December 4th 2026 – 1865, Southampton
Supported by: Samantics, Carsick
One of my fave venues these days, great sound, great atmosphere and great beer….alcohol free Guinness on this occasion.
Anticipation was high as Pet Needs moved up from small venues to medium venues. In Southampton that means The Joiners to 1865. Two support bands is always a treat and both new to me (although Carsick’s guitarist looked very familiar, I need to check if he was in a band called Royals? If anyone knows??). But first….
Samantics
One man band, Sam Walker, used to be a teacher, now a multi instrument musician looping music and singing with a poetic rap. Looping is singing or music put upfront and played back as a backing track loop. Pretty clever and Sam has a fascinating style of layering the tune before singing over the top of the tune.
A very amusing engaging man, interacting well with the audience, not a bad crowd and many knew his tunes. Including the catchy ‘Pop Song (I can’t tell you what his dad thinks of it..it was a tad rude! lol) and ‘Keep Repeating It’ and Beautiful Day’. Worth checking out.
Carsick
These boys made the shortish trip from Salisbury to Southampton. Joe Richardson(Vocals/Guitar), Jack Richardson (Guitar), Jack Hardiman (Bass), and Tom Armstrong(Drums) play pretty cool rock music, sort of edging towards Linkin Park/ Blink 182. But that doesn’t do justice to their own individual sound and story telling with a mix of serious and tongue in cheek lyrics.
This set was a blast through punk, angst, poetic tunes. Joe’s energy around stage made me tired and a couple of near crashes with the two Jacks. Great fun and great rock music. Jack Hardiman livened up events further by getting a mosh going and then jumping off stage to join in!!
Set list: Violence, Gig Tax, Muzzle, Thatcher’s Gold, Anaconda Frank, Is What It Is, Pub Watch
Pet
Time for the main event, last seen at The Joiners, this was a move up in venue size, as is the whole tour. Pet Needs are definitely breaking through right now. Johnny talked on stage of ‘giving it one more year’, ‘people in the business starting to notice them’, support from the record label, the thanks for the support slots they’ve had with other bands. And asking the crowd to show support to their support acts, Samantics and Carsick. In fact, get out there and support live music, whatever your taste. Watch it or lose it.
To the music. we’re treated to a great mix of the first three albums and the new single (well, not now, but it nearly was). Straight in with a great selection from ‘Intermittent Fasting Living’, the third and most successful album so far. ‘The Age That You Were’ and ‘Sleep When I’m Dead’ warm up the loyal crowd.
Then back to the first album with ‘Punk Isn’t Dead, It’s Just Up For Sale’….George and Ryan are now in full flow on guitar and bass respectively, Jules is on top form on drums and I’m starting to worry at how high Johnny is jumping off the drum stage!! Vocals are full on too, it’s a great delivery of a great set.
Johnny has a great interaction with the crowd, making sure we’re having fun (and getting his breath back). It’s clear George and Johnny still can’t believe how the Derby boys, alongside Ryan and Jules, have made a success of their music. The energy, interaction and infectiousness of Turneresque tunes they fire out, proves this is no fluke.
The whole crowd is moving to “Fear of The Whole Damn World’ and ‘Tracey Emin’s Bed’ and of course, we’re treated to ‘Scratch Card and ‘Toothpaste’ before finishing on ‘Get on the Roof’.
I shouldn’t pogo this much these days, but the back can get better over the next few days. A huge set on a huge night. Pet Needs have taken another big upward step. Let’s hope we see a lot more in the next few years.
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