It’s that time again, an anticipated highlight of the festival calendar for those for whom the mainstream is but a distant memory. Supersonic Festival in Birmingham is a veritable feast for the eyes, ears, and soul. Thank you to Lisa Meyer’s team and their impeccable curation and programming; nobody leaves without having discovered something special.
Friday
Our Friday begins with Zahra Haji Fath Tehrani, an Iranian Irish composer who brings jazzy, shoegaze, and punky explorations to the stand at Norton’s stage on Friday, taking the place of the XOYO venue for one night only. The layout of this venue means that it quickly achieves a one-in-one-out status, but this adds a more intimate sense to the proceedings for Zahra’s exotic explorations, setting the tone for the opening night nicely.
From here, we travel up the road to the Institute for a frankly startling experimental pop hyper colour of Mermaid Chunky, who feel for all the world like a Mighty Boosh club band come to life. It’s a performance in every sense of the word, replete with playful songs about trousers, visuals of hedgehogs and a multi coloured dance troop in the crowd. To say it’s an otherworldly experience early on would be unusual anywhere else but here, and in the spirit of Supersonic Festival, it’s our first reminder that we should strap in and enjoy the ride of the next three days because who knows where this is going next.
Back at Norton’s next, we find Leeds maverick Hang Linton putting in a masterful set of performative poetic rap, street-savvy beats alongside a fuzzy punk edge that singles out this showman as one of the most exciting acts on Friday night. His engaging presence gets the fully packed crowd singing along and dancing, and the vibe levels are in full party mode.
This is where the swerves and shifts of this Festival come into full effect, because over at The O2 Institute’s main stage, immersive drone supergroup Water Damage could not be a more contrasting act. Their set revolves around a single, evolving, undulating drone piece, with two drummers playing the same pummeling rhythm. It is equally hypnotic and confrontational, with the sharp urgency of the rhythm section allowing the many pieces of this ensemble room to drift and explore the space above. When you look at the calibre on stage from bands like Swans, Spray Paint and Black Eyes, it truly is a masterclass in how to do a truly immersive performance, and they are not the only performance of this type we will encounter over the weekend, but surely the most deliberate and visceral.
Next up, the superfuzzed psychedelic two-piece SKLOSS utterly laid waste to Norton’s with their transcendental swamp mosh, augmented by visuals from renowned tattoo legend Thomas Hooper on the big screens. The band comes on like a hyperactive Earth that you can headbang to and drench the crowd with a wall of sound J Mascis would be proud of.
Back at the mainstage, Moin put in our favourite set of an extraordinary opening evening. Incredible drumming and dreamy, experimental electronica and shoegaze merge in a glorious, kaleidoscopic fashion. This is a hugely emotive set by the three-piece, and well-thought-out visuals and pitch-perfect peaks and valleys beautifully complement it. The stunned crowd are all unified in awe as this unforgettable set seeps into every pore of the Institute. It’s a stunning mainstage climax on day one and a performance that sets the bar ridiculously high for the rest of the festival.
After that frankly out-of-body experience, we need a good slap around the chops to bring us back to earth, and who better than the sax-led, noise rock, jazz punk of ZU? The minimal set-up of sax, bass and drums is anything but minimalist in sound. ZU are as intense as the Dillinger Escape Plan and as wild as their famous supporters, Mike Patton and John Zorn. The band are musically incredible but still punk as hell and shows that virtuosity doesn’t have to be elitist. Their stomping, full-bore hyper jazz is as exhilarating as a hardcore show, and their shock and awe set really blows the walls off Norton’s, leaving them with many new fans.
For us, we have to return to our lodgings and process what we just witnessed, preparing ourselves in the knowledge that literally anything could happen over the next couple of days.
Saturday
It’s not only the genius onstage that is impressive at Supersonic. The genius offstage in the way the festival is presented, programmed and meticulously delivered is what makes this Festival a jewel in the crown of summer festival season for us. A great example of this is the comfortable starting time of 15:30 for the first act on Saturday. This gives us time to take in the beautiful market and check out the excellent food offerings, but also the choice of the first act on Saturday at XOYO is a masterstroke.
Penelope Trappes is precisely the right act for this time slot, bewitching, beautiful and ethereal are all words that spring to mind when witnessing her experimental electronica live. She employs perfect visuals and lighting to bring the audience into her lost-at-sea laments and actual stormy crescendos. Accompanied by a lone cellist who beautifully adds to the drama unfolding before us. Penelope Trappes is an astonishing performer, and her set is both musical theatre at its finest. Heartfelt, emotive, and 100% sincere, it’s a performance that absolutely wows and makes us realise we are far from convention – and that’s a very exciting prospect!
Over at the Institute, Smote and One Leg One Eye receive a venue upgrade and deliver a set of a singular drone jam that manages to be both violent and beautiful at the same time, with traditional folk themes buried within, much like the feeling behind Smote’s upcoming album, but delivered in an entirely different way. It’s utterly fascinating and packs the weight of a full-on techno set with a back-to-basics organic feel. It’s one of those times where you want to say, “you had to be there,” but in the context of a live review, that isn’t the point.
To say we are excited to watch Buñuel live is an understatement. Eugene S. Robinson is one of the greatest original hardcore punk artists still operating on this planet. You can’t compare him to anyone else, so I won’t try to. Equal parts funk, punk and downright scary, you literally daren’t look away, and every word that comes from him feels like it’s directly squared at you personally. The masterful band jerks and shakes their highly angular, uncompromising brand of noise rock like the legends they are as they lay down tracks from last year’s outstanding Mansuetude album, and every part of this machine feels dangerous as hell. To say it’s a performance we will never forget by an all-time hero seems obvious, but it is entirely incredible!
