel

Lizzie Esau Unleashes Explosive New Single ‘Bugs’ — A Dark, Defiant Step Forward From A Rockshot Favourite

Rockshot Magazine favourite Lizzie Esau continues her rapid ascent through the UK’s alt-rock landscape with the release of her most accomplished single to date, Bugs. A darkly euphoric track filled with emotional grit and lyrical nuance, Bugs sees the 25-year-old Newcastle native confront the chaos of creative self-doubt with ferocity — and catharsis.

EMMMA (João Viegas)

EMMMA Finds Power In Heartache With Stirring New Single ‘Wednesday’s Child’

EMMMA is no stranger to vulnerability — but with her latest single, Wednesday’s Child, the rising UK-based alt-pop artist turns raw emotion into a seismic act of self-empowerment. Released as the next step toward her second EP, the track is a defining moment in her artistic evolution: darker, bolder, and more emotionally fearless than anything she’s released before.

Jon Allen (Michael Walker)

Jon Allen Unearths Gritty Past Of 18th Century London With Immersive New Album ‘Seven Dials’

British singer-songwriter Jon Allen invites listeners into the fog-shrouded streets and shadowy corners of 18th century London with his latest album, Seven Dials. Known for his earthy blend of folk, blues, and Americana, Allen trades modern-day themes for a haunting historical portrait that’s as cinematic as it is emotionally raw.

Josh Groban (Sami Drasin)

Josh Groban Shines Bright With New Career-Spanning Album ‘Gems’

Josh Groban is entering a new era of reflection and celebration with the release of Gems, a deeply personal,...
Sophie Grey (Maximilian Stafford)

Sophie Grey Is Not Waiting Anymore — She’s Putting You ‘On Hold’

Rising electro-pop artist Sophie Grey. is back with a brooding new single, On Hold, and it’s everything we’ve come to expect from the multi-talented producer, performer, and provocateur — shimmering synths, bold visuals, and an anthem for the digitally disenchanted. Out now with an equally cinematic music video, On Hold is a hypnotic blend of retro-futurism and raw emotion, delivered with Grey’s signature flair and fiercely independent spirit.

Lorde (Thistle Brown)

Lorde’s Rebirth: ‘Virgin’ Ushers In A Raw, Unfiltered New Era

In an industry that thrives on reinvention, Lorde has always moved to the beat of her own creation. Now, four years after the sun-soaked introspection of Solar Power, the enigmatic New Zealander has announced her fourth studio album, Virgin, due out on 27th June — a project that promises to be her most emotionally exposed and artistically unguarded work to date.

Blondshell @ MOTH Club (Kalpesh Patel)

Blondshell Faces The Fire With New Single And Sophomore LP ‘If You Asked For A Picture’

Alt-rock torchbearer Blondshell (aka Sabrina Teitelbaum) is preparing to light the fuse on her next era with the release of her highly anticipated sophomore album, If You Asked For A Picture, arriving this Friday, 2nd May via Partisan Records. Today, she offers one last taste before the full detonation with the release of her latest single, Event Of A Fire—a smoldering slow-burn that builds from embers to an emotional inferno.

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This

Share Thing