The final part of /Countdown 2025 sees me looking at the best gigs of the year.
Some statistics for my gig-going in 2025. Like last year, I went to 36 shows (each festival is counted by number of days – so Infest is three days, so counts for three shows), and saw 133 live sets. I saw 128 unique bands, three of them twice, and one three times, at 26 venues, and my wife saw 54 of the sets with me (even more than last year, incredibly). These gigs were in twelve cities or towns, this year in the UK and Belgium.
/Countdown/2025 /02-Dec/Comps & Reissues /09-Dec/Tracks /16-Dec/Albums /23-Dec/Gigs
/2023/Lingua Ignota
/2022/Frank Turner
/2021/not awarded (COVID)
/2020/not awarded (COVID)
/2019/Teeth of the Sea
/2018/The Young Gods
/2017/Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
/2016/Cubanate / Cold Waves V
/2015/Mercury Rev
/2014/Arcade Fire
/2012/Laibach
/2011/Mind.in.a.box
/2010/Neurosis
/2009/Spiritualized
/2008/Amanda Palmer
/2007/The Young Gods
/2006/Front Line Assembly
/2005/Various
/2004/not recorded
A more settled year, perhaps, and one dominated by three festivals and one memorable overseas trip for music, and maybe more varied musically than for a while, too. In addition, I’ve long taken notes on setlists at shows in one-word formats, so where I recorded them for the relevant gigs this year, I’ve included them here.
Here are the twenty best shows I saw in 2025.
Now this has posted, /amodelofcontrol.com is taking a short break until the New Year. Thanks for reading in 2025.
/ACTORS
/The Garage / London N5
/08-Feb 2025
Vancouver post-punk band ACTORS have built quite a name for themselves over the past decade or so, as they’ve released a few albums-worth of great songs, with a new one to come in 2026, and live they seem to just get better and better. This show was a great demonstration of how much a shit-kicking live band they’ve become nowadays, as they confidently played the new songs scattered across the set (Object of Desire, which made it high up my /Tracks list last year, was an easy highlight) and played all the old favourites that we’d expect. With a sharp edge to their sound, and a lasciviousness to some of their songs, they have something of a wider appeal than many of their peers, perhaps, but then writing songs as uniformly great as these helps too.
Setlist: L’appel slaves inside real object love suicide lonely killing cold obsession strangers crystal bury dance / ptl deep glass
/Public Circuit
/The Shacklewell Arms / London E8
/17-Oct 2025
I didn’t get to many small shows of newer bands this year for various reasons, but the appearance of a Public Circuit show in the listings piqued my interest immediately. A young band whose percussion-heavy, melodic-but-confrontational industrial music nods particularly to High-Functioning Flesh and Cabaret Voltaire, live they turned out to be a fascinating band that gave everything to a relatively short set. There was cowbell, battered buckets and rototoms as part of the percussive attack, powerful vocals (best shown by the single Samson and a range that shames many of their peers. I hope they return again soon, as this was great.
/Frank Turner
/Alexandra Palace / London N22
/22-Feb 2025
I’ve seen Frank Turner a lot over the years, but his 3000th (!) show at Alexandra Palace felt like a show I didn’t want to miss, and so it proved. Very much a celebration of how far Turner had come over two decades, it covered almost every corner of his extensive catalogue, complete with the traditional heartfelt singalongs by most of the 10,000-strong crowd, memories of the past and even a bit of dancing at the end. A show where I wasn’t expecting any surprises – it wasn’t that kind of show – but there was no need for them. Turner has an uncanny ability with writing songs suited to communal release, and this was another example of just how great he is at this. I often feel a bit wrung out after his shows emotionally, but here, I left with a spring in my step, feeling like I could take on the world.
Setlist: Ballad prufrock believe do try next music girl 1933 disappeared well sailing somewhere / road queen kind / tend stray recovery back photosynthesis / undefeated Polaroid better four
/The Jesus Lizard & The None
/Electric Ballroom / London NW1
/11-Jan 2025
One of the first gigs of 2025 was one of a few this year I had literally waited decades to see. Somehow, despite their relatively regular shows over the past decade or so since their reformation, I’d never managed to see The Jesus Lizard before, and even with David Yow’s advanced years, there was still a feeling here that you weren’t quite sure what was going to happen next (that said, thankfully he kept his clothes on here). With a new album to promote – their first in a quarter of a century – which turned out to be better than any of us could ever have hoped for, this was a show full of action, and reminding neatly just how formidable a sound the band have. As well, that opening four tracks was probably about as good as it could get.
