Rachel Brown takes a look back at her top gigs of 2025
Live music isn’t just background noise, it’s the living, breathing pulse that drags us out of chaos and into something electric. I’ve lost count of the nights I’ve spent squeezed into sweaty clubs or vast arenas, chasing that moment when the lights dim, the crowd roars, and the room erupts. I go a lot on my own too, because it’s cathartic for me. I can fully immerse myself without worrying about anyone else. It’s more than a gig to me, it’s a reminder of how to connect back to myself and others, how to feel fully human in a packed, noisy space where strangers become a single heartbeat. Watching younger generations scream along with raw, unfiltered passion isn’t nostalgic, it’s like witnessing the torch being passed, bright and burning.
So many artists cut their teeth in those intimate grassroots venues, many I’ve visited this year. Think of places like The Leadmill in Sheffield or Brixton Academy, rooms holding 200–500 souls, where bands build real followings. That’s why the Music Venue Trust’s fight against soaring costs, post-pandemic fallout, and closures (over 150 venues gone since 2023) hits so hard without these spaces, there’s no ladder to the bigger stages.
But 2025 ended on a wave of real hope. On December 9, The O2 announced a groundbreaking three-year partnership with MVT, donations for every debut headliner (over 50 this year alone, from Gracie Abrams and Pulp to Architects and Wolf Alice), kicking off with a six-figure boost. It’s a powerful recognition that arena stars are born in those small, vital rooms. Here in Sheffield, Utilita Arena (now under ASM Global) is stepping up too, with marketing support, training, equipment loans, and fundraising through ticketing and bar schemes. It’s quieter heroism, but it’s a start.
For me, 2025’s gigs have felt like the perfect storm, club intimacy meets arena euphoria. With players like The O2 and ASM Global backing MVT, the ecosystem is finally starting to feel a little more balanced, and let’s hope that the future continues to look brilliantly alive.
Anyway, here’s a selection of my favourite gigs from 2025.
AVALANCHE PARTY
SIDNEY & MATILDA, SHEFFIELD, 14 MARCH 2025
Avalanche Party are one of my all-time favourite bands. It’s their quick, loud, energetic sound, as well as Jordan’s stage presence, which really draws me in. This northern band is a raw, gritty, punk band who bring complete chaos to every event they host. So much so that I even ended up attending a concert in Cardiff that they were playing at as an unsigned band, which led me to miss their performance entirely! But the impact of music has never been so loud. They were unstoppable on stage, and I don’t think they received the appreciation that they really deserved. Jordan’s clever lyrics, such as in “I’m So Wet” and “Porcelain”, with massive riffs tore the entire concert apart. “I’ll serenade your sweetness with Shakespearean song” was enough to hook me from the very beginning. The final night at Sidney & Matilda left on a bittersweet note, but not a clean one. They departed with amps still on, moshes still raging, Jordan still bellowing loudly on stage.
They were something special, and to be honest, many other bands tried to emulate that vibe. Avalanche Party is going to be part of the archives and the stories.
NORTHERN MUSIC AWARDS
EVENTIM OLYMPIA, LIVERPOOL, 27 MARCH 2025
The Northern Music Awards pulled off something special this year: a proper Northern knees-up that actually felt like it mattered, raising cash for Nordoff and Robbins’ music therapy work along the way. Liverpool’s Olympia buzzed with that rare mix of fresh faces and proper legends Luvcat’s haunting voice cutting through the chatter, Blossoms stripping it back acoustically, The Zutons bringing the Scouse swagger, and Rick Astley just… being Rick Astley.
The place erupted when punk poet John Cooper Clarke took the stage for his headline Northern Music Award (handed over by Peter Hook, no less), rattling off poems before the cheers swallowed him whole. Nia Archives snagging Artist of the Year felt like a win for the new guard, while English Teacher’s Album of the Year nod (off the back of that Mercury-winning debut) proved the North’s still breeding game-changers.
