THE HORRORS + CRIMEWAVE – CHALK, BRIGHTON 23.11.25
The Horrors have been on the case over the past 20 years and there are few bands who’ve created a canon as determinedly innovative and consistently critically-acclaimed as them. Emerging as zeitgeist-shaking garage-goths on their 2007 debut ‘Strange House’, before taking a sharp left turn for their Mercury-nominated follow up ‘Primary Colours’, since the beginning they’ve roamed freely between genres. 2011’s ‘Skying’ won the NME Award for Best Album; ‘V’ was heralded as “a triumph” in a five-star Guardian review, while 2021’s pair of EPs – ‘Lout’ and ‘Against The Blade’ – marked a new chapter with their most industrial, uncompromising output yet.
Now their new chapter has arrived with the unleashing of ‘Night Life’, which dropped back on 21st March via Fiction Records. The album is a record of weight and space, of melancholy and euphoria; a record that has the ability to make bedfellows of seemingly disparate ideas as only The Horrors can. The ‘Night Life’ here is not the vim and vigour of pubs and clubs. It’s the thoughts that happen under the cover of darkness; the places your mind takes you when the rest of the world is asleep. A record born out of a desire to revive the raw, instinctive spirit of the band’s early work. To my ears it should really thrill fans of the Depeche Mode ‘Violator’ era and The Sisters Of Mercy at their height. It’s a solid work of art. At the time of its release, the band played an intimate instore set at Resident in Brighton on 22nd March – Read our account of that performance HERE.
The Horrors are now on a select 8-date winter tour calling in at Dublin, Birmingham, Brighton, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester and London. The new look lineup features founder members Faris Badwan (lead vocals) and Rhys Webb (bass), as well as newbies Amelia Kidd (keys, backing vocals) and Jordan Cook (drums), plus a guitarist who might or might not be Joshua Hayward. This evening I’m based at the front to the right of the stage and there’s tons and tons of dry ice on the go. I can see Amelia in front of me as well as Rhys who is to her right (our left), but Faris (centre stage) flits between being a voice in the darkness and a shadow. All I can see of the drumkit is the occasional movement of the large cymbal, and I certainly didn’t see any sign of Jordan, let alone the mystery guitarist on the far left (stage right). I wonder if The Horrors therefore practice in the dark? Yes it’s fine to set the atmosphere, but this surely has got to be in the Top 10 gigs ever for excessive use of dry ice for the band to hide behind. Still out front is a band called HEALTH who I saw in Patterns a while back. They were literally just a few inches away from me and all I could see was the red flashing lights of their electronic equipment.
Moving on….tonight we are rewarded fifteen and a half tunes! The half will be revealed in due course. The musicians take to the stage at 8:45pm and play up until 10:10pm and they perform a half dozen cuts from their new ‘Night Life’ record commencing with ‘The Silence That Remains’ with its slow moody intro until the drums kick in. The faster ‘Three Decades’ from 2009’s ‘Primary Colours’ album is selection two, and is followed by a long keyboard intro for ‘Mirror’s Image’ which is found on the same album. The drums then come to the party on this number, then the bass and they are away! It’s time for the second selection from ‘Night Life’, this being ‘Silent Sister’ which is a drumming led composition and it’s intense. After this, the crowd received acknowledgement with a single “Thank you!” from Faris.
Tour setlists are quite often exactly the same each night for a majority of bands and artists, but sometimes there are tweaks here and there and according to tonight’s printed setlist, between the words ‘Silent Sister’ and ‘Sea Within A Sea’, there is a handwritten word that says “Feeling” and thus they add in ‘The Feeling Is Gone’ from ‘Night Life’ for this evening and I’m glad they did as the echoey keys are great, plus the drums sound like Joy Division and Faris summons his innermost Dave Gahan! Things improve even further with the arrival of the aforementioned ‘Sea Within A Sea’ from ‘Primary Colours’, which strangely Faris announces as “From The River To The Sea”. This corker has a lengthy intro and magnificently builds with its metronomic beat and is their most intensely delivered track thus far, and the crowd know it, as it’s the best received yet. The keys are noteworthy as well and this led to handclaps. This truly is an anthem! On conclusion we receive another “Thank you!”.
