Holly Head
The Horrors, Fats Canine, Sports activities Workforce, Holly Head
Dot To Dot 2025, Nottingham, UK, Might 25, 2025,
Jun 05, 2025
Spring financial institution holidays are made for 2 issues. First: The Championship play-off remaining; the agony and ecstasy hinged on the sport dubbed “the richest in world soccer” performed this 12 months by Sheffield United (The Mighty Blades) and Sunderland (The Jammy Mackems). The tone of voice means that the consequence didn’t go the best way I hoped it might. I imply, how are you going to lose when the opposition has solely two photographs on the right track all sport, each of which got here within the final fifteen minutes? Judging by United’s play off file, it’s simple to see why. 9 instances we’ve reached the playoffs and we’ve did not get promoted on all 9 events. There have to be one thing within the membership’s DNA. To reference the favored Mick McCarthy meme, it could’t go on like this, can it? I’m afraid it could. Let’s hope it doesn’t occur subsequent 12 months.
The second factor is one thing extra leisurely than disturbing: The annual return of Nottingham’s greatest inner-city competition. Dot to Dot has turn into a cloth of the town, and for its twentieth version, the competition was positive to mark this milestone in type. The entire Dot to Dot idea entails revellers planning their very own journey from venue to venue, stopping off to turn into engrossed in an eclectic plethora of artists culminating in an city maze of a journey that transcends all genres and abilities. The multitude of musical journeys is testomony to the competition’s personal chronology from its genesis to its state of flourishing 20 years on. This 12 months’s festivals noticed the addition of recent venues and the ever-improving roster to provide stated venues an opportunity to compete with the mainstayers of Rock Metropolis, Rescue Rooms and Bodega. The Palais, which was remodelled on the previous Palais nightclub that opened again in 1925, welcomed again crowds having been resurrected by DHP late final 12 months. As well as, The Grove, The Carousel and Jam Cafe have been as soon as once more there to offer the Hockley hustle and bustle (no pun meant to the competition of the identical identify) in doing so making a monolithic hive of exercise. These venues every have their very own aptitude, including extra pleasure to the musical hopscotch being performed by the hundreds of folks touchdown on the varied musical squares, from the overhanging staircase at The Grove, to the ornate dancehall of the Palais and the Carousel’s vibrant workshop setting. The Dot to Dot journey is ready to be a route with varied detours and the way you get there’s as much as you. Not each journey is made with straight strains going from one place to the subsequent. There may be the satisfaction of getting into any course to cease off at a vacation spot by which you uncover one thing new and strange.
The true draw to this 12 months’s competition was by its headliners: Fats Canine, The Horrors, SPRINTS and the key headliners, Sports activities Workforce, the latter of whom by coincidence, had a matinee efficiency at Tough Commerce the next day to rejoice the discharge of their new LP Boys These Days. The vary of the headline acts displays each the uncooked enchantment of recent expertise in addition to notable names with devoted followings, and people gaining a stronger foothold from what they’d beforehand. This combine has been the final word purpose of Dot to Dot and what has made it a mainstayer on the impartial competition calendar.
As a result of a protracted and winding automotive journey from London, we arrived barely later than deliberate. The excellent news was that the size of the queue, while energetic, had died all the way down to the purpose the place you possibly can go straight by. Chaos had been averted.
Upon climbing the Rock Metropolis stairs, and going by the door, the venue breaks off into its three tributaries. The 2 seldom-used Black Cherry Lounge and Beta rooms have been open and providing up avenues for native and nationwide acts to attract in a crowd to flee the inevitable overcrowding in the principle auditorium. The impact of each rooms being open is tidal and so into each rooms we go and take a peek. At Beta, we catch Disgusting Sisters from the left nook of the stage having arrived mid-set. The 2 sisters, Jules and Josie present blissful harmonies over digital pop injected with angle. The oscillating crowd are properly tuned-in with the sound, and regardless of it not being my cup of tea, they’re joyous sufficient to remain and luxuriate in. These have been adopted up by Holly Head – a Manchester four-piece punk outfit – who carry a rambunctiousness to such a compact venue with their razor sharp riffs and thunderous drums drawing from the likes of Thee Oh Sees, Heavy Lungs and Idles. Their rapid-fire set, filled with tracks lasting barely two minutes, will get any close by wanderers’ consideration even when the room is two-thirds full and the very best views aren’t there. Heading into the principle part at Rock Metropolis, we come throughout youthful shoegazers Honeyglaze who present a gradual and dreamy resolution to the hectic hustle that often descends on Rock Metropolis each evening of the week. Shoegaze all the time appears to be a divisive speaking level at festivals. Will we put it in room 101 or play it because it lays for all to get pleasure from? It’s a fairly combined response from mates and strangers alike. Huge Particular adopted subsequent, and with the crowds gathering, we headed as much as the balcony. The Black Nation-based duo play a raucous set full of power and anger. Much more attention-grabbing is their arrange of simply vocals and drums taking part in over pre-recorded tracks. The band’s enchantment comes by their growly vocals and social commentary on the state of the nation. Their set comes after the discharge of POSTINDUSTRIAL HOMESICK BLUES, a file summing up a sentiment felt throughout the nation of the previous fifteen years. The commercial factor additionally displays in a few of the sonic undercurrents of the band. Teams like brutalist Teessiders Advantages have additionally proven the revival of commercial as a style when it was thought it had diminished into the clutch of area of interest subcultures.
