On a rainy London night, in a particularly freezing O2 Academy Brixton (Brrrixton), only one activity was going to raise our spirits (and hopefully temperatures): a Rise Against, L.S. Dunes and Spiritual Cramp gig. With some punk rock legends, a post-hardcore supergroup, and “the future of rock ‘n’ roll” sharing a stage, it promised to be a phenomenal night.
Rise Against – L.S. Dunes – Spiritual Cramp
O2 Academy Brixton – 6 February 2025
Words: Lucy Dunnet
Photography: Manuela Langotsch
Rise Against
Nothing short of an explosion was going to penetrate the screams of the Rise Against fans, who filled the O2 Academy Brixton to bursting, but Satellite came close. What ensued was an evening of mind-bogglingly impressive lighting, all of our favourite Rise Against songs, and a performance of the highest-quality, catchy punk rock.
Zach Blair (lead guitar) and Joe Principe (bass) charged across the stage, with grins plastered on their faces, as Tim McIlrath (vocals) and fans belted out Under The Knife’s: “wake me up inside.” When they announced how good it felt to be with us in London, we wished we, too, had thought to bring a megaphone to shout how glad we were that Rise Against was back in the English capital.
Ready To Fall led to such loud screams from the crowd and emotion in the lyrics, “I’m standing on the rooftop ready to fall,” that we contemplated tying all of our leather jackets together to be able to (safely) fall and join the punk rockers on the edge of the stage. “This is the night to let it out,” proclaimed Tim, but sadly, there’s always a health and safety limit to how much we can let it out.
With Spiritual Cramp and L.S. Dunes having already established that a major bandmance was forming between these three touring forces, Rise Against dedicated their next song, Heaven Knows, to “the guys that opened up this show for us.”
As well-established and outspoken advocates for an array of political injustices and rights movements, it came as no surprise to anyone when Tim delivered a brief yet poignant speech about the current state in Rise Against’s own words. “There are no more adults in the White House, only total fucking lunatics running the country that we have to go back to…
“This ideology, we’ve been singing about it for a long time, but we are gonna keep singing about it.” State Of The Union was rage-fuelled, powerful and punk as fuck. Leading straight into The Violence was an all too real emotional rollercoaster we felt right down to our core.
There is a horrific amount of evil and madness going on in the world at the moment. Still, for these hours spent at the O2 Academy Brixton, we felt only inspiring energy from these incredible artists and delight at the bursts of dry ice shooting off the stage. “Art and music are something we can turn to in dark times.”
Potentially the loudest singalong of the night came for Prayer Of The Refugee; there was no silent vocal box in the room as one of Rise Against’s catchiest hooks and most timely pleas for humanitarianism filled their favourite place in London.
Following a tease that Rise Against is conspiring to return to London soon, hopefully this summer, Tim reminded us that this was not his first rodeo and he has seen some epic fucking circle pits here before…time for O2 Academy Brixton’s 2025 crowd to show what they are made of. Dedicated to us “good people in the room who give a shit about the world and the future,” their set was rounded off with Savior; Brixton did indeed lose their shit, and we can only pray that Rise Against return as soon as they hinted.
L.S. Dunes
L.S. Dunes stormed the O2 Academy Brixton with their 3-year-old debut single, Permanent Rebellion, and vocalist Anthony Green immediately began stomping about the stage with what can only be described as the movements of a man being lightly electrocuted. “The spirit of rock ‘n’ roll is alive tonight. I can fucking see it.
“Let’s dance.” The seated fans didn’t quite unleash the energy of those standing, but we got to focus on the band themselves; L.S. Dunes jammed together like a group of friends doing what they love for the sole reason they love it.
On came Machines, and it was like a shopping list of what we wanted from one of our favourite songs live: enviously great vocals, rockin’ guitars, some sexy bass, and cool flashy lights. L.S. Dunes are a post-hardcore jigsaw puzzle where the only missing piece is a crowd of adoring fans, a missing piece that the O2 Academy Brixton embodied tonight.
“We don’t get to come over here as a band, so this is a real special thing for us.” Upon hearing this news, not only did the crowd roar with delight, but everyone crossed all their fingers and toes that after tonight, L.S. Dunes would rectify the situation and return as often as possible.
Grey Veins was a bouncy, brain-invading track whose catchy chorus, “I don’t wanna kill time,” had the crowd screaming along while Anthony continued his onstage solo moshing and ballet prancing; honestly, some of their stage antics would look weird if performed by anyone but the L.S. Dunes rockers (Anthony Green, vocalist of Circa Survive, Saosin, and The Sound of Animals Fighting; Frank Iero, guitarist of My Chemical Romance; Travis Stever, guitarist of Coheed and Cambria; Tim Payne and Tucker Rule, bassist and drummer of Thursday).
“Most days, I wake up, and I can’t believe I get to be in this band with such talented human beings and do this for people like you. I hope everyone gets to do stuff like this one day.” Every band on the night’s bill used their music to fill the crowd with rock ‘n’ roll cheer, upbeat energy, and positivity towards a better future.
Spiritual Cramp
Much like a muscle cramp, Spiritual Cramp came out of nowhere and had us seizing up in shock; in this case, it was a delighted shock: these guys rocked HARD. The six-piece included a tambourine, early 80s punk nostalgia and a rough sprinkling of eccentricity.
In the words of headliners Rise Against, Spiritual Cramp is “the future of rock ‘n’ roll.” L.S. Dunes also had something to say about Spiritual Cramp: “Every time I watch them, it just reminds me of the shit I love about rock ‘n’ roll.” Anthony Green had simply voiced the opinion we had come to after five minutes of witnessing Spiritual Cramp sweat, bounce and smash out raw rock ‘n’ roll bangers. They had an infectious onstage energy that we hadn’t been expecting.
Michael Bingham finished their set by bringing his mic stand up into the air and resting it on his head, giving us a moment to compose ourselves before the left the stage. Seeing a band like Spiritual Cramp for the first time in a venue as big as the O2 Academy Brixton is always a blessing and a curse; we want to see them rip up an underground bar that leaves us in a state of sweaty, happy befuddlement. Maybe one day.
