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News Report

News Report

Every week we roundup the best music news from the past week

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RIP Taylor Hawkins
News Report

Fontaines D.C. reveal UK Tour dates

Welcome to another edition of our weekly music News Report! We are starting off this week with the latest tour announcements including the above from Fontaines D.C..

Yes, it was a busy news week for the band as they revealed a lengthy trek around the UK and Ireland including a huge show at London’s Eventim Apollo.

Not just that, they also debuted their new single, ‘Skinty Fia’, from their upcoming album of the same name which arrives April 22nd. Check out the track below.

Fontaines D.C.

Pre-orders and tickets here.

Read our review of Fontaines D.C. live in Cambridge

Nine Inch Nails announce additional UK dates

The legendary Nine Inch Nails this week added 3 additional shows to their UK stopover in June. The band will now play Glasgow, Manchester and London in addition to their already announced dates at The Eden Project.

Tickets are here.

Check out our ‘Hard & Heavy’ Spotify Playlist

The Amazons announce UK Tour and debut new single ‘Bloodrush’

Another band having a big news week was The Amazons. The band revealed a UK Tour, including a date at the Roundhouse in Camden, taking place this Autumn.

They also had a new single to debut, and you can listen to ‘Bloodrush’ below. The track will feature on their upcoming new album, ‘How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me?’.

The Amazons – ‘Bloodrush’

Pre-orders and tickets are here.

Listen to ‘Bloodrush’ on our Spotify Hot List

Rival Sons announce 10th Anniversary ‘Pressure & Time’ shows

American rockers Rival Sons will be returning to the UK this Summer for a special 10th Anniversary Tour celebrating their album, ‘Pressure & Time’.

Tickets are here.

Check out The Full Pelt Music Podcast

Maximo Park announce the SĂŻngular Tour and new single ‘Great Art’

This week saw Maximo Park announce the ‘SĂŻngular Tour’ featuring only singles that will take place this coming Autumn.

Coinciding with the announcement, the band debuted new single, ‘Great Art’, which you can check out below.

Singer Paul Smith comments on the new single:

“The song is about the insidious nature of Conservative ideology, and a response to people who say, “at least we’ll get some great art out of it!” We’re excited to have new material to play alongside our other singles on the SĂŻngular tour – we’ve always written songs crammed full of hooks, so that’s our ideal medium in some ways.”

Maximo Park – ‘Great Art’

Tickets are here.

Read our review of ‘Nature Always Wins’ from Maximo Park

Ugly Kid Joe reveal UK dates

To coincide with their arena shows with Thunder, Ugly Kid Joe have now revealed a string of headline shows across the UK this May & June.

Tickets are here.

Read our review of Ricky Warwick live in Norwich

Youth Killed It reveal UK Tour

News Report

The final tour for our News Report this week comes from Youth Killed It, as the band reveal a plethora of dates around the UK this summer.

Tickets are here.

Read our review of ‘The Overload’ from Yard Act

News Report

Red Hot Chili Peppers debut new track ‘Not The One’

Red Hot Chili Peppers – ‘Not The One’

We move on now to the latest new music releases from the past week as out News Report continues. First up is the latest track from Red Hot Chili Peppers ahead of their upcoming album ‘Unlimited Love’.

That album arrives April 1st, but you can listen to new track ‘Not The One’ above.

Pre-order your album here.

Listen to ‘Black Summer’ from Red Hot Chili Peppers on our Spotify Hot List!

Shinedown debut ‘The Saints Of Violence And Innuendo’

Shinedown – ‘The Saints Of Violence And Innuendo’

There was also new music this week from Shinedown. You can listen to their new track, ‘The Saints of Violence and Innuendo’ above.

The song will feature on their new album, ‘Planet Zero’, which is out April 22nd.

Pre-order your copy here.

Check out Full Pelt Music on Youtube

Nothing More unveil new track ‘Turn It Up Like’

Nothing More – ‘Turn It Up Like’

Nothing More also had new music on offer this week with their latest single, ‘Turn It Up Like’. You can listen to the track above, which will feature on their upcoming new album.

Frontman Jonny Hawkins spoke about the inspiration behind the song in a statement, saying,  â€œThis song is a reflection of how we all felt for the last two years, online.  Fear and hate have become our god.”

More from the band here.

Read our review of ‘Crisis of Faith’ from Billy Talent

Reef debut ‘Best of Me’

Reef – ‘Best Of Me’

Reef debuted their new single, ‘Best of Me’ this week, and you can listen above. The track will feature on their new album, ‘Shoot Me Your Ace’, which is released April 29th.

“We want this album to make people just feel good about living, to appreciate life, to give them inspiration to play guitar or drums or sing or whatever they’ve got going on right now,” comments bassist Jack Bessant. â€œWe’ve made a killer rock’n’roll record. And we want to go out and rock.”

