Into Live Music Review: Rockaway Beach Day Three
Festival: Rockaway Beach
Venue: Bognor Regis, Butlins
Dates: 5 January 2025
Day 3:
First out of the blocks on the final day, Sunday, was Jaws The Shark. Not only were they the solo project of artist Olly Bailey, they had my favourite band name of the weekend. Indie rock with attitude, explosive guitar riffs, the occasional fuzz feedback and a sound that harked back to the finest Seattle grunge bands. Silver Sun with its infectious licks was fantastic making this three-piece definite ones to watch.
Studio 36 was the place to be later on with Miki Berenyi Trio kicking off the evening entertainment. Formerly of indie rockers Lush, Berenyi and her band produced a gorgeous session of pastel feeling, ambient, shoegaze-y pop. Hopefully some new music to follow as based on this show, there are some real gems in there.
Next up were Dublin indie rockers Sprints, a band whose debut album Letter to Self dropped last year to critical acclaim. Indeed, there was a swell of expectation they would play RB last year but it was not to be so the sense of anticipation for this show was palpable and no wonder. For a band with only one album to their name, they sure knew how to own the stage and put on a show. Singer Karla Chubb’s far-reaching, powerful voice helped propel songs such as Shadow of a Doubt and Adore Adore Adore. But it was on Heavy when the first proper wig-out happened. The band lit up an absolute fire, rocking the joint as the temperature increased by several notches.
Sprints music was exciting, exhilarating, empowering and expansive, so for me, there’s no doubt that they could and probably will follow a trajectory similar to previous RB performers and fellow Dubs, Fontaines D.C. Set closing Literary Mind and Little Fix were off the scale, Chubb ending up crowd surfing while managing to continue to sing. Just amazing.
Closing the festival were the erstwhile kings of the early 90s shoegaze scene, Ride. A band I first saw in 1990, the loudest gig I’ve ever experienced. I suspect H&S these days controls the decibels at a lower level and fortunately post gig, my ears didn’t ring for days. That said, Ride had lost none of their verve and produced a blinding show which was well worthy of closing Rockaway Beach 2025.
Pulling songs from their back catalogue the crowd was treated to a solid mix of tracks including the visceral Dreams Burn Down from debut album Nowhere to the introspective Last Frontier from 2024’s Interplay album which surely ranks up there as one of their best tunes to date. Hearing Taste and Seagull were both “pinch me” moments. The great thing was the line up remains as it was when they started, Andy Bell and Loz Colbert locked in to provide the sonic blasts while Mark Gardener excelled in his role as the cool front man. A wall of sound that was Chelsea Girl finished it off, a sonic piledriver that left the band and the crowd done (in).
Rockaway Beach retains its title as my favourite festival of the year and we are only in January, the rest need not bother. This was unbeatable. Great bands, great crowds, great atmosphere. See you in 2026.
John Welsh
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