SILVER GORE + LEMONSUCKR + LONNIE GUNN – GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON 10.1.26
The Green Door Store made a late announcement for their latest birthday party celebrations, but it was definitely one worth waiting for. Unlike previous years, where the local music fans celebrated with a one-off free event, this time around, to celebrate the venue’s extra-special 15th birthday, Megan Johnson, Angel Harrington, and Alfie Beer, managed to put together four showcase free events to be held over four consecutive Saturdays. Tonight was the first of those shows, and it featured an exciting, diverse line-up of Silver Gore, Lemonsuckr, and Lonnie Gunn.
LONNIE GUNN (19:50 – 20:16)
New Jersey-born and now locally based Lonnie Gunn got things underway with her newish band line-up consisting of Alice Oliphant (lead guitar), Esme Wright (drums), Morgan Pile (rhythm guitar), and Lauren Maddison (bass guitar). The live sound now has a slacker grunge feel to the alt-pop-sounding songs. After just a few practices, they first appeared on stage together on the opening day of last year’s Great Escape Festival in the Paganini Ballroom at The Old Ship Hotel in Kings Road. On that occasion, there were a few technical issues, but tonight’s performance in front of a decent-sized audience went without any hitches.
Once the band arrived on stage, they went straight into the catchy indie pop song ‘Lucky Girl’. There was a quick “Hi, I’m Lonnie Gunn” from the lead vocalist, then they moved on to the slower-paced 2024 singles ‘Kiss You’ and ‘Dog In A Hot Car’. Lonnie has a two-mic set up, and the alternative mic gives off a more echoey and deeper vocal effect. This comes into play during a few of tonight’s songs, including at the start of the latest single ‘Lovebite’. This features an a capella opening before it kicks into gear with thumping drums and driving guitars. To me, this was the standout song of the set. Lonnie mentioned that a video to the song was released the previous day and can be viewed on YouTube. It features Lonnie alongside lead guitarist Alice – Check it out HERE.
Next, we get to hear a couple of unreleased songs. ‘Good Girls Go To Heaven’ features some screeching backing vocals from Alice and Lauren, then Lonnie adds some harmonica to ‘I Miss Everything’. Lonnie wishes the Green Door Store a “Happy Birthday”, and they finish off with more double mic vocals on the final song of the set, the catchy ‘EX GF’. It’s been a good opening set of the night and there’s generous applause from the audience as Lonnie and her band leave the stage.
Lonnie Gunn:
Lonnie Gunn – lead vocals
Lauren Maddison – bass guitar
Alice Oliphant – lead guitar
Morgan Pile – rhythm guitar
Esme Wright – drums
Lonnie Gunn setlist:
‘Lucky Girl’ (a 2025 single)
‘Kiss You’ (a 2024 single)
‘Dog In A Hot Car’ (a 2024 single)
‘Lovebite’ (a 2025 single)
‘Good Girls Go To Heaven’ (unreleased)
‘I Miss Everything’ (unreleased)
‘EX GF’ (a 2025 single)
LEMONSUCKR (21:40 – 22:10)
By the time Lemonsuckr take to the stage, the venue is almost full to the brim. This is no surprise to me, as since relocating to Brighton from Guildford around a year ago, Lemonsuckr have built a strong fanbase, both locally and when they play in London. I first saw them perform a few yards along the road at The Prince Albert last February when they supported Swedish indie-rock band Girl Scout. I was instantly impressed with their confidence and stage presence, and knew they had a bright future and wanted to see more. Funnily enough, to celebrate Green Door Store’s 15th birthday, I was seeing Lemonsuckr for the 15th time this evening.
Tonight’s performance was exceptional and it stole the show. Gone were the technical errors that put a slight dent in their Mutations Festival performance at Dust from two months ago. From the moment lead vocalist Guy Ferris approached his mic to start off the set opener ‘Dead Disco’ to the moment the band left the stage 30 minutes later, they produced what I can only describe as a euphoric, electrifying performance that surely has to be one of the best to ever grace the Green Door Store stage. With four songs off their debut EP included in their seven-song set, those in attendance who were witnessing the five-piece line-up for the first time knew what they were about, while those of us that have been following them around Brighton over the past few months would have seen the other three songs performed previously. These included the last song of the evening, ‘Rugrat’, which is their usual closer with guitarist Ollie Thomas spending the first half of the song weaving through the crowd playing cowbell before returning to the stage and handing over the instrument to one of the fans down the front near the stage to continue to play along while he adds additional sound effects with the foot pedals.