More than the trophies, nights like this remind you the industry’s scrapping on, grassroots talent rubbing shoulders with icons, all in aid of something bigger. Roll on 2026.
MOONLANDINGZ
GET TOGETHER FESTIVAL, SHEFFIELD, 17 MAY 2025
The Moonlandingz are definitely one of my favourite live bands. I saw them for the first time at the Leadmill when they were promoting Interplanetary Classics, and I was hooked. It’s a rare thing when a band can make me want to dance and wave my arms about even when I’m not drinking, but this psychedelic display did just that. The band are a collection of musicians with a heavy dose of punk rock attitude, strange beats, and a healthy helping of theatre-induced pandemonium that drags you into their bizarre realm with no qualms. The band has a bold leader in Lias Saoudi, whose frontmanship has a mesmerising, unpredictable edge that veers from a smooth, sultry tone to a shouted bellow in a split second. I have been lucky enough to see them on various nights at different gigs, from small clubs to side stages at festivals, but every single event has left me buzzing with a sense of confusion, happiness, and a strange feeling that my brain is being rewired by the music in real-time. For a psychedelic injection with that sort of potent effects potential, who needs EMDR, anyway? Maybe I should pay to Moonlandingz instead of a therapist. If only…
This particular Saturday, the Get Together stage became a carnival of weird occurrences, thanks to these guys and girls, who brought with them a stage that came alive with bodies and sounds that catapulted the crowd into a trance, some were clearly in it, others clearly shocked to have stumbled upon it. It started with my laughter at how mental they were, but with their apparent intensity, I was hardly freaked out after all I’ve seen some sights from their performances, so I continued to dance as if tomorrow didn’t exist. It is exactly this that festivals are all about, not the programmed performances, but these instances when literally anything might happen, especially with Lias Saoudi on stage.
The Moonlandingz finish the year 2025 with a sold-out date at Crookes Social Club in Sheffield, and I’m sure they’ll bring that same level of madness with them. In 2026, they have festivals lined up at Rockaway Beach and FOCUS Wales, where even more antics are bound to ensue. That past Saturday left me different, my ears ringing, my mind expanded, a part of that sense of madness with me, proving that music such as theirs is what keeps the universe from becoming too bland, too beige and too boring.
MILES KANE
THE LEADMILL, SHEFFIELD, 27 JUNE 2025
Miles Kane’s proper rock ‘n’ roll swagger with his sharp suits, razor riffs, that effortless Scouse cool has always hit like lightning in a bottle. From his Rascals days to solo bangers, I’ve caught him in dingy clubs and festival madness, and he never fails to electrify. But this Leadmill night? It was the end of an era, the final gig in a venue that’s been Sheffield’s beating heart for 45 years, scrapping against eviction right up to the bitter close.
The room thrummed with pride as locals packed in for Miles, with Tom Rowley and Creeping Jean warming the stage. His set crackled raw energy, crowd singalongs, that encore leaving me choked, a heady mix of joy and gut-wrenching sadness. This wasn’t just a show; it was a farewell to the grit and community that built legends like Pulp and Arctic Monkeys here. The building shutters in June, set to reopen as Electric Studios in early 2026 under new owners, shinier, sure, but can it capture that irreplaceable soul? Nights like this scream why we fight for these spaces, they’re fragile, vital, and once the original spark’s gone, so’s a piece of us.
Miles embarks on a UK/Europe tour with his album Sunlight in the Shadows in 2026.
AIM INDEPENDENT MUSIC AWARDS
ROUNDHOUSE, LONDON, 23 SEPTEMBER 2025
The AIM Independent Music Awards are always an electric event for anyone who supports independent music. The AIM Awards have been at the forefront of indie music for the past 15 years, recognising musicians who operate on their own terms. I’ve been to a couple of these nights, but this Roundhouse event felt massive, with a host of people who take rebellion and turn it into art.