Pre-order your copy here.

Read our review of ‘Never Let Me Go’ from Placebo

News Report

Standon Calling adds 40+ new names

We head across to Standon Calling now as our News Report switches focus to the weeks festival announcements.

This week saw the day and stage splits for the event plus 40+ new acts such as Declan McKenna, Razorlight, The Mysterines, Crawlers, Snapped Ankles and more.

They join the already announced Madness, The Subways, Yard Act, Primal Scream and Bob Vylan.

Tickets and information here.

Read our review of ‘Reeling’ from The Mysterines

Victorious Festival adds new acts

Another festival adding additional acts this past week was Victorious Festival.

New acts include Bombay Bicycle Club, The Longest Johns, Embrace and Bessie Turner.

They join an already packed line-up including Stereophonics, James, Primal Scream, Paolo Nutini, The Wombats, Ocean Colour Scene, Kula Shaker, White Lies, The Subways, We Are Scientists and Editors.

Tickets and information here.

Read our review of ‘Fix Yourself, Not The World’ from The Wombats

Manic Street Preachers to headline High Tide Festival

Just along the coast in Bournemouth, Manic Street Preachers will be headlining High Tide Festival.

They’ll be joined by Supergrass, The Subways, Dodgy, Beans On Toast and more.

Tickets and information here.

Read our review of Manic Street Preachers live in Cambridge

Splendour Festival confirms full line-up

Splendour Festival will return to Wollaton Park in Nottingham this July, and this week the event finalised its line-up with new additions including We Are Scientists, Coach Party, The Skinner Brothers and Deco.

They join the likes of Richard Ashcroft, Supergrass, Razorlight, Ocean Colour Scene, and The Magic Numbers.

Tickets are here.

Read our review of Wolf Alice live in Norwich

Luton’s Castlefest reveal line-up

Our final festival in this weeks News Report is Luton event Castlefest who this week revealed their first wave of acts.

The event will be headlined by As Everything Unfolds and Death Blooms.

Tickets here.

Read our review of the Download Pilot Festival

News Report

As always we complete our News Report with the latest acts to be added to our ‘Discover’ New Music Playlist!

‘THIS IS FOR YOU’ – CLASSLESS ACT

First up is ‘This Is For You’ the new single from young rockers Classless Act. The single guest features The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins.

Classless Act’s lead singer Derek Day expressed his excitement over the band’s latest single, saying, “It’s a dream come true for Classless Act to be a part of the Better Noise family. And the boys and I have been working really hard to give you something to shake your ass to. Now, summer’s here and the time is right for a couple of guitars, some bass and drums and a whole buncha me. Let’s get to it!!”

Collaborator Justin Hawkins shared his thoughts about hopping on the track, “One Tuesday night in February I gazed up onto the Swiss night sky. There, to my surprise I witnessed the beaming of The Hawk signal onto a passing cloud. After months of inactivity, I was called into action. My mission? To provide a face melting guitar solo to Classless Act’s ‘This is For You.’ I grasped my Gibson 335, headed into the hawk cave and within 24 hours the solo was born.”

‘JENNY’ – RATS

Next we have ‘Jenny’ the latest single from young indie starlets RATS.

Frontman Joe Maddocks says, â€œâ€˜Jenny’ is a story about a student who is forced to go to uni by her parents, but she has bigger dreams that soon turn sour.” 

‘STARTING OVER’ – THE LAZY EYES

Finally is ‘Starting Over’ from Aussie psych-rock four-piece The Lazy Eyes.

In their own words, the band explain, â€œThis song was written back in our high school days like the other songs are on the album. I remember having an inkling for the verse on acoustic guitar and thinking “meh” so I just left it be. After a while though, the song came back to me after jamming on the piano. I fleshed it out (admittedly with some pretty cringey lyrics back then) and whipped up a GarageBand demo for the boys. After that, we put it on Soundcloud and it was building some traction
 soon after we wiped everything in the search for a new start, you could say we were ‘Starting Over’.”

Listen, Follow & Discover your new favourite act on our ‘Discover’ New Music Playlist

Find the story behind the song on our ‘Discover’ New Music Podcast

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Read our review of PET NEEDS live in Norwich

Categories
Live Reviews

Download Pilot Festival 2021

Donington Park

Friday 18th – Sunday 20th June 2021

Download Pilot Festival Poster

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DOWNLOAD PILOT FESTIVAL 2021 – LIVE REVIEW

The live music industry is built on togetherness, built on shared experience and built on the power of emotion. The last 18 months have been highly emotional for all the wrong reasons. Together the world has shared an experience that has terrified and devastated us.

