REVIEW: Friday at Planet Rockstock 2025

With autumn about to hand the seasonal baton to winter, it’s perhaps the perfect time to see local act Autumn Killers. To them – a genre-shifting trio mixing synth-based electronics with melodic heaviness – falls the task of opening Friday’s Rockstock bill. They’re followed by another three-piece, though Brighton’s Honeybadger are built of altogether different fibre. There’s a grungy, shuffle-and-strike mentality to their writing that’ll appeal to QOTSA fans, and that intro to ‘Back Home’ is jagged enough to cut through wire.

Our very own Wyatt soon cuts through a rather different type of material, a finishing line ribbon in his case. Just after 2pm our noble colleague completes a 700-mile odyssey that has seen him walk, run and cycle as far north as Gretna, and all the way back southwest to a Trecco Bay lashed by rain and gusty wind. His epic enterprise has raised over £55,000 for Planet Rock’s charity Cash for Kids, which will be used to help young people struggling with their mental health.

Despite its many challenges, Wyatt’s final leg hasn’t been as troublesome as that experienced by local alt rockers Häxan who had their van ‘rear-ended’ en route. “It wasn’t quite the Friday shafting we were hoping for,” jokes frontwoman Sam Bolderson, before unleashing the aptly named ‘Fight Fire With Fire’. Then, brows furrowed with focus, hard-riffing quartet Voltstorm complete our second stage action with welcome surges of Maiden-stamped trad metal.

It's never a bad idea to have Gypsy Pistoleros opening a big bill, and that’s exactly what happens on today’s main stage. The band’s fronted with such good humour by Lee that you almost forget you’re watching something unique - Mexican-flavoured rock, a touch of punk, a flash of funk, that switches speed and tone with nimble dexterity. Their cover of Dexy’s Midnight Runners’ ‘Come On Eileen’ is an ace finish and sets the tone for The Hot Damn!, the colourfully clad ladies and their inflatable unicorns a positive force on any stage. Even Planet Rock’s Darren Redick is dressed in the unit’s livery, which might politely be described as ‘high-vis’. Better still is the songs’ sheer brilliance – the instantly singable ‘Dance Around’, ‘Jukebox On The Radio’ et al – and their grin-inducing ability to transform three covers into adverts for their merch!

Watching The Virginmarys is always an eye-opener, regardless of whether they’re playing on today’s big stage or thrashing out jams in the tiniest of clubs. The hurricane-force noise made by Ally Dickaty and Danny Dolan momentarily makes you wonder why more bands don’t play as duos. During ‘Portrait of Red’, Danny hits his drums as if intending them real harm, and both men perform with gun-to-the-head zeal, or as if failure might result in an ‘appointment’ with Vladimir Putin.

If that was something to see, then so too is Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse. In some ways this lavish seven-piece is a no less relevant but polar opposite to The Virginmarys, conjuring some myriad wonder of rock, soul and blues. Of all the multiple great things about them, the fact that all band members appear to be having the time of their lives while delivering often-complex, go-anywhere jams; that above anything tells you how good they are. The glittery sass of ‘Satisfy Your Queen’ and ‘Wild Woman’, the genuinely affecting ‘Don’t Let The Bastards Grind You Down’ and the slinky cover of QOTSA’s ‘Make It Wit Chu’ – it’s all there. One word – wow.

It's gonna take some performance to follow that, but it’s ok – Rockstock has Massive Wagons. With four Top 20 albums to their name and far more songs you know than you initially release, the Lancastrians are seasoned performers, all of which makes Barry Mills’ explosive energy all the more remarkable. Is he like this every night – bouncing, sprinting, high-kicking and engaging with anyone he can make eye contact with?

It’s a formidable, magnetic headline performance, and the band’s songs aren’t to be taken lightly. They’re often thoughtfully worked satire, incisive snipes at real life, sometimes coming at you with a mischievous wink, sometimes serious as a kick to the shins. New song ‘Everywhere We Go’ is dedicated to Wyatt, while ‘Night Skies’ is about “looking after your mates”. ‘Please Stay Calm’, ostensibly a flag-waver of an anthem, also invites you to peel off its skin and observe the very serious message beneath.

Baz and his mates – and you sense that mates is genuinely what they are – wind things to a conclusion with such hefty singalong as ‘Bangin in Your Stereo’, ‘Ratio’ and, perhaps most aptly, ‘In It Together’. Because thanks to performances like this, we truly are.

Friday at Planet Rockstock 2025 in photos:

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