Two cuts from 2011’s ‘Skying’ album are next, the first being ‘Endless Blue’ with its slow intro which then explodes into action, and then abruptly ends; followed by the slow chugging beat of ‘Still Life’, which too has some notable keys. When Faris offloads the “When you wake up when you wake up; You will find me” chorus, there are several punters arms thrusting skywards in an euphoric acknowledgement that they are as one with the band. On its conclusion it was very well received, and we got another “Thank you”.
With the arrival of the heavy drummed and screechy guitared ‘More Than Life’ from ‘Night Life’, things got quite a bit more interesting as Faris had put on a black glove, not an ordinary black glove mind you, but one which would have made Alvin Stardust extremely envious if he was still around today. Faris’ glove was in fact a lazer glove which shot out a wide array of bright green light into the crowd. This was very impressive, given the amount of dry ice hanging around, and it’s the first time I believe I’ve witnessed this. The nearest I can think of is when Jean-Machine Jarre uses his lazerharp, which is pretty immense. If only Faris had put this on during the first three songs as the two photographers present would have professionally captured it.
The lazer glove remains on for the lengthy ‘Moving Further Away’ from ‘Skying’ which a small early part reminds me of the electronic backing of Donna Summer’s ‘Theme From The Deep (Down Deep Inside)’, prior to the drums kicking in. Rhys adds further depth with the use of an egg shaker. ‘LA Runaway’ off of ‘Night Life’ was next and with a click of the drumsticks they are away again with some jangly guitar action and surprisingly Faris’ vocals were rather melodic on this one.
Faris addressed the crowd with “This is 20 years of The Horrors, thanks for being with us” and they concluded the main set with ‘Who Can Say’ from ‘Primary Colours’ which had some awesome screaming keys action and a chorus to die for: “And when I told her I didn’t love her anymore; She cried; And when I told her, her kisses were not like before; She cried; And when I told her another girl had caught my eye; She cried; And I kissed her, with a kiss that could only mean goodbye.” Faris said “Thank you, good night” and they departed.
The quintet of musicians return to the stage and Faris says “Thank you all for coming, this is ‘Lotus Eater’” and the thudding backbeat blasts out of the speakers, but overall this tune is a restrained one. After this, things get interesting again as Amelia lets loose a synth beat that reminds me of the Suicide duo, but then all too shortly the tune morphs into another. These two being both David Bowie covers, with the former being half of ‘Weeping Wall’ from 1977’s ‘Low’ album, which then gives way to ‘”Heroes”’ from 1977’s album of the same name. This is my favourite even Bowie tune, and although it’s wonderful to hear it this evening, it’s not a touch on the original. They sent us on our merry goth way with the sole cut from their 2017 ‘V’ album, this being ‘Something To Remember Me By’, which this evening reminds me of the dance beats of Chicane and Calvin Harris. After which Faris states “Thank you, goodnight, see you next time!”, and that’s it.
The Horrors are always an enjoyable live listen, even if you can’t really see them, but tonight’s set wasn’t, for me, as great as previous encounters, with their 3rd October 2014 set on Worthing Pier leading the way! That night the sound and lighting engineers went against everything that The Horrors now are. It was like being at a very loud illegal rave with many lazers!
