After a decade of grafting, somebody hit the fast-forward button on VUKOVI’s trajectory. Two-and-a-half years in the past, they have been enjoying the O2 Academy Islington up the highway. Precisely 357 days in the past, they bought out the Electrical Ballroom. Now, they’re opulently christening the brand new songs from the freshly-released MY GOD HAS GOT A GUN in a room with area for over 2,000 followers.
“I’m completely shitting my pants,” vocalist Janine Shilstone admits, pacing the stage barefoot in a black catsuit. “London, what the fuck?”
We’ll let you know what’s up: justice is being completed.
Artio are right here first to heat the group up, and the Leeds quartet’s lithe, genre-crushing tunes sound positively crystalline tonight. Whereas Rae Brazill’s highly effective vocals pierce the tightest corners of the room, their efficiency itself maybe wants simply an additional little sparkle. After patrolling like a caged animal by the primary couple of songs, Rae later settles and finds their groove, however their inexperience on phases this large does at factors creep by.
Subsequent, unpeople make good on the mountain of hype round them. There’s nearly instantaneous pitting for the monstrous opener waste and the arcing melodies of going numb summon the crowdsurfers. Frankly, their colossal sound (and quantity) belies their relative newness as a band. The quartet’s glee to be right here as palpable, as guitarists Jake Crawford and Luke Caley and just lately recruited bassist Em Lodge stand axe to axe and bash their strings, earlier than Luke climbs on a punter’s shoulders for some shredding on the explosively summery nearer the backyard. A phenomenon ready to occur? Totally doable.
VUKOVI know how you can make an entrance. Opener THIS IS MY LIFE AND MY TRAUMA detonates in a cacophony of meaty riffs and flashing crimson strobes earlier than Janine seems and slinks by the brand new album’s punchy lead single GUNGHO. With a stage so large, this ever-underrated frontwoman is extra highly effective than ever, leaving no inch untouched as she dances, gyrates and takes up – and owns — all of the area she’s afforded.
The Ayrshire duo have large songs to match, too, from the scintillating LASSO (that includes Rae from Artio) to the brass-knuckled CREEP HEAT, whereas unpeople’s Jake lends some jagged gutturals to MY GOD HAS GOT A GUN. Nonetheless, this 70-minute present of energy is way from one-note. SLO is available in like a wrecking ball however the emotional weight of it – a tune about Janine’s OCD — is super, whereas SNO finds her screaming on her knees underneath the glare of a white highlight. She comes down and perches on the sting of the stage to sing outdated favorite Color Me In and by the tip, she’s in tears.
There’s loads of pleasure, particularly when VUKOVI are connecting with their rowdy but amiable crowd – who, through the set, go Janine a toy shark and guitarist Hamish Reilly some Pokémon playing cards. The defiant I EXIST has these within the stands bouncing, who later sing again the chorus of nearer La Di Da loud sufficient to do their vocal cords some injury. “I’m not going to crowdsurf or this costume will disintegrate,” jokes Janine however does it anyway, guffawing as she’s safely introduced again to stage.
As overwhelming because the prospect of this present might have been, they’ve proved why VUKOVI deserve it a lot after 15 years of behind-the-scenes toil and leaping the hurdles of current as a working-class band who didn’t match of their native scene. However by harnessing the facility of the outsider – and writing loads of bangers – they’ve proved that generally, the cream actually does rise to the high.
VUKOVI play RADAR Pageant and 2000bushes in July
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Posted on March tenth 2025, 12:30p.m.
