Category: Festival

Simple Things Festival, multi-venue Bristol, 8th November 2025

The Simple Things ethos really is simple – a commitment to promoting an innovative and forward-facing music culture with hosted events throughout the year, culminating in a multi-venue city festival that attracts artists from far and wide, spanning multiple genres. Centring around the versatility of Bristol Beacon’s numerous stages, there was also live music taking place at Rough Trade, Sportsmans, Strange Brew and Zed Alley.

With the whole of the Beacon busy, the open lobby space of Bridgehouse was perfectly placed to welcome attendees into the party – on our first trip in we were greeted by The Zawose Queens’ polyphonic song and dance, returning later to a rapturous performance from Joshua Idehen, ably backed by the entire crowd singing along. Opening act on the Beacon Hall stage was progressive folk hero Richard Dawson, creating an altogether different mood with songs and storytelling – some big indie names followed on through the afternoon including DITZ and Dry Cleaning, both a big pull on ticket sales at a guess.

top left: Richard Dawson, top right: Zawose Queens, bottom row: Joshua Idehen

Lantern Hall also ran an eclectic mix across its line-up. After what felt like an overly long set up time, Japanese singer-songwriter Eiko Ishibashi played to an appreciative and very patient room, along with a band encompassing a plethora of instruments and clearly lots of talent – an unusual precursor to indie-rock trio The Orielles. Between 10pm – 2am, the same space was taken over firstly by a shoegaze in the dark set from Jadu Heart (we couldn’t really see them and it seemed this was mutual, but they sounded great), followed by Atlanta punk collective Upchuck’s socio-political commentary complete with crowd surfing and singer swapping. Final act VLURE continued the crowd interaction and rejuvenated the energy of the stay-laters, never any doubt that they would be worth sticking around into the early hours for, one last party to end the night.

top row: Eiko Ishibashi, second row: Upchuck, remaining shots: VLURE

Special mentions elsewhere to No Windows and Adult DVD at Rough Trade and Hotline TNT at Sportsmans. All the venues fared well and there was a really positive buzz around the whole event – shout out to the many bar staff and security who kept smiling all day long. There’s a lot going on in Bristol and Simple Things gave a great reflection of that with an extensive and diverse line-up, and loads of opportunities to discover new music at every turn.

Catch up with Simple Things here

Words and photos © Siobhan 16beasleystphotography.com | Instagram: 16beasleyst

Published 11th November 2025

Victorious Festival, Southsea Common, 22nd – 24th August 2025

Header shot © Hannah Mesquitta

Actions have consequences, and sometimes those actions have unintended consequences. The Streisand Effect was first used as a term in 2005 after the singer Barbra Steisand attempted to block the publication of an aerial photo that included her home in Malibu. The image’s intended purpose was to highlight the impact that coastal erosion was having on the area. However, Streisand sued the photographer for violation of privacy and lost the case, which subsequently brought more attention to the environmental issue and helped to increase public awareness of the project.

It’s no secret that Victorious Festival has been involved in its own controversy this Bank Holiday weekend. On Friday, Irish folk band The Mary Wallopers had their set cut brutally short after taking a pro-Palestinian stance on the Common Stage. The story has since found its way onto numerous news sites including the Irish Independent, BBC and CNN, and this only served to raise the band’s profile whilst giving them a much larger platform to spread their message. By attempting to censor the band in real time and then publishing a misleading statement on the incident afterwards, the festival organisers unintentionally created more drama and backlash than simply allowing the band to stand up for what they (and many) believe is right. Further consequences of the organiser’s decision to cut The Mary Wallopers off included several bands scheduled to perform on the Saturday pulling out in solidarity, including The Last Dinner Party, The Academic and The Cliffords. Saturday’s Common Stage headliners Vampire Weekend also waded into the situation during their performance stating that the Irish band ‘deserve an apology’. With the ongoing backlash (mostly online of course) and acts themselves calling out the decision to cancel The Mary Wallopers, the festival organisers were forced to issue a further statement saying, ‘We are sorry that this situation has come about and will be making a substantial donation to humanitarian relief efforts for the Palestinian people’. I do hope Victorious are sincere about this commitment to the people of Palestine, and that they avoid censoring bands in future by instead seeking to protect freedom of speech and expression.

