Well here’s another brand new one-day festival coming our way……Melancholy Fest!
This one is going down at the popular Green Door Store which is located beneath Brighton’s Mainline Railway Station, where they are showcasing some of their favourite music artists over 2 stages!
This is happening on Sunday 6th September at the Green Door Store from 7pm to 10:30pm, and you can purchase your tickets HERE.
They have announced the first wave of artists and these are a half dozen acts that are certainly on our radar, having witnessed them all playing live on one or more previous occasions!
Let’s meet the first wave acts and see what our different reviewers thought of them:
CARSICK – After Dark in Pavilion, Rebellion Festival, Blackpool 8.8.25 (23:20 – 23:50)
I beat a hasty retreat from the barrier in the Empress Ballroom even though one of my all-time favourite bands The Damned is next up. This can only mean that something special is abound on the After Dark stage, so people I give you Salisbury’s finest, cue drumroll ……Carsick. Yes, I first saw this four-piece band at ‘2000 Trees’ in 2023 but not again until earlier this year at Patterns when they supported The Meffs on tour, due to their Brighton gigs clashing with other occasions such as my wedding anniversary. There is no censorship here as they drape an amp with a Palestinian flag and no fuss is made. The After Dark venue isn’t as busy as this band deserve though maybe they are grateful for that as we are reliably informed by lead singer Joe Richardson that they are firing on half cylinders and are a 6/10 at best after a six-and-a-half-hour drive to Blackpool leaving drummer Tom Armstrong very hungry. If that is bassist Jack Hardiman playing on 60% then he must be off the scale on 100% as he has more energy than anyone else I have seen thus far.
Only formed in 2021 Carsick are a new breed of punk which I have embraced with wide ranging influences from punk to indie to even a bit of hip hop. ‘Anaconda Frank’ is an immense live track. During ‘It Is What It Is’ I finally find my level of mosh pit for this year with an old boy on crutches taking up a central position as the younger people create a circle pit. Nothing too violent and great fun. Jack H even joins us in the pit for set ending ‘Pub Watch’. It wasn’t the car crash predicted by Joe and 6 out of 10 was harsh as they registered at least a 7! How Joe laughed at that as we spoke post-gig. A superb ending to my Friday.
(Reviewed by Andy Murphy)
FINNIAN JAMES – Waterbear Venue, ‘The Great Escape’, Brighton 16.5.25 (19:15 – 19:45)
The atmosphere was set up from the start before Finnian James stepped into the spotlight, with a full band, in the full to capacity Waterbear Venue. It’s a great space for his music – up close and personal. He immediately owns the space and his stage presence is electric. He opens with the highly emotional ‘Think About It’ and the lyrics are torn from his heart as with all his songs.
He creates these perfect vignettes of heartbreak heightened by his emotional, highly charged vocal delivery. He ended the show with his first single to break, ‘Roses’, which brought the house down with its power and longing. As he left the stage to the roars of the crowd, I spoke to some of the audience and universally the feeling was that this man should be on bigger stages and with the right support he could get there and deservedly so. Finnian James has something which is rare to come across – star quality.
(Reviewed by Kairen Kemp)
BIGHEAD – Green Door Store, Brighton 9.4.26 (supporting Pastel)
In support tonight we have Bighead, formally known to the masses up until the tail end of 2025 as ‘Bighead Tea Drinkers’. They have played the Brighton music scene for some time, scrolling back through their social media; it looks like they must have played at surely every venue in this fair city over the years. And when I say years that makes them sound old, but they are not, far from it! The quartet comprising of Freddie Brindle (vocals, guitar), Ellie Hart (guitar), Marshall Tyce (drums) and Kian Ramsey (bass) started very young, two of them originally hailing from Essex, they relocated to Brighton to study at BIMM Institute and it was there that they all met and formed the band. I recognise their name, but for some reason I have never seen them live, so I’m looking forward to being schooled this evening.