Setlist: Glamorous Boilermaker Puss Seasick Mouth Thumbscrews Urine Grind Nub Hide What Chrome Alexis Gladiator Dudley / Godiva Thumper Fly Moto(R) Monkey
As well, the support The None were a hell of a discovery: a noise-rock quartet whose angular, sharp-edged sound came armed with fantastic songs and a quick hunt on Bandcamp to find them when I got home.
/Delilah Bon
/The Garage / London N5
/21-Mar 2025
At least by watching artists like Delilah Bon, perhaps the future is in safe hands. Fiercely independent, but also pro-choice, pro-trans, LGBTQIA+-friendly and very much anti-fascist, it was also notable that the audience was a kaleidoscope of youthful fans of all stripes, drawn in by an artist with something to say that resonated with them, but also is kick-ass live and enormous fun to watch. Crossing lines between punk, electronic, hip-hop and occasionally metal, Delilah Bon’s songs all have something to say and are unequivocal in their messaging (the likes of Dead Men Don’t Rape and I Wish A Bitch Would being prime examples, not to mention two of the best songs played all night), but they are never too condescending.
Setlist: freak brat chiquitita dicks school listen best girlz clown alert finally internet war president attitude bitch dead / evil maverick
/The Tiger Lillies
/Wilton’s Music Hall / London E1
/01-Nov 2025
I’ve only ever managed to see The Tiger Lillies twice over the years. Last time it was in their spiritual home of Soho, this time it was in the legendary space of Wilton’s Music Hall, the last music hall of it’s kind still being used for performances. The large space was fashioned into a remarkably intimate show by the trio (with excellent use of lighting to create malevolent shadows looming over them), as they performed a good proportion of their latest album, which tells tales of the seedy underbelly of Soho and it’s denizens. The new album having so many great songs really helps (we were all humming the joyous anti-conformity anthem of Stupid Life afterward, in particular), but also of note were some extraordinary songs from their back-catalogue, including the gorgeous lament Alone with the Moon, the charge of Bully Boys, and the elegant Birds Are Singing In Ukraine, which closed out the show. They remain a unique, fascinating band that truly come to life live.
/Where We Sleep
/Paper Dress Vintage / London E8
/18-Jul 2025
I saw Beth Rettig’s previous band Blindness an awful lot (sixteen times according to my records), but a combination of COVID and no longer living in London meant that it took me an age before I finally had the chance to see Where We Sleep live, and it turned out I picked a good night to do it. While there is very much a thematic link between the two projects, and a similarity in sound, it is clear that Rettig has moved on from Blindness and there is never any question that any of the old songs would be played – and that’s absolutely fine.
Especially as the Where We Sleep songs are so good, particularly the glowering Broken Things, and the relentless momentum of Drive that closed the short-ish set. But the big surprise of the night? Seeing Beth – and guitarist Debbie Smith, who of course used to be their guitarist – tearing into Coast Is Clear by Curve for only the second time. I never, ever thought I’d see that in my lifetime.
Setlist: Broken light outside(new) desert coast(curve) drive
/Front Line Assembly
/Corporation / Sheffield
/17-Apr 2025
Yeah, I’ve seen FLA a lot across the past twenty years. But as long as they remain this damned good live, I’ll keep going back. This was the opening of their first UK tour in a few years, and was a return to a fully-electronic-based set, with no guitarist and instead Joey Blush joining Rhys Fulber to play a full armoury of synths. They were perhaps even heavier than when they are with guitars in the mix at points, too, and with certain songs not possible to play (so there was nothing from the metal-tastic Millenium for once, for example) it meant we got some songs I’ve not heard live in ages – and in the case of Digital Tension Dementia, a song I’m not sure I’ve ever heard them play! I’ve loved FLA since I was a teenager, and while perhaps their recorded material has dropped off somewhat in the past decade, live they remain untouchable.