Drama aside for now, I did in fact manage to see some bands over the weekend. First up we have Ash on the Castle Stage. Walking on to the theme from The A-Team (see what they did there?), they launch into A Life Less Ordinary followed by another summer favourite Oh Yeah. At the midpoint of the set, we get a punk-inspired calypso cover of Harry Belafonte’s Jump In The Line (Shake Senora) with things coming to a thunderous close following a great rendition of Burn Baby Burn.

Ash © Hannah Mesquitta

After the incident involving The Mary Wallopers earlier today, it’s up to Wunderhorse to liven things up on the Common Stage. Starting things off with Midas there’s plenty of passion on display here, and it’s clear why they are creating a bit of a buzz right now. Next up, we’re back to the Castle Stage to see Everything Everything. Again, the weather is the perfect backdrop for their brand of electro indie floor fillers. Songs like Pizza Boy, Kemosabe, Jennifer and Cold Reactor have the crowd up and dancing along to every beat, and the band are clearly having a good time as well.

Left: Wunderhorse, Right: Everything Everything © Hannah Mesquitta

It’s then back over to the Common Stage to catch the last half of the Kaiser Chiefs’ set before Friday’s headliners. The Chiefs are replacements for Michael Kiwanuka who has unfortunately had to pull out due to ongoing illness. I’ve never really been a fan of the Kaiser Chiefs personally, but they roll out all the hits you’d expect in quick succession and there’s even a mosh pit during Angry Mob. Careful now.

So, we’ve made it to the end of day one, and it’s up to Queens of the Stone Age to end things on a high note. The band immediately launch into the mind-melting You Think I Ain’t Worth A Dollar, But I Feel Like A Millionaire, followed by No One Knows, which the crowd transform into a mass sing-along akin to how the main riff from Seven Nation Army has become a staple at sports events. There’s plenty of banter in between songs, with frontman Josh Homme at one point asking the crowd, ‘Are we gonna give each other a night we’ll never remember?’ I hope not, as the set is packed with bangers including Paper Machete, I Sat By The Ocean, Little Sister (a request from the crowd) and Sick, Sick, Sick. With the set drawing to a close, the band end with two heavy hitters Go With The Flow and the always awesome Song For The Dead. Here, drummer Jon Theodore hammers out all the parts Dave Grohl originally played beat for beat, but somehow better! It’s heavy, it’s groovy and as the band are building towards the end of the song, it’s time for the obligatory headline act fireworks, which signify the end of day one and I leave site with plenty to think about.

Queens of the Stone Age © Hannah Mesquitta

Saturday’s schedule has been moved around a bit due to several bands pulling out after the events that took place yesterday, but the line-up still includes sets from long serving Brit Poppers Shed Seven and Travis, with Vampire Weekend (Common Stage) and Nelly Furtado (Castle Stage) as our headliners for this evening. Despite the last-minute changes, I’m able to catch Circa Waves who are playing over on Castle Stage, whilst The Manatees are doing their best to keep the 90’s revival alive on the Under The Trees stage. Public Service Broadcasting are due on the Castle Stage next, and once they hit their stride, things really start to pick up. Tracks like Blue Heaven, Spitfire and Go! get the crowd really going. The energy starts to build, and the last three songs take the band’s Kraftwerk leaning tunes into Chic territory. People Let’s Dance, Gargarin and set closer Everest feature guest appearances from a trumpet and sax player, with some added background dancing from an astronaut thrown in for good measure. Public Service Broadcasting might look like geography teachers on a sabbatical, but boy are they fun to watch.

Top: The Manatees, Bottom: Public Service Broadcasting © Hannah Mesquitta

Sunday’s lineup includes the usual mix of older indie bands including The Zutons, Reverend & The Makers, Bloc Party and festival closers Kings of Leon, alongside pop staples such as Craig David and his TS5, Gabrielle and Melanie C.

