Feeder Crown a Night of Indie Heroes at Blackpool Winter Gardens
- ANDI CALLEN
- Jul 28
- 5 min read
Winter Gardens Blackpool - 24th July 2026
WORDS / IMAGES ANDI CALLEN
Feeder // The Futureheads // A // Balancing Act
Blackpool is busy tonight. Also on at the iconic Winter Gardens are a Johnny Cash tribute evening and the business end of the World Matchplay Darts tournament. These two events go a long way to explain the plethora of people dressed up in strange garb, milling around as I weave my way through the crowds. With school now officially out for summer (Copyright Alice Cooper), the teachers are out in force and heading for tonight’s venue, Olympia Hall.
The first in a series of gigs from Manchester promoters Scruff Of The Neck, saw a near sell-out crowd descend on Blackpool to witness a great evening of alt-rock borne of the 90s.
Opening tonight’s proceedings, none of Balancing Act were even born when the others on the bill started their careers! Conceived in Manchester but birthed in London, the quartet’s set of dark brooding singalongs, tinged with psychedelia go down well with the early comers, reminding me in parts of Muse and Gomez. In vocalist Kai John Roberts, they possess a charismatic front man channelling the energy of Alex Turner and looks of an early Jim Morrison, albeit without the leather trousers! Highlights of the set include “Sunshine”, the oddly titled “She Plays The Theremin” and “There’s A Few Of Us Still Here”. Definitely ones to watch out for.
Setlist – Sunshine//Scar//Laylow//Before I Shoot//She Plays The Thermin//There’s A Few Of Us Still Here//All Yours
Not wanting to show mine or the bands ages but I first interviewed A almost 30 years ago, when I was music editor at University of Bradford’s arts magazine Scrapie, yes named after the sheep disease! Never easy to Google (or Lycos and AltaVista as it was back then in pre-Google days), sometimes I felt the band were destined never to reach their full potential just through their sheer invisibility. You really needed to want to search them out! Formed in the mid-90s the band has the three Perry boys, Jason (Vox), Adam (Drums), Giles (Keys), with original guitarist Mark Chapman and Richard Trigg on bass completing the line up.
Now the self-professed Kings of Lowestoft are back live promoting their 5th album Prang, 21 years after their 4th! Well worth the wait if you ask me, which you weren’t so I’ll crack on with the review!
Back in the day Jason was often lauded for his boyish good looks despite being mid-20s. The succeeding years has done nothing to diminish those looks but it feels wrong now, 30 years later, to use the same description, suffice to say there are butcher’s dogs all over the UK having a good look at themselves in the mirror!
Bouncing onto the stage he has lost nothing voice wise, as the first strains of “Foghorn” strike up, crisp and punchy. I last saw them in Manchester’s Club Academy a couple of years ago but it’s so good to have them back on a big stage again. Aside from perhaps Sting and Perry Farrell, not many vocalists have made high pitched vocals work outside of the rock genre. Jason croons, shouts and bellows his vocals on tracks like “No.1”, “Starbucks” and set closer “Nothing”, which rocks harder than a pillowcase of bricks in a tumble drier.
The set is a great mix of tracks off the new LP and crowd faves. Unsurprisingly nothing from the Teen Dance Ordinance album makes the set. The new songs, whilst showing a maturity and change of pace, fit seamlessly amongst those from 25 years ago. As the set progresses there’s more nodding heads amongst the predominantly 50 something audience, as the recognition of long forgotten tunes spreads quicker than half-truths on social media. The cobwebs blown away we get a semblance of a singalong during “Starbucks”, before the country tinged “Kings Of Lowestoft” complete with some Graham Coxon-ish guitar, reminding me of more lo-fi Blur moments. There’s not a blip or stumble, this is not a band going through the motions, rather sprinting for the finish line. Adam is as solid and dependable as ever on drums and Richard’s bass notes slap hard but it’s Marks guitar work that stands out for me, especially on the Beck meets Primal Scream “Bring On The Likes”. Holding all of this together in a very understated way is Miles, whose keys add another layer without ever dominating. As the set closes, Jason is smiling, I’m smiling and I suspect a good number of those present allowed themselves a little grin. My only criticism is they should have been above The Futureheads on the bill.
Setlist – Foghorn//Walkover//Something’s Going On//Number 1//Bring On The Likes/Shit Summer//Hello Sunshine//Starbucks//Kings Of Lowestoft//I Love Lake Tahoe//Nothing
I used to love the angular post-punk sounds of The Futureheads. Formed in 2000, they were one of the first UK bands this century to wrest back the baton from a group of US bands, who had discovered and plundered the sounds of quintessentially English acts like XTC and Gang of Four. In fact, it was the latter’s Andy Gill who produced 5 tracks off their eponymous debut in 2003.
Tonight they seem a bit flat except for “Robot”, “Decent Days & Nights” and set highlight “Hounds Of Love” after the mid set lull that was “The Old Dun Cow”, a territory now predominantly owned by the likes of shanty punks Skinny Lister. Their end of term report card would read “6/10 Capable of More”.
Feeder are one of those bands who you kind of forget and then you are suddenly surprised by how many great songs they have. Another band who I crossed paths with nearly 30 years ago, the Welsh rockers were coming through at the same time as fellow taffs, Stereophonics, Catatonia, Super Furry Animals, Gorkys and 60ft Dolls. With The Manics just hitting their stride there was a real buzz about all things Welsh. It was the new Seattle!
Their sound evolved from the slower indie dance friendly uni disco tunes like “Cement”, “Tangerine “and “High” from debut LP “Polythene” into heavy full on rock songs not out of place on the main stage of festivals like Download, where they headlined in 2005. This evening’s set is heavily front loaded with tracks from 20 or so years ago with just 3 culled from more recent albums since 2019.
From the opening strains of 2002’s anthemic Smashing Pumpkins-esque “Just The Way I’m Feeling” to encore “Just A Day”, remembered vividly for its fan led promo video, memories come flooding back and I’m a fan again. Moshing at St Georges Hall in Bradford supporting Terrorvision seems like only yesterday! Taking them in my car to the aftershow at Rios Rock Club a favourite memory.
Tonight everything is spot on. The enigmatic Taka on bass busting moves and pulling shapes, a true photographer’s dream. Grant is as good as I remember him. Our paths haven’t crossed as frequently as perhaps they should over the years and I’m left making mental notes that I should really revisit those albums again, especially the later ones like Tallulah as “Fear of Flying” and “Kyoto” are mighty fine tunes.
Predictably the highlight of the set is “Buck Rogers”, provoking the biggest singalong of the evening. A great cover of Nirvana’s “Breed” which gives Grant and the eyepatch sporting, recently returned 2nd guitarist, Dean Tidey the chance to rock out fully, completes the set before “Just A Day” brings things to a satisfactory
conclusion.
Setlist – Just The Way I’m Feeling//Fear of Flying//Come Back Around//Insomnia//Feeling A Moment//Pushing The Senses//Kyoto//Godzilla//Buck Rogers//Forget About Tomorrow//Playing With Fire//High//Seven Days In The Sun//Breed (Nirvana Cover)//Just A Day
All in all a resounding success for the promoters, Scruff Of The Neck, who have a whole host of excellent shows coming up in Blackpool over the next 5 months or so.
Huge thanks to Elle @Sonic PR for sorting out the access.
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