Pop-Punk’s New Royalty - As December Falls Light Up the Electric Ballroom

Alan Bryce
2 days ago
3 min read

Electric Ballroom, Camden – 30th October 2025

WORDS / IMAGES ALAN BRYCE

Pop-Punk’s New Royalty - As December Falls Light Up the Electric Ballroom — Alan Bryce Photo Credit

Camden’s Electric Ballroom has seen it all — eyeliner disasters, sticky floors, and more “next big things” than you can count. But tonight, it belongs to As December Falls, the Nottingham pop-punk outsiders who’ve somehow turned doing everything themselves into a bona fide success story.

This show was part of their gloriously titled Everything’s On Fire But We’re On Tour run, celebrating their fourth album, Everything’s On Fire But I’m Fine. Released in August, it’s a record that finds the band levelling up — still heavy on the hooks, but with enough cinematic scope and emotional honesty to make you wonder if they’ve secretly nicked Paramore’s playbook and scrawled “make it bigger” across the top.

As December Falls have been doing the DIY thing since 2014 — no label, no big-money backing, just a mix of blind faith, caffeine, and a rabid fanbase that treats the band like extended family. They crowdfund, they self-book, they even let fans weigh in on merch. It’s as if they looked at the music industry and went, “Nah, we’ll build our own, thanks.” And somehow, it’s working.

Their 2023 album Join The Club cracked the UK Top 20, they’ve smashed sets at Download and Slam Dunk, and their rise has been powered entirely by word of mouth — the kind that spreads faster than gossip at a backstage bar.

Tonight’s Camden date was one of several sold-out UK shows — Leeds, Nottingham, Manchester — with Bristol and Glasgow still waiting for the firestorm. The tour’s title isn’t just a clever gag; it’s a manifesto. When everything’s burning, As December Falls dance through the flames.

Before the headliners took over, Aussie chaos merchants RedHook blasted through a set that sounded like Linkin Park and The Prodigy had a messy break-up in the middle of a mosh pit. It was feral, fun, and gloriously unhinged — just what you need before the main event.

Then came The Hara, who don’t so much perform as detonate. Glam, rock, pop, a dash of theatre — like The 1975 got locked in a dressing room with My Chemical Romance and a can of Red Bull. They’re impossible to ignore, and the Ballroom was all the better for it.

By the time Beth Manderson swaggered onstage, the room was ready to combust. She’s a force of nature — part confessional poet, part pop-punk general — and she had the crowd eating out of her hand from the first scream. “Therapy” and “Angry Cry” hit with arena-sized intent, while “Ride” and “Mayday” kept the long-timers pogoing like it was Warped Tour 2004.

Beth’s voice can slice through walls of guitar noise one minute and pull every ounce of heartbreak out of a lyric the next. Guitarist Ande Hunter Jiménez and bassist Timmy Francis powered through with the precision of a band that’s been built in the trenches — every riff tight, every chorus bigger than the last.

The crowd? Utter chaos. Phones in the air, lungs on fire, everyone screaming like they’d just been told emo’s making a comeback (again).

By the encore, it wasn’t just a gig — it was a victory parade. A love letter to independence, graft, and the sheer audacity of doing it all yourself.

As December Falls didn’t just play the Electric Ballroom — they torched it. If this is what DIY looks like in 2025, the labels might want to start panic-buying fire extinguishers.