By Jase Walker
I’m a little late getting in due to our taxi driver taking a rather creative route to get to the venue but I’ve got in on time to catch Tribe Of Ghosts – a band that I was very keen to see!
This four-piece has a fantastically heavy and atmospheric sound that mixes brutal uncleans and soaring cleans that bounce off each other while the guitars grind away behind them and the rhythm section thunders. These remind me a lot of Uneven Structure and The Ocean with the massive lumbering chugs. They’re really kicking off Saturday in the best way, great choice. I’m actually kicking myself for not giving their stuff a proper spin earlier, this sort of post-metal style is very much up my street. Their main vocalist has an incredible vocal range too, she soars up every bit as much as she drops to filthy screams, Christ. These won’t be an opener for long with the quality of the material they’re putting out here, absolutely nuts.
Next up is my current favourite ’80s prog rock throwback band, Kyros. Opening with my favourite song, ‘Esoterica’, I’m already happy as can be! Synchronised movements with the bass, guitar, and keytar? LOVE IT. Looking immaculate on stage, and seeing Shelby roam the stage with a headset mic, fully being able to gesticulate during songs is fantastic too. Kyros ooze style from every single part, matching the flair of their music equally. Jumping around the stage almost constantly while kicking out all sorts of tasty licks, Kyros are a real treat to watch and I’m a bit sad that it’s just 40 minutes but they’ve got a headline tour coming up so I won’t be missing that! Did they just do an actual elevator music intermission advert for their merch? Yes they did. Kyros were a ton of fun for me and I can’t wait to see more of them.
Next up. after some food. is Ithaca, another great band for me (like almost the entire lineup). I walk into the main stage and they’re already smashing my chest with their oppressive noise, lovely stuff. Djamila stomps around the stage letting loose her incredible voice, a brilliant frontwoman to behold. Some seemingly haphazard issues affecting the show with the backing track going a bit awry! Only a brief interruption though, on we go! Barring the drummer, nobody on this stage is standing still for long, jumping around the stage constantly. Ithaca stays consistent for every time I’ve seen them, sure the odd issue happens now and then but they’ve always been outstanding to watch and seeing them dominate the main stage at Radar is the cherry on top today.
Heart Of A Coward opting to walk onto the stage to the tune of ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ is quite on brand. Anyway it’s now time for some fucking riffs, jumping up to main stage from last year’s second sees the proper extent of the people who want to go nuts in the crowd. Kaan on vocals pleads with the audience to ‘absolutely not make a wall of death wink’ and the crowd dutifully disobeys, it’s time to fling your mates around! A classic like ‘Hollow’ causes the already crazed audience to push further into a frenzy and I can see the photographers nearby struggling to keep their camera straight from it! Like other bands I’ve seen grace the main stage at this year’s Radar, this is easily the best I’ve ever seen Heart Of A Coward and they’re owning this stage like it comes naturally.
A rest and time for Car Bomb and predictably it’s an assault on the senses right from the start. Ridiculous rhythms, brutal riffs and flashing lights, not for the faint of heart. There is nothing subtle or delicate about this mathy, chaotic and relentless act. I don’t know where the one is, I don’t know any of the words, I just know I’m here to get my face melted and that’s exactly what’s going on. In-between the songs their singer seems to have a habit of going on some bizarre ramble and the audience seems genuinely more confused about that than the music itself. The likes of these, Frontierer, Meshuggah are great examples of the relentless brutality you get when you distill this style down to its absolute base elements and fully lean into it. A fantastic set but I’m still very confused what the hell their singer was talking about.
Another break to rest up a bit before getting back to the main stage for some delicious jazzy pop from Dirty Loops. Nothing makes me quite as jealous as their singer’s incredible voice, nevermind the incredible bass playing. A splendid cover of ‘Just Dance’ sees throngs of sweaty moshers dancing along in the campest way but everyone’s loving it! ‘Next To You’ goes down a storm as well, a real funky ballad with a super catchy chorus. I didn’t expect a cover of Justin Bieber’s ‘Baby’ either but here we are and with a massive mosh pit to it as well, just Radar things.
Apparently there are some sound issues but they decided to deal with it by doing some bizarre country ho-down improvisation instead which is fucking hilarious. Dropping another ‘banger in the form of ‘Rock You’, I’ve fully surrendered to the groove, it’s time to bust those dance moves out. ‘Hit Me’ truly shows that RADAR festival is an event that covers such a hugely diverse music taste, a room packed with people who would be happy listening to Car Bomb and Conjurer are every bit as happy to jam along to some pop too. Time to get myself together before putting all my remaining energy into TesseracT!
TesseracT starts and holy shit they have the lasers back again! The light show before they’ve even started is sending shivers down my spine, this is going to be a ride! With a full ensemble of choir vocalists behind them too, this is the treat we’ve been teased and now it’s in full motion. The Choir Noir adds an incredible other dimension to TesseracT’s live show that I truly could never have anticipated. ‘Nocturne’ without a doubt sounds the best it ever has, even surpassing their incredible ArcTanGent show a few years back. A full choir intro for ‘Tourniquet’ is a real stroke of genius too, an emotional ballad with this added layer is truly beautiful. ‘Concealing Fate Pt. 1’ even has room for the singers while TesseracT lays down its brutal early djent days rhythmic mastery. It’s astounding how many crowd surfers I’m seeing here too, this is the true response I feel TesseracT deserves.
I’m experiencing this as a mixture of moments of clarity where I can gather my thoughts to put them down into notes and others I’m more concerned with trying to give myself whiplash headbanging along to them and screaming every word. Every single moment of this performance is absolutely stunning and the whole production elevates TesseracT to another level entirely. This sort of thinking towards a live show is what indicates that a band is about to make the leap to true greatness and having this happen at Radar showcases that this festival is going to be a huge springboard in many artists’ careers. The double hitter of ‘King’ and ‘Juno’ giving time to the biggest hitters from the ‘Sonder’ album again are phenomenal in their delivery, TesseracT has crafted a setlist that is a breadth of their discography and augmented in an immense fashion with this production.
I honestly thought that TesseracT’s set at ArcTanGent 2022 would never be beaten, it set the bar so unfathomably high that it’s still one of the best shows I’ve ever seen from any band. In the case of RADAR 2024, TesseracT have pulled no punches on any aspect of their show. From memory I think this is the 14th time I’ve seen them and to see the many years culminate in this unequivocally outstanding show at RADAR, this is not just the best show they’ve ever done but one of the best shows I have ever seen any band do in my life. This is the sort of show that you tell people about for years to come and I truly believe that this is the tipping point for TesseracT to move into big band territory.
Two down, one to go… Day Three, let’s have you.
- PHOTO CREDIT: Photos © Naomi Paulmin Likeanao/Charlie Bluck/Claire Alaxandra Powell/Rubén Navarro/Aneta Pixart. All copyright remains with the respective photographers. Photos courtesy of RADAR Festival.
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