Top: Reverend & the Makers, Bottom: Bloc Party © Hannah Mesquitta

Upon reflection, the weather was better than last year, and it’s fair to say that the majority of people attending the festival enjoyed themselves. It’s just a shame that the incident on Friday was handled the way it was, as I came away from the experience feeling disappointed. Victorious Festival bills itself as a festival with something for everyone. Just be sure to leave your political views at the entrance.

Left: Caity Baser, Top Right: Craig David
Bottom Right: Bradley Simpson © Dave Sloan

Top: She’s Got Brass, Bottom: Kojaks Revenge © Hannah Mesquitta

Left: Lani Jordan, Top Right: The Showhawk Duo
Bottom Right: Circa Waves © Hannah Mesquitta

Top: Crystal Tides, Bottom: Massaoke © Dave Sloan

Left: Andy Foster, Top Right: Florence Noon
Bottom Right: Starsailor © Hannah Mesquitta

Top: The Monkey Butlars, Bottom: Silent Movie Star © Hannah Mesquitta

Left: Joel Dommett, Top Right: The Pill
Bottom Right: Scouting for Girls © Dave Sloan

Top: Greenness, Bottom: She’s in Parties © Hannah Mesquitta

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Photos by: Hannah Mesquitta – Instagram | Dave Sloan – Instagram
Review by Ryan Howarth

Published 30th August 2025

DedFest, Crockstead Fields, East Sussex, 16th August 2025

If you put together a bit of a checklist of how best to spend a summer Saturday then chucked all your ideas in a hat (or a field in this case), you could well find that DedFest had you covered. Going with the obvious – a scenic spot in the Sussex countryside and a chance to catch up with friends, families and dogs included, seems a decent way to start. Add in a huge collection of already popular and emerging artists on the Brighton music scene, an onsite distillery, some great food and breezy sunshine and you just ramped things up to a different level. OK so you couldn’t have guaranteed the weather, but it felt like nothing else was left to chance; for an event with 22 acts running on alternate stages for 11 hours, the timings were spot on, the sound quality was better than a lot of venues, and everything you needed was right there within a few minutes walk – even camping if you so wished.

Brought to you by DedBest Distillery, this year joined by promoter Hidden Herd, it was awesome to see an extension of the Brighton grassroots music community spill over into something that could (and hopefully will) become a regular feature on the boutique festival calendar – a space that felt very safe, relaxed and inclusive, an opportunity for the artists to shine and support each other – I genuinely didn’t hear anyone with a bad word to say.

Appreciate that so far, very little has been said about the music – well, there was an abundance of it from different genres and it seemed like everyone had their own personal favourites, the joy of a festival like this being that you can lock in the familiar and make new discoveries on the same day. Stand outs for me were the crazy energy of congratulations, the persuasive hooks and beats brought by Mulimba, a formidable performance of  goth-tinted shoegaze from Winter Gardens, and a frankly sublime set from Ideal Living whose musical journey feels like it has stoically fought its way to become the visceral thing of beauty that we witnessed at the weekend.

Amongst the bigger players on the festival circuit, DedFest felt a bit special – I look forward to seeing what the future holds.

congratulations

Keg

left: Trip Westerns, right: Mulimba

enjoying the sunshine…

Moon Idle

left: Nature TV, top right: The Rapports, bottom right: Sansom

DogFest

Telecom

Atticomatic

left: Gaffa Tape Sandy, right: Projector

Winter Gardens

Ideal Living

‘it’s a sign’

Shout out to all the artists who played, full line-up for the day comprised: Gaffa Tape Sandy, Nature TV, Keg, Atticomatic, Projector, The Roebucks, congratulations, The Stanford Family Band, Comforts, Telecom, Trip Westerns, Moon Idle, Mulimba, Lucy Darke, Ideal Living, Lean With The Breeze, Winter Gardens, Fukushima Dolphin, Room Service, The Rapports, ChitChat and Sansom

Words and photos © Siobhan 16beasleystphotography.com | Instagram: 16beasleyst

Published 20th August 2025

 

At the Edge of the Sea Festival, Brighton, 8th-9th August 2025 – curated by The Wedding Present

A long-standing occurrence on the Brighton festival calendar, and taking its name from the band’s 1988 track At the Edge of the Sea, David Gedge is back to curate this year’s event with his band The Wedding Present. It’s a takeover of the iconic seafront venue Concorde 2 which brings fans from far and wide every year and is unsurprisingly sold out.

