Three of the hottest emerging acts on one bill and it’s a Saturday night – that’s all the ingredients for a top night right? First on were local lads Loa Loa, a favourite of Brightonsfinest since their damn right explosive debut headline gig at the Green Door Store on the eve of The Great Escape Festival 2016. Delivering a typically energetic live performance, the trio took the term warm-up act and turned it into fire. Holding an almost punky attitude on stage, you had no choice but to submit to the music they were forcing onto you. Wandering between the dark rhythms of Queens Of The Stone Age and the raw energy of Nirvana, with brilliant moments of At The Drive-In’s emotive undertow; heads were banging. If it wasn’t for the early stage time, raucous scenes would have surely ensued.

With only two short singles for us to listen to online, The Bay Rays haven’t given us too much to get stuck into – although it's enough to make us very excited about seeing them live. With catchy guitar melodies and a breakneck jumping-off-the-walls beat, The Bay Rays compelled you to move. Their retro rock’n’roll sound criss-crosses with garage rock, punk and indie pop. It's brought right up to date by veering in-and-out of thrilling sounds from the likes of early Kings Of Leon and The Vaccines. Their two singles go at a mile-a-minute, so it was interesting to see more lulled moments introduced into their set. Perhaps it was more for them than us, as their explosive sound was so unrelenting, the rests were a very welcome addition.

If you weren’t already loose after the double dose of madness beforehand – godspeed – as Estrons were determined to step things up another notch. The band took ownership of the stage in an instant, going into a frantic first song which whipped the crowd into a frenzy. The manic energy these pop-punk rockers created as they ripped through their set was ferocious. The bands onstage attitude was dominating and slightly intimidating. They took no prisoners, jumping around the stage and staring out the crowd. This was mostly down to the fearless and ruthless enthusiasm of lead singer Taliesyn Källström who is up there with the very best front-women in music at the moment, especially when matched with her incredibly strong and versatile voice which held no limits. Estrons' big and powerful live show was a joy to experience and an exhilarated crowd certainly relayed that – time is the only thing in the way of bigger venues for the four-piece.

It was never in doubt that this gig at the Green Door Store was bringing together some of the best emerging talent around – a band from Cardiff, a band from Tunbridge Wells and a band from Brighton – showcasing that rock was never dead and you definitely don’t need a DJ booth to have a great Saturday night. These three acts have been touted as must-sees, and they lived up to the hype in every way.
Iain Lauder

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