The events of the last 18 months have taken an incomprehensible toll on humanity. The pandemic has destroyed lives and livelihoods. The live music industry was obliterated overnight. The people that make the spectacles that we enjoy happen were forgotten about.

While the world attempts to peek through the curtains at a “new normal”, the live music industry is left waiting. Waiting for support, waiting for proper guidance, waiting for a chance. Well, just four weeks ago that chance arrived.

A Government trial event to test the viability of the return of packed festivals and events you say? Spring into action the incredible people behind the scenes who make the live music industry work! In a short period of time, heaven and earth have been moved and here we are at Download Festival.

A much smaller, makeshift, Pilot version of Download Festival at the hallowed grounds of Donington Park. 10,000 people in a field, no social distancing, no masks, no inhibitions.

Credit goes to all involved for creating an event of that scale on such short notice, and to all the acts playing with no preparation. As the gates open, one thing is for sure, the fans want this, no, the fans needs this.

The reality of the situation is that the organisers could have put an old man playing the spoons on stage and the fans would have lapped it up. The opportunity after all that everybody has been through to witness live music is cathartic.

DOWNLOAD PILOT FESTIVAL – FRIDAY

The fact that this may be the most exciting Download Festival line-up of all time only helps to amplify the anticipation as fans gather in the tented second stage for Death Blooms. Almost every person on site crams in to witness that first taste of live music in far too long.

The band make the most of the atmosphere with a storming set that sees the audience let go of all remaining inhibitions. I doubt the majority of those in the tent knew of the band in advance, but they certainly left with a memory that will last forever.

For this special event there are just two stages. Next to the tent is the outdoor main stage which opens with a raucous set from Hot Milk. Kicking off with their latest single ‘I Just Wanna Know What Happens When I’m Dead’ the band show the crowd just what they’ve been missing.

Listen to ‘I Just Wanna Know What Happens When I’m Dead’ from Hot Milk on our Spotify Hot List!

There is no need to worry about those dreaded clashes at Download Pilot Festival. That’s because the acts on the two stages alternate, allowing the music starved fans the opportunity to watch every single band if they so wish to.

Every band this weekend gets a good sized crowd and a warm reception with it, especially the early bands on Friday. Malevolence are next to grace the second stage and assist the audience in releasing their pent up energy with a heavy hitting set.

A repercussion of the pandemic has been the amazing new albums that have been released without the showcase of the live setting. One such album is ‘Glue’ from Boston Manor. That wrong is righted next however as the band storm the main stage and air the likes of ‘Everything Is Ordinary’.

An early standout performance from the band sees them mix new and old with ‘England’s Dreaming’, ‘Laika’ and ‘Halo’ eliciting some of the first full blown sing-a-long moments of the weekend.

Those sing-a-long moments continue with Holding Absence on the second stage as they get to unleash tracks from their sensational album ‘The Greatest Mistake of My Life’. ‘Afterlife’ in particular is a contender for song of the weekend as the band present their credentials for superstardom!

Read our review of ‘The Greatest Mistake of My Life’ from Holding Absence

The Friday action continues with two bands with extremely dedicated fanbases. Neck Deep get the main stage bouncing before Sleep Token captivate the second stage.

It is then down to Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes to bring the first day to a close on the main stage. Always an unstoppable force of nature on stage, the band make the most of the platform to make a statement. That statement says that this band is ready to headline the regular event.

With a setlist spanning their three albums, the band even treat fans to a selection of new tracks including the catchy ‘My Town’. There are guest appearances from Joe Talbot, Cassyette and Lynks, there is a giant circle pit around the sound tower and there is even a cover of ‘Ace of Spades’.

Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes saw an opportunity to headline a festival, to headline the first festival back, and they grabbed it with both hands. This was one of those sets that will be talked about forevermore!

Listen to ‘My Town’ from Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes on our Spotify Hot List!

After hours entertainment comes from a silent disco as the hastily arranged festival shows the skills and creativity of the music industry. You have to stand back and admire the achievement of those involved to create an event on this scale in the time given.

DOWNLOAD PILOT FESTIVAL – SATURDAY

On to Saturday now and the musical delights continue as Lotus Eater, Conjurer, As Everything Unfolds and Bleed From Within blow the cobwebs of the early morning audience.

Next two young bands with big futures introduce themselves to festival audiences. Both The Hara on the second stage and Wargasm on the main stage elicit strong reactions from those watching.

Listen to ‘Your Patron Saints’ from Wargasm on our Spotify Hot List!

After a solid showing from Tigercub, one of the veteran acts of the weekend, A, school the up and coming bands on how to engage an audience. An age appropriate walking circle pit being a nice change of pace in the midst of a hectic weekend. Finishing with ‘Nothing’, A show why they are the perfect festival band.

