When you walk into the Tap & Tumbler on a Saturday night and get hit with a flash of neon pink, you know it’ll be a good night. Space Pistol’s ‘HEADLOCKER’ tour is celebrating one of the most raucous and thrilling rock albums of the year, and the band’s shows are no less entertaining: together with supports Arid Wave and Ten Eighty Trees, the jumpsuit-clad crew have yet again proven themselves to be the real deal.

Ten Eighty Trees

As far as support booking is concerned, you couldn’t have picked a more fitting band for Space Pistol than Ten Eighty Trees: swap out the pink trousers for black dungarees and the two are practically indistinguishable! Like the bands that would follow, the three-piece showed up to get your blood-pumping— they may have been playing to a modest crowd so early in the night, but that wouldn’t stop them from going all out like rockstars. There was no arguing with the extreme confidence and showmanship frontman Nathan Newton brought to the Tap & Tumbler, smacking his way through every ballsy guitar riff and larger-than-life vocal part like he was playing at Wembley Stadium. Ten Eighty Trees’ outfits may have been adorably dorky, but their performances were hardly a laughing matter.

The group fit comfortably onto this bill of three acts— any Space Pistol fans must surely have felt right at home here, in a show full of bold alt rock grooves— but that wouldn’t stop them from throwing some surprises at you across the night, much to our delight. Their three-part vocal harmonies, for instance, were an inspired choice, and one Newton and company were able to pull off effortlessly: it should go without saying, especially if you’d seen the sheer size of that guitar set-up, that Ten Eighty Trees were sounding fantastic in Nottingham. The material showcased from new EP ‘Bittersweet Coming Of Age’ was just as fun as anything else the three-piece pulled out on Saturday night, and that’s quite exciting indeed. Endearing melodies, infectious drum parts and riffs, riffs, riffs, the band had in spades.

Arid Wave

Arid Wave weren’t quite as dressed up as the other acts playing on the night, but that didn’t mean they weren’t bringing the same intensity to the Tap & Tumbler. On this night of three-piece rock band madness, the group brought a hardcore punk energy that stood out from the more alternative sounds of Space Pistol and Ten Eighty Trees, injecting a desperate energy into songs that simply raced by. You certainly couldn’t argue with Palmer’s ferocious drumming throughout the show, which only became more impressive with every beer he drunk between tracks. It was clear that Arid Wave were here to have fun and to play loud music, and the only person having more fun than them was headlining bassist Ashley Sainsbury, who was bouncing around like a maniac in the audience.

This was a show that absolutely flew by, even to the point of feeling a little short when all was said and done: when you’re touting a sub-minute hardcore punk track about the everyday annoyance of traffic, your show will live and die by energy alone, a quality no band was lacking on Saturday night. Arid Wave wouldn’t quite get you head banging like Space Pistol would, but that’s no knock against their full-chested sound— dizzying turnovers, startling breakdowns and a cheery atmosphere were just some of the aspects earning the three-piece their keep on the bill.

Space Pistol

Space Pistol certainly make an entrance, don’t they? Hot pink jumpsuits, cheeky grins and the huge riffs of ‘Turbo Blood’ were the note the band was opening on this time around, setting the scene for their boundless creativity to take centre stage— even playing a venue as small as the Tap & Tumbler, it’s very clear that Buckland and company make no compromises. The band are, through-and-through, themselves, and you could tell just how much fun they were having screaming “shark!” during ‘JAWS’ and goofing around between each song. Space Pistol were sounding absolutely massive in Nottingham, make no mistake, but the sheer heft of their sound still left plenty of room for loveable antics, which were always peeking at you from around every corner.

New record ‘HEADLOCKER’ made up much of the setlist this time around, and what a monster it is live: the band were playing a lot of this material on the SpaceFrog tour back in April, but now the record is finally with us and Space Pistol can really let these tunes loose. In amongst old favourites like ‘Death Collector’ and ‘W.A.I.L?,’ the anthemic hooks on ‘Devil and the Deep Sea’ and ‘Tomb’ absolutely held their own, emboldened by the ridiculous guitar and bass tones that Buckland and Sainsbury brought to the table— if you thought Ten Eighty Trees had impressive pedalboards, Space Pistol’s were outright ridiculous. The stomping riffs of ‘Ambulance’ were just one moment that had you worrying your head would fall off, filling the Tap & Tumbler with progressions heavy enough to put even the venue’s regular metal acts to shame. Once more, the three-piece have us convinced they’re headed for stardom.