The Horrors:
Faris Badwan – lead vocals
Rhys Webb – bass, backing vocals, egg shaker
Amelia Kidd – keys, backing vocals
Jordan Cook – drums
? Joshua Hayward – guitar
The Horrors setlist:
‘The Silence That Remains’ (from 2025 ‘Night Life’ album)
‘Three Decades’ (from 2009 ‘Primary Colours’ album)
‘Mirror’s Image’ (from 2009 ‘Primary Colours’ album)
‘Silent Sister’ (from 2025 ‘Night Life’ album)
‘The Feeling Is Gone’ (from 2025 ‘Night Life’ album)
‘Sea Within A Sea’ (from 2009 ‘Primary Colours’ album)
‘Endless Blue’ (from 2011 ‘Skying’ album)
‘Still Life’ (from 2011 ‘Skying’ album)
‘More Than Life’ (from 2025 ‘Night Life’ album)
‘Moving Further Away’ (from 2011 ‘Skying’ album)
‘LA Runaway’ (from 2025 ‘Night Life’ album)
‘Who Can Say’ (from 2009 ‘Primary Colours’ album)
(encore)
‘Lotus Eater’ (from 2025 ‘Night Life’ album)
‘Weeping Wall’ (David Bowie cover) (from David Bowie 1977 ‘Low’ album) / ‘”Heroes”’ (David Bowie cover) (from David Bowie 1977 ‘“Heroes”’ album)
‘Something To Remember Me By’ (from 2017 ‘V’ album)
Support this evening came from Manchester based artist Crimewave which is the brainchild of Jake Wilkinson. The first Crimewave release was the 2022 ‘Disposible’ single and 8 releases have followed, culminating in this year’s ‘Scenes’ album, which this evening is very much relied upon, during Jake’s 10 track 35 minute set which ran from 7:30pm until 8:05pm.
This evening is our debut encounter with Crimewave and so we’re not totally sure what to expect. Jake takes to the stage wearing a beret and straps on his guitar and sets the electronics and laptop and he’s off! I’m initially a tad taken aback that his vocal delivery is in a higher pitch than I had anticipated. The first offering is the first of seven cuts from his 15 track ‘Scenes’ album, this being ‘Intolerance’, which has a sedate beginning until the booming beat kicks in. But before long Jake takes it back to its original floating sound. On its completion, we aren’t afforded any time for applause as there are cut up samples that lead us into ‘50 Rapid’, the sole cut performed off of 2023’s ‘Altercation’ EP. This is a mashup of the sound of Nine Inch Nails and recent Gary Numan albums meets drum and bass. This then segues into ‘White Label’ from 2025 ‘Scenes’ and there’s a lot going on in here.
The lighting throughout the set is atmospheric with red and white lights piercing the stage which is filled with atmospheric dry ice. ‘Antagonist’ from ‘Scenes’ is up next and the guitar -or is it a bass, I can’t quite see through the dry ice – gives off a meaty distorted sound. This then segues straight into the faster tune called ‘Instrumentals’ which is also from ‘Scenes’, and this has a shuffling beat that certainly gets your knees jerking and head bobbing along. The aforementioned ‘Disposable’ single is the following selection and after which it’s time for ‘Semaphore’ off of ‘Scenes’ and it’s during these tracks that I note that Jake is very much making his sound his very own and comparisons to TVAM sprang to mind.
There was a change in mood with Jake’s adaptation of Slowdive’s ‘When The Sun Hits’ which sees him singing the lyrics in a dreamy style, which is unlike all of the other tracks in the set. The performance concluded with two more cuts from ‘Scenes’, these being ‘Misdemeanour’ which has a drum and bass shuffling beat with the guitar sounds on top and ‘Haemoglobin’, for which Jake simply stretches out an arm and swiftly closes his laptop, the effect of which is to immediately cut-off the music. This did make me laugh as it was a novel way to end the performance. I wasn’t quite sure how the set went as we weren’t really given much opportunity to show our appreciation, but it seems that The Horrors fans were very much in favour of Crimewave. Job done then Jake!
Crimewave:
Jake Wilkinson – vocals, guitar, drum pad, fx, samples
Crimewave setlist:
‘Intolerance’ (from 2025 ‘Scenes’ album)
‘50 Rapid’ (from 2023 ‘Altercation’ EP)
‘White Label’ (from 2025 ‘Scenes’ album)
‘Antagonist’ (from 2025 ‘Scenes’ album)
‘Instrumentals’ (from 2025 ‘Scenes’ album)
‘Disposable’ (a 2022 single)
‘Semaphore’ (from 2025 ‘Scenes’ album)
‘When The Sun Hits’ (Slowdive cover)
‘Misdemeanour’ (from 2025 ‘Scenes’ album)
‘Haemoglobin’ (from 2025 ‘Scenes’ album)
