LIVE FROM THE PIT: Tigercub, Snayx and Venus Grrrls

Brighton has a way of exporting its finest, and for one night in London, hometown heroes TIGERCUB bring their biggest show to date, pulling together a lineup that proves the south coast scene is very much alive. Supported by VENUS GRRRLS and SNAYX, the evening doubles as a love letter to grassroots music and hometown solidarity.

VENUS GRRRLS open with the kind of energy that makes you forget they are the first band on, expending the pit’s energy before TIGERCUB have even come on. 3 x 3 wastes no time: sharp, angsty and immediately commanding. The five-piece journey through Divine and Ivy Tree before Bloodsick acts like the final incantation in the spell they are casting. Hex is a particular standout as Grace Stubbings’ droning synths underpin a spoken word vocal that creeps under your skin in the best possible way, gothic and deeply unsettling. Eighteen Crows brings things to a thunderous close, Hannah Barraclough's bass hitting you square in the chest while Jess Ayres' guitar solo responds to the vocal riffs with real precision. Throughout it all, vocalist Grace Kelly is an absolute force, barely still, possessed by the music, her vocals rich and genuinely enchanting. Gabby Cooke drives the whole thing forward with locked-in intensity.

SNAYX are harder to pin down, and that is precisely the point. Charlie Herridge leads the charge with real conviction, the band ricocheting between the punkier energy of Boys in Blue and the more indie-leaning Go With You without ever settling long enough for you to fully clock what genre you are dealing with, with nu metal, punk, and indie thrown together and working. Gold Star, making its live debut, is a highlight: Ollie Horner's fuzzy bass and Herridge's satisfying ad-libbing locking together brilliantly. Wasted Again practically starts a mosh pit by itself, Herridge throwing himself into the middle of it with glee while Elania “Lainey” Nixon drives the whole thing from behind the kit with relentless energy. By Sink or Swim, the crowd is fully won over as they clap, dance, and chant for SNAYX from the pit. There's real authorial voice in these songs, themes of authoritarianism and daily grind delivered with enough wit that they land harder than they have any right to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtJE5qty7GU

And then there was TIGERCUB. Emerging from behind a curtain, the Brighton three-piece immediately signal that this is a band stepping into a moment that they want to share with all of their fans. Sleepwalker brings the first crowd surfers of the evening. Groovy and genuinely heavy, it was clearly one of the most anticipated songs of the night. I.W.G.F.U. injects a burst of pure party energy, while The Perfume of Decay proves Jamie Stephen Hall, James Allix and Jimi Wheelwright can slow the tempo without sacrificing an ounce of weight. Live debut I’m Breaking Out was raw and volatile, the instrumentation matching the emotional chaos of the lyrics perfectly. Play My Favourite Song veers into disjointed, almost math-rock territory, all the spookier for how unexpected it feels.

Burning Effigies is quietly stunning: Hall's piano riff conjures something almost cinematic before collapsing into a glorious heavy breakdown. Stop Beating on My Heart (Like a Bass Drum) gets the entire venue chanting the bracketed lyrics along, which is the kind of crowd participation you can't manufacture. New track Black Moon makes its live debut, brooding and emotionally devastating, earns the biggest cheers of the night. The encore lands, the room gives everything it has left, and when TIGERCUB bow at the end, it doesn't feel performative. They're genuinely taking it in: the scale, the noise, the fact that this is the biggest show they've ever played. After a show like that, they deserved to celebrate with a few pints at the nearby pub.

Words and photos: Atoosa Salamat