Setlist: anthrocross impact neologic shifting digital plasticity bio killing resist deadened gun mindphaser / body
/Randolph & Mortimer
/The Facebar / Reading
/06-Dec 2025
I was at the very first R&M live show – invited along by the band as part of a friends-and-family audience that allowed them to test out the live show, and it was, even a decade ago, a fully audio-visual experience. While dayjob considerations have meant that R&M live shows are still rare, the sheer quality of their industrial/techno power means that they remain well worth seeing. This show was one of two in a month (the previous one in London in November was supporting KITE), and here headlining a BEAT:CANCER show in Reading was one I wasn’t going to miss. Playing as a duo, with visuals remaining a key part of their live show, their hybrid sound packs a hell of a punch and the set was paced well, giving moments to take a breath amid the full-body workouts that many of their songs become. R&M remain one of the best industrial acts around right now.
Setlist: true existing incomplete enjoy yuppies light body fantasy dream flesh self citizens
/Manic Street Preachers
/Pryzm / Kingston-upon-Thames
/01-Feb 2025
In what I’m sure was not chance in the slightest, the Manics “album launch show” gigs in Kingston (in conjunction with local record shop Banquet Records) this year took place on 01-February, 30 years to the day since Richey Edwards disappeared. As is the way, the band mostly let the music do the talking, aside from Nicky Wire paying tribute to his lost bandmate prior to a riotous Motown Junk, but with just a handful of new songs played – instead digging into their back catalogue and playing a few songs they’ve not played in years (Peeled Apples (!), She Is Suffering, the aforementioned Motown Junk), this very much felt like fan service. Seeing the band in such a comparatively small venue was an absolute treat, the only downbeat note was half the crowd only being there for about two or three songs, but that’s the risk you take with this kind of show. It was still worth it.
Setlist: Enola divide suffering motorcycle paintings tristessa stole hiding design peeled enough motown tolerate
/20-/11 – /10-/01
/BLACKBOOK & Winkie
/Infest 2025 / Academy / Manchester
/15/16-Aug 2025
My twenty-fifth Infest was also one of significant change, as the festival left it’s long-time Bradford home across the Pennines to Manchester, and while there were some reservations about the move, returning to a enclosed venue for the whole festival turned out to be a very good move indeed. Sure, the condensed nature and very tight turnarounds across the two days made for an exhausting experience, but everything ran well and it was quickly confirmed that we were returning to three days in 2026 at the same venue. Two particular bands stood out for me at the festival, and neither of them I knew about in advance.
New York duo Winkie were a formidable, striking presence, dressed entirely in white with rictus, clear masks that were faintly unsettling, while their shoegaze-meets-noise-rock at extreme volume made for a sound like no-one else over the weekend. Then Blackbook owned the mainstage on the Saturday night, providing a futuristic, powerful synthpop set that was full of hooks and wonderful songs, and I couldn’t get enough of them.
/Scene Queen & girli & Lake Malice
/Kentish Town Forum / London NW5
/06-Sep 2025
Another show where I felt rather old – and out of place in black, as most of the people at the show were in various shades of pink – was to see “bimbocore” artist Scene Queen tear through the Forum on a warm September evening. She appears to have ruffled the feathers of “true” metal fans (i.e. men) who seem to have a problem with her defiantly femme, queer-friendly sound, but that’s their loss: here, in front of a sold-out, noisy crowd, Scene Queen were absolutely fantastic. It felt like pretty much everything she could play was played, and it almost felt like a protest gig that is absolutely fucking sick of the rightward shift of basically everything. They are also kicking back against male bullshit (particularly (alleged) abuse by bands against their fans), an important stand to make right now, and as the mighty 18+ closed out the show, I was beginning to wonder that she’ll be playing bigger venues soon.
Setlist: Bdsm bra finger panther platform G-string milf hot hotel Whitney masturbation Barbie rover 18+
A nod also to the excellent supports, the stark feminism of girli’s electronic pop, and the thrashy industrial punk of Lake Malice.
/Test Dept.
/Umbrella Centre / Whitstable
/28-Nov 2025
After a few years touring an extensive, expensive-looking live show that involved a lot of percussion and found-sound items, it was interesting this year to see that Test Dept. returned back to their electronic-based duo form later in the year for a number of shows. The first was a secret show in London where their presence on the bill wasn’t announced in advance (and in any case I was otherwise committed that night), but luckily for us they announced another, surprising show in a community centre in Whitstable. That venue has been home to the Coastal Electronauts collective, who’ve been making a variety of electronic-based music over the past few years, but also Whitstable is the other side of Canterbury from the Kent coalfield region, an area decimated by pit closures like other better-known coal regions in the country, and Test Dept. of course supported the miner’s strike back in the 1980s, and have retained their fiercely left-wing politics ever since.