Over at XOYO, our old friends Death Goals are invoking the first appearance of hardcore crowd killer moves I’ve ever seen at Supersonic. Harry and George are on blistering comeback mode, armed with a spectacular new EP and a whole lot of road time in their arsenal. Harry is both in your face and tender at the same time, which is tricky to pull off, but this is a band that strips themselves bare and vulnerable in the spotlight both musically and spiritually to tackle equality and diversity head-on and are frequently acknowledged as one of the most important acts in the UK’s queercore scene. It’s another festival slain for this duo, and we were expecting nothing less.
The next set is a much anticipated UK first, the Witch Club Satan live experience up until now have been a thing of whispers in the UK with images of their european festival dates and YouTube videos only giving half of the picture of what can only be described as visceral, brutal musical theatre that charts the history of patriarchy via the medium of primitive first wave black metal and tales of witch trials. Over the course of three acts, the band follows a narrative that is visceral, heartbreaking, and intense in equal measure. The much-talked-about nudity is entirely relevant as part of the narrative, as it would be in a theatre. The music is icy cold, blasting black metal, and the three females on stage are the very embodiment of rage and empowerment. It’s an unforgettable experience and one I would strongly recommend to anyone, regardless of whether they are a heavy metal fan or not.
Tonight’s main event for us is the return of Backxwash to Supersonic. This year’s incredible Only Dust Remains opus was not only a switch in style away from her metal leanings, but it was also a testament to how you can be truly heavy in so many other ways. Tonight, she plays that album in full, and it’s glorious to watch. She performs her set alone, with no DJ or hypeman, just her and a microphone in front of well-placed visuals, wearing her full regalia. From the first note, the entire audience is within the palm of her hand, her crushing vulnerability front and centre as she tackles tales of drug use, suicidal ideation and a rallying cry for Palestine on History Of Violence with her lyrics in bold behind her. This performance is true, it is real, and it is delivered by a woman who, for our money, is the absolute best in the game right now. After the last note, she leaves the stage and people start milling out, when she returns for a blistering mosh pit rousing encore of the aptly titled ‘Devil In A Moshpit’. The queen returned to take her crown and left every jaw on the ground in the process, untouchable!
From there, our last call of the night takes us back to XOYO, where Hirs Collective is dishing out good time queercore power violence to an adoring crowd. The band rattles through a ridiculous amount of tracks in just a thirty-minute set time, interspersing their gnarly assault with snatches of well-known pop songs and generally leaving you with a feeling of being happy-slapped in the most positive way.
With our heads spinning, we bid that festival adieu and look towards a far more sombre final day tomorrow.
Sunday
Traditionally, Sunday is a more chilled affair at Supersonic, but bear in mind this is relaxed in the realms of this Festival, so don’t get too mellow.
Floating into our Sunday first this morning are the bewitching sounds of Bridget Hayden & The Apparitions, who haunt XOYO with their reverb-drenched neo folk odes to the West Yorkshire landscape.
From here, we drop by one of the many fringe activities to listen to Music For Nations’ Julie Weir conducting an enlightening and informative interview with Witch Club Satan in the beautiful Zelling building, which is the base camp for the festival this weekend.
We arrive at Institute just in time for an act whose name is slightly misleading, Jackie O Motherfucker aren’t another power violence act, and they have nothing to do with hip hop. They are, in fact, a quite delightful, jazzy, psychedelic experience consisting of three guitarists who weave a sonic web around each other with electronic elements underpinning the performance. They are highly skilled and actually very pleasant.
The surprises don’t stop there, though. Back at XOYO, we see the next band, Hedgling, setting up, and what seems to be a sewing machine is lifted on stage. We give our heads a shake and figure maybe it’s something else, and we are mistaken. Hedgling are an experimental act that utilises a lot of field recordings and found sound in their compositions, and they also take influences from free jazz. Their set is quite intense at times and seems to be working up to something, and on the last track, the tip of the crescendo is revealed. Yes, it is a sewing machine, and here it is amplified and used as a rhythmic instrument, via the foot pedal. To my ears, it actually sounds great.
Next on the main stage, we have Poor Creature, who reimagine Irish folk music in new and exciting forms for contemporary ears. It’s a beautiful concept, and when you see that one of their number is a member of Lankum, it all makes beautiful sense. Poor Creature were just the tonic to see out the afternoon’s events.
Six Organs of Admittance next gives us a set of songs that are electric folk, characterised by a ghostly, Scott Walker-esque vocal delivery with shades of gothic inflexion and a haunting quality. That serves as a respite for the ears before the sonic waves of our next truly incredible act.
Divide and Dissolve will be Devolution Magazine’s last act of Supersonic Festival 2025, and what a way to go out! Takiaya Reed is a classically trained saxophonist who, this year, crafted a concerto with the BBC Philharmonic and also has a notable turn in doom metal. Her looped saxophone interludes give way to waves of monolithic doom riffing accompanied by powerhouse drumming, and the purity of her approach to sound is absolutely intoxicating. She is an inspiring and intuitive talent and is exactly the finale we needed to see out a festival bill that put young, vibrant women front and centre.
Supersonic Festival remains one of the best weekends in the world for those who enjoy exploring the outer limits and being challenged and educated in their listening experiences. It is a vital part of the festival calendar.
This year’s Festival was an exercise in overcoming obstacles for the organisers, who pulled off a faultless programme of events against the odds, as Lisa Meyer and her crew gave us a Pandora’s box of sonic delights to leave us all inspired, invigorated, and definitely making plans to return next year, wherever and however they present this incredible meeting of minds.
https://supersonicfestival.com
Review By George Miller – https://www.facebook.com/oneflamemedia
Photos By: Thomas Hazlehurst – https://www.instagram.com/tommytogtog/
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