London was alive that night. Getting to see Ezra Collective, representatives from Fontaines D.C., and Gilles Peterson on the same bill felt a lot like a passing of the torch, blending jazz-influenced beats with post-punk energy.
I still remember the roar of the crowd when Cosey Fanni Tutti went on stage to collect the Innovator Award. It’s a perfect demonstration of independent pride in all its glory, a dedication to a true innovator who has influenced the music of multiple decades. For me, it wasn’t an evening of awards. It demonstrated that our indie music industry is still a force to be reckoned with, with Fontaines D.C. taking home the prize for Best Independent Album and Ezra Collective winning the prize for Best Independent Track.
KNEECAP
THE OCTAGON, SHEFFIELD, 24 & 25 NOVEMBER 2025
Kneecap are a Belfast hip-hop trio who rap in Irish and English, blending sharp political commentary with hedonistic energy. I’d eat my hat if you haven’t heard of them. Their live shows are notorious for turning venues into absolute mayhem, crowds surging, Palestinian and Irish flags waving with chants echoing. I caught them in a packed Octagon for two nights where the bass rattled your ribs and the room felt like it could explode at any second. Tracks like “H.O.O.D” and “Get Your Brits Out” hit with satirical bite, but underneath the chaos is real fury about identity, language, and resistance. In a year of polished arena triumphs, Kneecap reminded us why sweaty, defiant club nights still matter most, raw, unfiltered, and impossible to ignore. It has been suggested that the politics overpowers the songs, but this is far from the case, the beats are solid, and they are etched into your memory.
They’re going into 2026 with festivals such as Primavera Sound, Reading & Leeds, and many more. The vibe is extending throughout Europe, from stages to pits.
STEREOPHONICS
UTILITA ARENA, SHEFFIELD, 7 DECEMBER 2025
Stereophonics have soundtracked my life from scraped-knee teenage years in pubs and cars to festival fields and now these massive arenas. They’re not just a band, their songs are stitched into the fabric of ordinary days, love, loss, escape, the lot.
Walking into Utilita Arena felt like stepping into a cathedral built from anthems, the air already buzzing before a note hit. Then Kelly Jones strides out, voice cutting straight to the bone, and the place erupts. Classics like “Have a Nice Day,” “Maybe Tomorrow,” and “Mr Writer” yanked us back through the years, but “Dakota”? Pure communal therapy. Strangers locking eyes, belting every word like we needed it to breathe, that shared release in a room full of thousands.
In a year when we’ve lost irreplaceable grassroots spots (farewell to the original Leadmill’s grit), nights like this remind you why live music endures, it’s a lifeline. Stereophonics closed out 2025 with this epic run of arenas, Sheffield included, no 2026 dates yet, but here’s hoping.
JAMIROQUAI
THE O2, LONDON, 9 DECEMBER 2025
Jamiroquai at the O2 demonstrated why music is so essential as it rewinds, lifts, and propels us all forward.
After six long years away, Jamiroquai crashed back with The Heels of Steel Tour, turning arenas into throbbing discos. Jay Kay, hat game strong, energy off the charts strutted out and flipped the switch, from the opening basslines, the place erupted into one massive groove.
“Cosmic Girl” launched us into orbit, “Virtual Insanity” had thousands mimicking that iconic video slide (badly, joyfully), and “Canned Heat” turned the floor into a sweat-soaked dance-off. Lights pulsing, horns blazing, bodies moving like the ’90s never ended it was polished escapism at its finest. In a year of furious club riots and heartbreaking venue goodbyes, this was the reminder we needed, sometimes live music’s magic is just letting the funk take over and dancing till your legs give out. Welcome back, don’t stay away so long next time.
Reflecting on 2025, it’s been far more than gigs. It’s been a demonstration that music is a form of testimony, but also a form of activism, a form of happiness, a form of mourning, a form of survival. Every concert has been a connection with me, but ultimately a connection with all of us.
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