With more to come today, Mike Burnell was there last night to catch The Wedding Present play to the packed room.

Hosted by Lout Promotions

Photos © Mike Burnell iso400.com | Instagram: iso400mike | X: iso400photo

Published 9th August 2025

The Great Escape Festival, Brighton, 14th-17th May 2025

This year’s Great Escape brought sunshine along with a huge range of new music from around the world. Four days of gigs in venues large, small and purpose-built offered up something for everyone. We’ve put together our highlights and hope you’ll find some new names as well as acts already on your radar in there…

Starting off strong on Wednesday evening, Brighton favourites Holiday Ghosts brought in a solid crowd at Patterns. Playing a tight set, the band are a well oiled machine, still winning over new fans and ensuring a good time was had by all. Over at The Hope & Ruin, Montreal’s Alix Fernz opened things up with synth-punk tunes that also drew a big response, particularly for so early on the day. Following on at The Hope, Polite Bureaux received a warm welcome back to Brighton. With songs old and new standing up equally, it’s great to see things picking up for them on a wider scale and reflects how hard they’ve worked to get to this point. Broke Biscuits is hard to beat live.

Alix Fernz © 16beasleyst

Polite Bureaux © 16beasleyst

Along the road, Knives took to the stage at The Albert, albeit that the stage could barely hold all of them, a plethora of instruments and some impressive high kicks. Heaps of energy, noise levels set to the max, and always bonus points for a sax, it was an impressive performance. Local alt-folk artist REA entertained at Jubilee Square in a slightly more subdued manner, the eclectic nature of the TGE line-up being one of its strongest features.

Back to Patterns with Water Machine – hopping between genres, it’s a plus to see a band clearly enjoying themselves, and their songs and performance both felt full of optimism. A heady close to the first day’s proceedings at the city’s grassroots venues, while spotlight shows down at The Beach (Deep End) included crowd-pleasers from Peter Doherty and Warmduscher.

REA © iso400.com

Knives (left), Water Machine (right) © 16beasleyst

Peter Doherty © iso400.com

Warmduscher © iso400.com

Some new discoveries on Thursday kicking off with Joshua Idehen at Komedia Basement – gaining a lot of momentum currently, he won over the crowd effortlessly with a mix of spoken word, housey-electronic beats and more than a bucket load of charisma, engaging the audience in a Nigerian rather than Mexican wave, hugs and hand shaking. Next up Chlöe’s Clue took full advantage of the intimate setting at Queen’s Hotel with people standing and sitting to take in what the Spanish act describe as ‘lullabies for adults’. Incorporating a mixture of toy instruments into their delicate pop tunes, they’re definitely worth another look and listen.

Back to The Hope bar for an unofficial slot from the very entertaining Pleasureinc, before heading upstairs to a much anticipated set from Peter Xan, with high expectations that were easily lived up to. The whole band are a joy to watch, animated, interactive and with clear musicianship on display. The fusion of styles is far from covered in the ‘indie-rock’ title often bestowed on them; there are many more layers to the tracks than that and it’s a compelling performance all round.

Pleasureinc © 16beasleyst

Peter Xan © 16beasleyst

A late announcement that The Horrors would be joining TGE’s line-up at The Beach (Deep End) was an inspired booking. The grown up goths never fail to prove that they became so much more than how they started. Back to their prime, they quickly and effortlessly pulled the crowd onside with a string of hits ranging across their career. A tinge of nostalgia but no doubt that their talent has a special place in a lot of people’s hearts.

Last up for the night were Adult DVD, drawing a bigger audience every time they visit the coast. Filling the stage with synths and heavy electronica, they don’t at first glance seem the most likely to incur a mosh pit but none the less their fanbase has grown to a level where Komedia basement was indeed host to our first pit of the festival.

