A one-line review of every gig I’ve been to in January 2025

This monthly series is probably as much for my benefit as yours. I go to a lot of gigs and it is nice to have a way to remember them all. Maybe your interest will be piqued by one of the reviews. Maybe you’ll scroll straight past. Maybe you’ll unsubscribe thinking what did I see in this blog in the first place? You can find all of my one-line gig reviews here.

Fuzz Lightyear, The Old Blue Last, Shoreditch, 7 Jan – My first gig of the year opened with this abrasive bunch of noise monkeys from Leeds, who I reckon John Peel would have given a session to if they had come out of the traps sounding like this in 1986.

[Fuzz Lightyear at The Old Blue Last, Shoreditch]

deary, The Old Blue Last, Shoreditch, 7 Jan – I’ve seen deary before, and they make a lovely shoegaze-y sound, and they did that again.

[Deary at The Old Blue Last, Shoreditch]

The Pill, The Old Blue Last, Shoreditch, 7 Jan – What a funny world, you wait nearly fifty years for a quirky female indie duo to emerge from the Isle of Wight, and then two come along in the space of a couple of years. This lot have got the songs, stagecraft, attitude and energy completely on point – one young woman I ended up chatting to at the gig said she had never related to a band so hard. Also kudos for producing a range of merch featuring lyrical references that ensure no man can ever carry off wearing them. Tremendous fun and well worth catching again.

[Incredible merch options from The Pill]

I do need to work on my gig selfie game though …

In May 2022 I saw the Umlauts at Wide Awake festival and immediately vowed to see them again as soon as possible. And failed. But I saw they were doing some shows in Brixton at Windmill this month, so I headed there and saw …

Bathing Suits, Windmill, Brixton, 9 Jan – Not quite sure how to describe this – noisy-glam-shouty-slutty-electronica – it wasn’t quite my thing but it was going down very well in the room and I could see how it could be very exciting if it was quite your thing.

[Bathing Suits at Windmill, Brixton]

SILVERWINGKILLER, Windmill, Brixton, 9 Jan – This was great, incredibly distorted electronic shouty noisepop with a live drummer that occasionally veered into reminding me of DAF. An absolute bop.

[SILVERWINGKILLER at Windmill, Brixton]

… but then I was too drunk and tired to stay and actually see the Umlauts. D’oh!

Mark Hoyle from Dub Sex, Trades Hall, Walthamstow, 12 Jan – Dub Sex, along with a couple of other acts like Tot and Slab!, are one of those bands I absolutely loved listening to on John Peel back in the day, but they never quite got the success I think they deserved. Singer Mark Hoyle was answering questions and reading extracts from his memoir, which is frankly harrowing in places about how difficult his childhood was. I finally saw Dub Sex live for the first time when they did a brief reformation in 2014-15, and at this Rock’n’Roll Book Club event I got a chance to ask a question and snatch a quick chat with Mark afterwards, which was really lovely.

[Mark Hoyle (L) and Mark Hart at the Swerve event]

Deux Furieuses, The Garage, Highbury, 23 Jan – Very loud angry feminist two-piece who were superb.

[Deux Furieuses at The Garage, Highbury]

Desperate Journalist, The Garage, Highbury, 23 Jan – I sometimes think how good Rob’s guitar is can be overshadowed by Jo’s amazing voice – they were on blistering form, loud and crystal clear, even with my old man ears.

[Desperate Journalist at The Garage, Highbury]

Find all of my one-line gig reviews here.