Fans of stoner rock here in the UK will have hardly struggled to catch Gnome live in the past few years: the band played a suite of shows and festivals across 2025, and this summer looks to be telling a similar story. It’s a testament to the trio, then, that even despite the abundance of their live appearances, Gnome could still comfortably fill out Nottingham’s Saltbox on Monday night. Together with local support acts Bad Milk Blood Robot, Confyde and Bonestrider, the group delivered yet another show full of wacky antics, awesome riffs and red pointy hats.

Bonestrider

With stoner duo Wall unavailable for this particular date of the tour, Gnome’s support acts in Nottingham were instead a crop of promising local acts: honestly, you couldn’t have picked a more fitting group than Bonestrider. The show did get off to a somewhat rocky start, admittedly, with the trio struggling to command the stage in front of such a large audience. It was a delight, then, to see them grow more confident and comfortable as the riffs grew heavier and heavier— where vocalist Ty Jones and drummer Diell Shkodra began the show looking rather somber, they were both breaking out into furious head banging and wicked grins by its end. Really, no rock band should be playing without energy, and Bonestrider’s originals demand no less fury than any other group’s: the trio’s set was packed to the brim with towering sludgy guitar riffs and throaty bass lines, embodying that signature stoner rock sound to the fullest. 

The show did carry with it a roughness that could be a tad worrying in spots, and it wasn’t uncommon to see the band hurriedly looking among themselves to work out transitions on the fly. When this motor got into gear though, you can bet that Bonestrider were able to harness that same stoner rock magic that had brought so many fans to the Saltbox. Mitchell Blessington’s bass grooves were deafening, rumbling away beneath each track like the very walls of the venue were caving in: the band’s riffs were less groovy than that of a group like Gnome, but instead were focused on pummelling presence. Frontman Ty Jones incorporated more and more vocal elements into the set as it progressed, pulling out some barbaric growls in the final number— with his electric mandolin in tow, the man could probably be a show-stopping country artist, but no-one in the room would argue against his ventures into doom metal goodness. For the Gnome fans there on the night (which were plentiful, if the pointy hats were anything to go by), Bonestrider were a support act choice that was right on the money.

Confyde

If the first act fell right in line with the headliner, Confyde took that line and scribbled it out. Where Bonestrider were a comfortable welcome for all the stoner rock fans in the audience, this four-piece were a splash of cold water to the face, coming out swinging with a show full of frenetic songwriting, technical showcases and punk-adjacent vocals from Martin Jackson. It was certainly a lot to take in, with opening number ‘Scalper’ alone throwing bruising doom riffs, emotive melodic choruses, dynamic clean guitar work and a host of dizzying musical changes out into the Saltbox— at times, you could tell that the mixture was a little too unfamiliar and unexpected for much of the crowd. What you couldn’t fault, however, was the passion from Jackson and company, which could be felt throughout.

Perhaps the most exciting element at Confyde’s disposal was the extreme level of technicality the group were able to pull out: drummer Dan Brown was able to inject a metric tonne of bounce and energy into the material, while guitarist Cain Paisley flew through some impressive solos and lead lines like they were completely effortless. At times, the musicianship on offer was almost too bewildering for this lineup of bands— upcoming single ‘Superpowers,’ in particular, threw so many explosions of colourful rock and carefree funk at you that the audience barely knew how to respond. Where the set felt more at home was in its heaviest passages, as ‘Terracide’ (a live debut, no less) proved: Nottingham Gnome fans took much more readily to the song’s ferocious riffs, in a manner they hadn’t done for Jackson’s unsteady vocals across the night. Confyde were quite the tough pill to swallow for many at the Saltbox, no doubt because of how left-field their inclusion was. Still, the band brought enough strong material, technical prowess and outright emotion to earn their spot alongside the others.

Bad Milk Blood Robot

Perhaps the worst thing a support act can be is unmemorable: Bad Milk Blood Robot were many things, but ‘forgettable,’ they were not. The five-piece took to the stage in some truly outrageous outfits— Skeletor trousers, Hawaiian shirts, cow masks and hooded cloaks, to name just a few elements at play— matching the compilation of hilarious gifs and robotic mishap videos playing behind them. This was to be a lively and comedic show, no doubt, and the group exemplified that in every moment: they released giant eyeball balloons into the audience, for goodness sake, and took great delight in kicking them around (and off) the stage. Oftentimes, the zany music the band were playing almost played second fiddle to their whimsicality and outrageous antics. When all was said and done, it was Bad Milk Blood Robot’s infectious personalities, striking visuals and out-of-the-box ideas that stuck with you— there’s no way a single person in Saltbox could’ve forgetten them.

The show did have music though, and that music was very fun indeed (albeit far removed from the Bonestrider/Gnome stoner rock we were expecting). Bad Milk Blood Robot’s set was an audacious cacophony of bouncy guitar riffs, endearing disco drum beats and blaring keyboard accompaniments, all topped by vocals screamed into a megaphone: no, you aren't having a stroke reading this. ‘Manners Cost Everything’ marked a particular anthemic high for the set, with that catchy hook of “who the f*ck are you” earning itself some singing along from an audience who were obviously blindsided by a show this colourful and ridiculous. Even if not every moment was quite so thrilling— ‘Breakdown’ made for a somewhat lethargic close to an otherwise awesome ride— the band’s set was nonetheless a blast. Those bouncy riffs, comedic interludes and overblown visuals were all indicative of a band with fun as their only goal: Bad Milk Blood Robot were definitely a hit with us.

Gnome

As more and more time passes since the release of ‘Vestiges of Verumex Visidrome’ in 2024, Gnome are becoming an increasingly noteworthy band in their lane: at this point, any stoner rock fans who haven’t listened to the Belgian trio are well behind the curve. The band’s entrance at the Saltbox (scored with mariachi music) was met with thunderous cheers, though even those were quickly drowned out by the grandiose guitar and bass riffs of opener ‘Duke of Disgrace’— Rutgar Verbist and company may be a silly lot, but they clearly take the power and dynamic weight of their craft very seriously. The trio were sounding just as immense at the Saltbox as they did at Bloodstock last year, with Geoffrey Verhulst’s rock solid bass work and Egon Loosveldt’s ever-enjoyable drumming smacking you across the head again and again and again, all the way until the final crescendo of ‘Ambrosius’ was done. At this point, it feels safe to say that Gnome have their signature style of whimsical stoner rock down to a science: there was no arguing with the razor sharp precision of Rutgar Verbist’s ‘pink d*ck’ guitar playing, or with the outright dominance of his harsh vocals.

As setlists go, Gnome have a wonderful catalogue to pull from (and it’s only made up of three albums)— every song went over well at the Saltbox, even when they were obscure cuts like ‘Jebediah Supreme.’ ‘Back to the Mud’ continues to draw the short straw as the only song from ‘Vestiges…’ not to make the cut this time around: though we would’ve loved to hear the track played live, it was hard to complain when the psychedelic bridge of ‘Old Soul,’ anthemic hooks of ‘The Gods Are Evil’ and crowd-pleasing riffs of ‘The Ogre’ were all pulled off so expertly. As for the rest of the set, the only notable exclusion was fan-favourite ‘Bulls Of Bravik,’ which gave way to the joyous rock blasts of ‘Blacksmith’ and the groovy time signature changes of ‘Antibeast.’ In every moment, you would’ve sworn Gnome were playing their biggest hit based on the crowd response— when those hits did finally emerge in the form of ‘Kraken W*nker’ and ‘Ambrosius’ to round out the show, you can bet the smiles and mosh pits were there to stay. Once again, the Belgian trio have proven why they remain the crème de la crème of stoner rock.