You can see how all the years of playing together has paid dividends for Bighead, the band really gel well together, confident and assured in their playing, it didn’t take long for the room to fill up as the set got going (and so it should!), sound wise it was a really strong performance, all great songs, well written. They surprised me as they were heavier than I had expected as my only reference beforehand were YouTube videos. I really enjoyed it and definitely am going to make sure I catch them next time, sadly their merch stall had gone by the time I came out after watching Pastel, but I’ll make sure I visit that first time next time round. Bighead have a couple of shows lined up for the Alternative Escape in May, so keep your eye on their socials for venues and dates.
(Reviewed by Ben ‘Jerry’ Robinson)
MOON IDLE – Green Door Store, ‘Homegrown Festival’, Brighton 11.4.26 (20:00 – 20:30)
Moon Idle brought their signature blend of cinematic texture, tension and intimacy to Homegrown at Green Door Store, delivering a lush, ethereal set that sat somewhere between alt‑pop, shoegaze and trip‑hop. Their sound was built on an immersive rhythm section, Felix Burton’s hypnotic drumming and Felix Essex’s deep basslines giving the songs their slow‑burn pulse and drawing in the audience. Over which sat Quilla Robinson’s captivating vocals and Jasper Fergus’s inventive guitar style. Their forthcoming single ‘Delay Me’ was one of many standouts. It opened with sci‑fi‑tinged effects before shifting from trip‑hop moodiness into a looser alt‑rock jam.
The band and crowd visibly fed off the changing momentum. And that was just their first song of the set. ‘Seed’ leaned into minimalist drums and flickering guitar work, Quilla’s calm yet emotionally weighted vocals carrying a soft melancholy. Her voice seemed so relaxed even on the soaring notes. ‘Gone’ introduced a darker melodic tone, while ‘Godzilla’ pushed into heavier, moodier territory, its harsher edges offset by Quilla’s delicate delivery, a contrast that worked beautifully. The experimentation on ‘Godzilla’ and ‘Delay Me’ only deepened Moon Idle’s rich, atmospheric sound, confirming them as one of Brighton’s most quietly distinctive acts.
(Reviewed by Peter Greenfield)
LYNNIE SNOW – Shipwright’s Yard, ‘Alternative Escape’, Brighton 15.5.26 (12:50 – 13:100)
Lynnie Snow delivered a captivating live set filled with intensity and wonderful stage charisma, backed by a four-piece band comprising her fellow BIMM graduates that perfectly balanced delicacy with explosive energy. Her haunting debut single ‘Streetlight, Save Me’ shimmered with cinematic melancholy, while her new single ‘Medal’ was released on the day of this performance and added a sharper edge that hinted a major breakthrough could be on the horizon.
Lynnie’s sound moved between intimate indie and dramatic alternative rock, with a vocal performance that held the crowd gathered outside in the Shipwright’s Yard in thrall, the garage stage amplifying the sound really well. A homegrown star in the making.
(Reviewed by Martin J Fuller)
CARNE – Green Door Store, ‘Gnarwal Fest’, Brighton 11.10.25 (19:30 – 20:00)
The baton immediately passes over to alternative rockers Carne – which is pronounced Car-nay and stylised as CARNE – who are playing in the usual music room. We literally reviewed the band a mere 9 days ago, when they were on the bill with Liam Gallagher’s sons band Villanelle. Carne comprise Carmen Mellino on lead vocals/rhythm guitar, Milo Hill on lead guitar/backing vocals, Emia Demir on bass guitar and former Monakis stixman Joe McTaggart on drums. A majority of tonight’s set is unreleased material and a slight reworking from a few days ago.
They kick off with one of these, the rockin’ ‘Helen’, which is swiftly followed by ‘Peeling Hand’ and then the changing paced ‘Becoming Red’, which commences with Carmen singing solo and then it bursts into life as the remaining trio join in, including plenty of cymbal action from Joe for the slower sections. There’s another tune with some notably rumbly bass guitar action, and then it’s the turn of “A new song” which is ‘Crayons And Nails’ which lures you into a false sense of security with its quiet start and central section, but it’s full on at other times. They sign off with their two 2025 single releases, these being the full on rock number ‘J.U.M (Jumped Up Murder)’, which segues straight into ‘Vast’ with its jaunty beat. Overall, I’d say it’s been a relatively solid performance.
(Review by Nick Linazasoro)