Adult DVD © 16beasleyst

Friday and still standing, we took in 60s/70s influenced emerging Dublin band Martina and The Moons at Dust, followed by Belfast punk trio Jock at Queen’s Hotel. Over at Paganini Ballroom, the intricate surroundings seem to attract some quality acts, this year’s notable entry coming from Baby Berserk. Striking visually and sonically, the 80s leaning dance trio from Amsterdam are reminiscent of Boy Harsher and wasted no time in climbing the stage speakers and the crowd – firmly on the ones to watch list. Meanwhile, Jessica Winter’s instantly recognisable falsetto pop stylised tunes gained her a big shout out from 6 Music’s Chris Hawkins at Shipwright’s Yard. And back at The Beach (Jetty stage) Welly gave their regular bouncy Britpop-esque show – it’ll be interesting to see how they sustain this as they grow further away from their early incarnation in full PE kits but, for now, they’re certainly a popular inclusion.

Welly © 16beasleyst

Along the promenade at Daltons, Glasgow’s SOAPBOX gave one of several much talked about performances across the weekend. A frenetic and furious set filled with brazen punk songs that are already firm favourites with the crowd, there’s no wasting time with niceties as they come into their own in a live setting – closing track Fascist Bob leaving the venue just about still in one piece.

SOAPBOX © 16beasleyst

Dog Race © 16beasleyst

A more chilled showcase from Dog Race at Unbarred (not part of official TGE although they also played elsewhere within that) displaying the progress they’ve made in the last year or so. Understated but captivating, 2025 could just be their year.

Moonlandingz’ visit to Chalk started promisingly with Lias running around the crowd from the get go in his usual chaotic manner. Sadly, the sound did them no favours – a good set that may well have been a great set if only we could have heard it properly. Meanwhile at Komedia Studio, some jangly indie tracks from Say Sue Me provided a welcome calm amongst the pandemonium elsewhere.

And so to a massive shout out for Leeds collective Honesty. Transforming Brighthelm into an immersive art installation, they played concealed between two screens, letting the music speak for itself among the fine-tuned projections which appeared in front of and behind them, complimenting the music rather than masking it. Something completely different is hard to come by and this was a beautiful way to see out day three.

Honesty © 16beasleyst

After a pretty full agenda, Saturday was a quieter day for us but notable mentions for a few acts starting with Skydaddy packing The Albert with instrumentation that called to mind influences ranging from Belle & Sebastian to Cat Stevens, and even included a Christmas song. At the other end of the musical spectrum, Dabo Lang were happy to engage with the crowd between songs at Patterns, their style veering towards new rave, and DeBasement convinced the sound team at Chalk to ‘turn it up – louder!’ as the volume seemed to double and their well executed dance music kept everyone hooked in to finish the Great Escape party in style.

Another year down and lots of new music unearthed, thanks to all at TGE and all the artists/venues involved in making this a special few days. See you next year!

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Review by Callum & Siobhan
Photos of REA, Peter Doherty & Warmduscher © Mike Burnell iso400.com | Instagram: iso400mike
Remaining photos © Siobhan 16beasleystphotography.com | Instagram: 16beasleyst

Published 20th May 2025

Rockaway Beach Festival, Bognor Regis, 3rd – 5th January 2025

Back we go to Butlin’s in Bognor for the most unlikely but now established and appreciated venue for a winter festival. No camping concerns (just as well given the weather the past few days) – just hang out in your beach house style apartment or funky hotel room when you need a break, or spend your unwanted coins in the many amusement arcade games on site. But most importantly, the music… Rooted now in the festival calendar as an outlet for emerging new talent mixed with long-time artists from the 70s/80s onwards, Rockaway Beach once again hit the brief with something for everyone. Mike Burnell spent Saturday enjoying the eclectic line-up and grabbing some great shots along the way – gallery below.

SOAPBOX (and header shot)

The Pill

CLT DRP

Meryl Streek

Ebbb

ARXX

Lime Garden

Mim Grey

Ruts DC

Georgia

Leftfield

If that’s given you a taste for heading to the holiday camp, Rockaway Beach 2026 tickets are available now here

Photos © Mike Burnell (iso400.com)

Published 6th January 2025