Away From Rock Metropolis being the principle hub of exercise and with the attention that the clock is ticking to have the ability to see as a lot as you may, Rescue Rooms beckons and with good cause as we encounter Cork-quintet Cardinals, who with brooding conviction create an superior ambiance that will get the group doing simultaneous pogo sticks onto the trembling flooring beneath. The dim inexperienced rays of sunshine give off a tantalizing really feel to issues; a bespoke nod to their Irish roots? Maybe. Heading upstairs, we come throughout the carnage of the Crimson Room and Bruise Management. By this level, we’re dazed and separated from the group. The groupchat is unresponsive, seems to be like i’m gonna must discover this one alone. The Crimson Room has an extremely low ceiling. Good luck if you happen to’re over six ft, you’ll be fortunate to not bang your head! The room is packed to the purpose your head touches the beams above, but your view of the stage continues to be obstructed. The sheer chaos of Bruise Management is so overwhelming that their identify couldn’t be extra apt, the shoulder barges, the tackles, the impromptu hits to the face. It was time to maneuver on earlier than somebody may get critically damage.
The headliners at Rock Metropolis want no introduction, The Horrors have been a well-established act for properly over twenty years and have crafted their very own area into the competition circuit. Faris Badwan and co headlined the competition again in 2018 and have been positive to make a much bigger impression with their set on the twentieth anniversary of the competition. Faris has all the time had fairly an aloof aura about him at any time when he’s on stage, he murmurs, croons, yowls and rants versus merely singing this mixed with the dense instrumentation that has been the cornerstone of the band’s sound. The waves of hyper-galactic electronics with undertones of 60s storage rock and Can-esque rhythmic tones have made them a longtime pressure amongst these in search of lucid psychedelic alternate options. Faris and co are often called a lot for his or her political consciousness with chants of “Free Palestine!” ringing by the set. The set is a forty-five minute well-crafted showcase of all the things the band has produced. Similar to with Dot to Dot, The Horrors are additionally of their twentieth 12 months, and, regardless of a number of modifications to the line-up, their sound has turn into fairly distinctive for its energetic sense of urgency and is complementary to the luminous lighting proven on stage.
Fats Canine are decided to exit with a bang at Rock Metropolis. The 12 months they’ve had has been fairly exceptional and so they’re in no temper to let that cease now. The combo of Yiddish klezmer, dance and punk is kind of eclectic and it had me, and everybody else, reeled in regardless of being located above the steps on the correct hand aspect. As individuals stored coming and going, it was a mission of mine to zoom into the principle pit of exercise even when my merch of a tote bag with disposable cups was getting in the best way by bashing individuals’s elbows. Fats Canine frontman, Joe Love espouses to be the messiah together with his cowboy hat worn as if he’s the king of the rodeo with a considerable amount of cool injected to empty away the conceitedness. The cowboy hat transforms him into a frontrunner attempting to dictate the group. The ambiance is totally raucous and hypnotic, the ocean of individuals dancing is a big tribute to this band’s capacity to placed on a present, and a headline one at that.
The night had completed. Or had it? Rumours of who the key headline act have been going available plagued me for the final hour. It was an odd choice for the key headliner to take to the stage at 1am when many of the older punters, who had wished to see them, have been maybe considering of when the final bus could be. Having been revealed as Sports activities Workforce, who from earlier expertise know the best way to placed on a present, I couldn’t include my pleasure for a way the competition would conclude. The Bodega, regardless of being considered one of Nottingham’s “important 3” venues, has a comparatively small capability, and because of this predicament, it was a coverage of “One in, One Out.” After being very affected person, I’m allowed in with a restricted view from the correct of the stage. Tip-toeing previous a tide of oldsters heading for the bar and bogs is extraordinarily tough with an extremely painful ingrown toenail. It might be extraordinarily naive to suppose nobody would dare trod on my toes, by being that naive it was accepting that it was my very own fault. The hype on Sports activities Workforce has been there since lockdown and so they have been a type of who supplied my lockdown soundtrack through the summer time of one-hour workouts and heady night ingesting outdoors. The raucousness reaches its climax through the rendition of “Right here’s the Factor” the place, with out warning, I’m catapulted into the inside circle – on the mercy of the mob crowd. The one strategy to plead with them is to annoyingly shove with a tote bag those that put you there to point you’re not eager about being handed round. It was 1am, and if there was extra power left within the tank, I might have greater than held my very own in a mosh pit, however I didn’t. However taking nothing from Sports activities Workforce, they closed the present in some type.
Dot to Dot saved up massive for its twentieth anniversary. It’s been a journey that’s seen Nottingham’s cultural output thrive 12 months upon 12 months, and if it was to be taken away, the town would eradicate a part of its cultural id. It might be a gruelling twelve hours of roaming, loitering and cavorting within the metropolis, with an extra of 20,000 steps tallied up on the counter on the finish of the day, nevertheless it’s this stuff that are cherished by so many. Every Dot to Dot journey is supposed to be savoured and loved by punters regardless of the place they find yourself. It’s impartial festivals like this that we must be most grateful for.
Thanks, Dot to Dot!
Right here’s to twenty extra years!