The gig turned out to have a number of London and south-east industrial luminaries attending, as well as some of those once-miners in the crowd, and this was the best show I’ve seen from the group in some time. There were some rampaging new songs that bode well for a new album, a brutal, heavy reworking of Full Spectrum Dominance from the last album Disturbance, and what I believe to be some very old songs reworked into electronic form, and it all sounded great. This feels like a new phase for the group, and one that is shaping up to be very impressive indeed.
/ALT BLK ERA & Beyond Border & Harpy & Everything Goes Cold & genCAB
/Resistanz Festival / Corporation / Sheffield
/18/19/20-Apr 2025
It’s been a long, long time – eleven years – since I was last at Resistanz, and since then Corporation has seem some significant change (mostly) for the better, and this year the line-up ticked my boxes to the point that attending was a formality. As always with industrial/electronic festivals, not everything will be my thing, but that’s not the point. Of the highlights, though, there were some impressively left-field bookings. The fast-rising Nottingham duo ALT BLK ERA, whose rock-meets-RnB and drum’n’bass sound went down very well indeed, while the fierce BDSM and sexual themes of Harpy also impressed, while also some new discoveries (the glorious futurepop throwback of Beyond Border) and two bands that were worth the ticket alone. A first UK show for Everything Goes Cold at last was a first chance for me to see them live in fourteen years (and was every bit as good as that Kinetik show), while I’d waited decades for genCAB and their nakedly emotional industrial sounds were just what I wanted to hear.
/Assemblage 23
/Downstairs at the Dome / London N19
/19-Oct 2025
It had been a long time – nearly a decade – since I last saw A23 live, an artist I’ve been following for a quarter of a century, since I first heard early dancefloor hit Purgatory. Since then, Tom Shear’s nakedly emotional, honest synthpop has been a fixture on my playlists ever since, with a rare level of quality control that has never seen him release a bad album. Happily, this show turned out to be just what I needed at the time after a tough year, a night with friends and a bunch of songs I’ve loved for quite some time. Oh yes, this was a set covering all the favourites, a few surprises, and a fistful of new songs that already felt like old friends. Exactly the catharsis sometimes required from live music: I sang, I cried a bit, I felt immeasurably better afterwards. Such is the power of great music.
Setlist: Bravery opened naked welcome believe complacent armour document gone drive erase noise ground disappoint damaged tolerate
/Gavin Friday
/EARTH / London N16
/06-Apr 2025
Another artist I’ve wanted to see for so long is Gavin Friday, although the long wait here was at least partly because he plays in the UK so rarely (this was apparently his first London show in seventeen years). Then again, his other activities have meant albums are rare too – the excellent Ecce Homo from last year was only his sixth solo album (his first was in 1989). This show was far from a retrospective, too, instead built mostly around the electronic pulse of Ecce Homo‘s songs (whose music was produced by the late Dave Ball, and it shows with the thump of the club-bound songs), with only occasional nods back to his past although I must say I was very surprised indeed to hear a couple of Virgin Prunes songs included. As well as that, though, Friday was a garrulous, entertaining host as he told stories between songs, and for me it was worth the price of admission alone to have the gig closed off by the sublime beauty of Angel.
Setlist: Subzero ecce church stations apologia lady amaranthus lamento sandpaper walk trash young / cabarotica daze angel
/The Young Gods & TAYNE
/The Garage / London N5
/30-Oct 2025
Marking their 40th anniversary this year, The Young Gods released their best album in decades (which was awarded album of the year on this site just last week), and so their latest tour was going to be a must-see, and so it proved. There was no attempt to head down a “greatest hits” route, instead scattering a few old favourites among a set that saw almost the entire new album played. In a venue where the sound can sometimes be a bit muddy, The Young Gods and their sound engineer found a way to make them sound exceptionally clear and very, very loud, which suited the thumping feel of the new album, and coupled with their dazzling light columns (seemingly MIDI-linked so that they pulsed and shone in time), it resulted in an exceptional show. Particular highlights were a skyscraping The Night Dance, and the thundering fury of Shine That Drone which closed the set, a sensory overload that was an exhilarating experience. How do they keep getting better?