Tonight’s set sees all band members bar drummer Matt Saunders venture into the frantically dancing crowd at some point during the set. Guitarist, Oscar Post, started it all off at the start of opening crowd mover ‘Dead Disco’. Guy (who was on top form all evening) was next off stage among the fans to start ‘Instant Kinks’. The slower opening of third song ‘Sedated’ allowed the frontman to get a bit of a breather. Following warm applause, Guy says, “Happy birthday, Green Door, we absolutely love it here. We are Lemonsuckr”. Next up is ‘Work’, which is the first of the unreleased songs. For this one, it’s bass player Jacob Whitear’s turn to venture into the crowd. Jacob is out on loan from Welly for tonight’s performance due to the unavailability of usual bassist Jake Andrews. Following another unreleased song ‘Boudica’, it’s time for some ‘H.E.A.T.’ Unlike the released version of the song that kicks straight in with its “Hotel, Echo, Alpha, Tango”, the live version has a prolonged instrumental opening that sees Guy rise like a snake charmer and dart about the stage before bursting into the opening lines of the song. With its position in the set, I would say it’s definitely the crowd favourite with its arabic sounding tune and catchy lyrics. Prior to popular set closer ‘Rugrat’, Guy says, “Thank you, we’ve been Lemonsuckr, cheers”.
Lemonsuckr:
Guy Ferris – vocals, tambourine, cowbell
Oscar Post – guitar, backing vocals
Ollie Thomas – guitar, backing vocals, cowbell
Jacob Whitear – bass
Matt Saunders – drums
Lemonsuckr setlist:
‘Dead Disco’ (from 2025 ‘H.E.A.T.’ EP)
‘Instant Kinks’ (from 2025 ‘H.E.A.T.’ EP)
‘Sedated’ (from 2025 ‘H.E.A.T.’ EP)
‘Work’ (unreleased)
‘Boudica’ (unreleased)
‘H.E.A.T.’ (from 2025 ‘H.E.A.T.’ EP)
‘Rugrat’ (unreleased)
SILVER GORE (21:38 – 22:08)
Following the performance from Lemonsuckr, it couldn’t have been easy for the fast-rising London-based headliners, Silver Gore, but they appeared to take it in their stride. They are an alt-pop duo consisting of the classically trained lead vocalist and songwriter, Ava Gore, and established indie artist, Ethan P. Flynn, who is responsible for the unique electronic soundscapes. For tonight’s live performance, they are joined by the excellent young drummer, Tash Keary. They’ve already played at Glastonbury, recently toured the EU and followed up by supporting English Teacher at Moth Club in Hackney last month.
Ava is off stage as Tash begins the opening rollercoaster-like song ‘Forever’ with a drum solo. Ethan then adds synths before Ava makes her way on stage. All three are wearing silver/grey tops with Ava and Ethan sporting red gloves. Ava grabs a hold of her mic and unleashes high-pitched vocals that are backed with some acoustic guitar playing and backing vocals from Ethan. It’s an interesting sound and I can instantly see the appeal from those that like their music to be a bit left-field and why DIY magazine has them as one of their class of 2026 artists. Ava says “Hello Brighton, happy birthday Green Door, thank you so much for having us”. Second song ‘Dogs In Heaven’ includes dog howls on the backing track and there’s some tambourine action going on from the lead vocalist.
Next, it’s ‘A Scar’s Length’. For this one, the mic level appears to be a bit low, so Ava indicates to the sound and lighting technician that she wants the level raised a touch. This is soon rectified, and on we go with what is one of the standout songs from Silver Gore’s debut EP. Ava says, “Thank you so much. We were here last year playing at The Great Escape. It’s been one of our highlights. Glastonbury was also good.”
Three unreleased tracks follow. Then it’s time for their standout song ‘All The Good Men’, which includes the catchy repeated lyrics “I just keep trying because I’m confident” and its rhythmic beat. Ethan says, “We’ve reached our last song. Thank you for coming out, supporting independent venues like this one.” They finish with the last track from their EP ‘25 Metres’. For this one, members of the audience clap along at the start in rhythm, Ethan adds spoken word backing vocals, and Ava dances around the stage with a tambourine in hand.
Silver Gore:
Ava Gore – vocals
Ethan P. Flynn – guitar, synths
Tash Keary – drums
Silver Gore setlist:
‘Forever’ (from 2025 ‘Dogs In Heaven’ EP)
‘Dogs In Heaven’ (from 2025 ‘Dogs In Heaven’ EP)
‘A Scar’s Length’ (from 2025 ‘Dogs In Heaven’ EP)
‘Muddy Water’ (unreleased)
‘Another Song’ (unreleased)
‘Zeroes’ (unreleased)
‘All The Good Men’ (from 2025 ‘Dogs In Heaven’ EP)
’25 Metres’ (from 2025 ‘Dogs In Heaven’ EP)
The second Green Door 15th birthday party show is this coming Saturday 17th January. Thistle. are headlining with support from Goodbye and Little Grandad.
The third birthday celebration is on Saturday 24th January, with Hutch headlining with support from Trip Westerns and Le Lamb.
The fourth and final birthday line-up is on Saturday 31st January, with Complete Snake headlining, backed by Tempers Fray and Landmine.
For other exciting nights of live music at the Green Door Store, check out their website HERE.