Two things become apparent as the weekend progresses. When dissecting the hastily put together line-up, the quality of British rock music is put in the spotlight and it more than holds its own. Secondly a good deal of that talent is female. Vukovi and Yonaka both deliver set of the weekend contenders next.

Listen to ‘Seize the Power’ from Yonaka on our Spotify Hot List!

Those Damn Crows, Twin Atlantic and Stone Broken all put in crowd pleasing performances before While She Sleeps attract and entertain a huge crowd on the main stage.

Soon though it’s time for the scorecard for band of the weekend to be thrown out the window. Creeper are able to deliver an out of body experience as they headline the second stage. There are goosebump raising moments galore as the band turn the festival into their own theatre of oral and visual magnificence.

Listen to ‘Midnight’ from Creeper on our Spotify Hot List!

It is then left to Enter Shikari to bring the Saturday night party and they don’t disappoint. If there was ever a band born to get you moving it’s Enter Shikari. They do just that as they also get to showcase newer songs live for the first time.

‘satellites**’, ‘{ The Dreamer’s Hotel }’ and ‘THE GREAT UNKNOWN’ fit in perfectly with classics like ‘Sorry, You’re Not A Winner’, ‘Juggernauts’ and ‘Mothership’. Much like Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes and Creeper, you can see the special treatment Enter Shikari have given this opportunity and that makes for a stunning spectacle.

DOWNLOAD PILOT FESTIVAL – SUNDAY

Come Sunday you’d imagine fatigue would be setting in. All this action after so many barren months, you could forgive the crowd for tiring and the festival atmosphere sapping. Instead energy is pumped in by bands such as Static Dress, Saint Agnes, Cassyette and Employed To Serve.

The fans reciprocate said energy as they continue to let loose to Chubby and the Gang, Loathe and Higher Power. The passion and pure joy of both fans and musicians to be at a festival is at times overwhelming. This event was destined to be an emotive affair but even through that emotion the quality of the music on offer shines.

Next on the main stage is Lonely The Brave complete with change in singer. A set mixed with fan favourites and new tracks from ‘The Hope List’ shows the band are still an exciting prospect. Can the band now finally take that next step? On their showing here, yes they can!

Read our review of ‘The Hope List’ from Lonely The Brave

For those fans catching every band the pace is relentless and it’s to the second stage next for Jamie Lenman. Lenman powers through a sublime set that gets the crowd moving and features another appearance from Wargasm.

The quirky goodness of Elvana attracts a huge crowd to the main stage as the festival heads towards its climax. The band show just why they are perhaps the perfect Sunday afternoon festival act as they get the crowd singing along to every word.

Massive Wagons are able to take the second stage by storm before a sadly technically challenged The Wildhearts limp off stage. The Wildhearts are a top quality band and the issues with their sound perhaps show the effects of an enforced hiatus for musicians and crew members alike.

It’s on that note that once again praise must be heaped on the organisers, the crew members, the festival staff and yes the bands for making this event such a success. That is only amplified by the incredibly short timescale.

Realistically this has been a once in a lifetime event (we hope). Download Pilot Festival as an event is excellent and would be a great addition to the main Download Festival. It’s the atmosphere and camaraderie however that makes this festival so special.

We are down then to the final four bands, the final acts before reality is set to strike again. Up first on the second stage are Trash Boat who get the tent bouncing, especially with a stunning cover of Linkin Park classic ‘Given Up’.

If there is a perfect festival band it’s Skindred. Put them on any stage in any slot and they will attract a huge crowd. With a sub-headline slot on the main stage, the field is full as Benji Webbe and co put in a seamless lesson in crowd engagement.

The final act on the second stage is also no stranger to the festival scene. Although Frank Turner has played Download Festival in the past, even he acknowledges he may not be the typical Download act. Nobody cares though, as he puts in a typically euphoric performance.

The crowd are not just treated to the set staples but also to new song ‘The Gathering’ and heavier version of ‘Little Changes’. There are sing-a-longs aplenty as Turner does what he does best and that is entertain!

Check out The Full Pelt Music Podcast with guest Frank Turner!

That just leaves Bullet For My Valentine to close out Download Pilot Festival. A festival which we wish was never needed but are so glad that it happened. Bullet For My Valentine are long time Download favourites and they deliver an apt conclusion to the event.

We are treated to a unique take on ‘Run To The Hills’ from Iron Maiden complete with a perplexing vocal contribution fron Benji Webbe. We get new material in the form of ‘Knives’ and of course we get favourites such as ‘Scream Aim Fire’ and ‘Tears Don’t Fall’.

‘Waking The Demon’ is the final song to ring around Donington Park, and we can only hope and pray that this event can wake the demon that is the festival scene. The fans may have been lab rats, but what a stunning lab it was! Thank you Download Pilot Festival for such a cathartic weekend.

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Read our review of ‘Bodies’ from AFI