Setlist: Appear systemised amour blackwater standing rains intertidal dance gasoline yeux blue drone / skinflowers l’amourir radar / miss
Support act TAYNE made good on their intriguing studio material, with a full-throttle set that was less rock and a whole lot of noise.
/Cabaret Voltaire
/Attenborough Centre / Brighton
/22-Nov 2025
Perhaps Richard H. Kirk dying was the catalyst for this being possible – I couldn’t have imagined it happening if he had still been alive, especially as he’d released a very different album under the band’s name just a year before he died – but the reunion of Stephen Mallinder and Chris Watson to mark the 50th anniversary of one of the pioneers of industrial music was one of the hot tickets of 2025. We got to see them on a filthy, stormy night in Brighton as they concluded the first run of shows, and even with a few songs tweaked for live performance, I couldn’t possibly have wished for a better set.
Concentrating on their perhaps more accessible mid-80s industrial-funk period than anything else (with a few nods older and newer), this was a glorious demonstration of how influential and brilliant the Cabs were and still are. And I don’t think I’ll hear a better track live than the almighty thump of Yashar for a good deal of time to come.
Setlist: 24 animation kill tinsley setup landslide crackdown spies fascination taximusic yashar freaks easy do / nag sensoria
/Overhead, the Albatross & Wormrot
/BEC Arena / Manchester
/08-Nov 2025
The lineup for Damnation Festival’s 20th Anniversary this year tempted me back for the first time since 2010, and I’m not going to lie, as it got closer to the festival, I was beginning to wonder if my aging body could actually cope with such a relentless schedule: two days midday to midnight, with 48 bands playing over the two days across three stages. Like a number of others, it turned out, I bailed before the end each night but still saw 30 of the acts, and two bands in particular stood out over all the others.
Irish post-rock band Overhead, the Albatross opened the main stage on the Saturday, and I was curious to see them. Their album I Leave You This from last year didn’t quite click first time around, but it turned out I needed to see them live, where they became this extraordinary, electronically-powered rock band that grabbed you by the throat and wrung every bit of emotion from you. The closing Paul Lynch – about a friend who died young, and dedicated additionally here to Damnation Festival’s own Brian Fitzpatrick, who died this year – was the kind of emotional climax to a set that most bands will never, ever manage. Here, they set such a high bar that basically no band lived up to it all weekend.
Well, with the possibly exception of Wormrot, the Singaporean grindcore trio who returned to these shores with two returning members from their “classic” lineup, and proceeded to absolutely destroy for 45 minutes. I’ve never seen a Grindcore set like it, and it looked to be as much fun to perform as it was to watch. But overall, the festival was an absolute joy, with a friendly crowd, old and new friends, and a sense that the metal community is alive and well. I’ve already got my ticket to return in 2026.
/Front 242
/Ancienne Belgique / Brussels
/23/24/25-Jan-25
I know, Front 242 were gig of the year in 2024, too. How were they possibly going to top that London show? Well, their final three shows in Brussels were off the scale. Each night better than the last, as they mixed up the middle of the set with a variety of intriguing choices, culminating on the final night with one last pulverising take on Commando that had me jumping for joy, as well as that final run through Welcome to Paradise that confirmed 242 are the church we’ve been worshipping at all these years. Every single thing about these shows was perfect. The venue Ancienne Belgique had a well-set out space, lockers rather than a cloakroom, decent (and relatively affordable) local beer, and a sound quality that shamed pretty much every other venue I attended this year.
As well, this was a crowd (on each night) of genuine fans, doing this one last time, and the buzz on the final night very much fed into the band, who put on the show of their lives, perhaps in the knowledge that they would never have the chance again: certainly the emotion as they said their goodbyes confirmed that. I first heard 242 as an eleven-year old on MTV, as I began to discover my own tastes in music, and they literally changed my life. To be in Brussels for all three shows was a genuine privilege, and there is no doubt that the final show was the best gig of my life. Thank you, Front 242, for everything. (You can read a whole lot more from me about these shows on /Into the Pit /212).
Final Night Setlist: WYHIWYG Moldavia body crash u-men shuffle operating funk unusual generator commando gripped red take master tragedy fix welcome / happiness headhunter