Live Review: Turnstile - House of Vans, London 26/10/2018

We caught Turnstile at the end of October, at one of their biggest and best British shows to date at House of Vans, with support from Big Cheese and Wicca Phase Springs Eternal. 

The show itself was free entry, so already it was bound to be a packed out night filled with madness at the 850-cap venue. On top of this, the venue offered a free cloakroom and even free tshirts which were being screen printed right there and then. This made the gig more inclusive than many and meant no matter what someones financial situation, if they lived local, they could come watch some amazing bands and even come home with some merch to remember the special night.

Leeds based hardcore band Big Cheese were first on stage and proved their worth by delivering nothing but energy from the offset. They got the crowd warmed up nicely for Turnstile with two steps taking place across the room and fans going mad to the music. Whilst the crowd ran around the room, everyone still remained respectful of each other and proved that hardcore gigs can be a safe space despite many assumptions opposing so. The band played songs such as ‘Tower To The Sun’, which was released earlier this year, as well as older songs from EP’s such as ‘Aggravated Mopery’, and interacted with the crowd throughout. Whether people in the crowd knew of them or not, no one could fault their stage presence as they created an exciting show to start off the night. 

Next on stage came emo-trap solo artist Wicca Phase Springs Eternal. Originally playing every date on the tour except for London, Adam McIlwee’s first words as he came on stage were “surprise!”. Many excited fans crowded round with happiness about the surprise announcement, and McIlwee mirrored the same excitement and happiness to be playing such a large venue. The change in sound however, definitely seemed to have some people standing back at the bar rather than up front at the barrier, and this can be noticed much more in such a large venue like this. Nonetheless, Wicca still built up a reasonable crowd and people were still singing back the words to songs such as ‘Corinthiax’, ‘Secret  Boy’, and recently released ‘Stress’. Yet again we received great interaction, which can often be harder to deliver as a solo-act, but McIlwee moved around the stage and dropped down low on the stage on many occasions to become eye level with the crowd. 

As Turnstile arrived on stage, the entire room was filled wall to wall. The only space came in the form of two mosh pits; one at the front of the room and a smaller-make shift one in the middle for those that just couldn’t make their way to the front for the sheer amount of people. Two songs in and photographers were already asked to move aside for safety issues as bodies were flying across the crowd and over the barrier. This not only included fans, but also front-man himself Brendan Yates. Barriers at hardcore shows are never received well as bands and the crowd want to interact, so everyone made sure it felt like their was no barrier at all. Yate’s dived off the stage throwing himself into the crowd and passing his mic to whoever would grab it first. Whilst this went down, the rest of the band would dance around the stage, jumping and swinging around the stage. 

As Yate’s returned to the stage, he’d dance around in his classic style of shaking his hips and feeling the music, and followed on by climbing the speakers and just making use of the entire stage. Songs such as ‘Real Thing’, ‘Generator’ and ‘I Don’t Wanna Be Blind’ had the entire room going insane, as well as older songs such as ‘Canned Heat’ and ‘Keep It Moving’ from their 2013 release ‘Step to Rhythm’. The bands short snappy tracks keep things lively and upbeat, some would even say they “keep it moving”. One big favourite seemed to be ‘Out of Rage’ which slowly  builds up in anticipation before eventually making the crowd explode. Ending on ‘Moon’, bass player Franz Lyons hits the mic and Brendan Yates takes a step back for this ever so slightly more mellowed track, and is the perfect end to the set. Turnstile are a band that have never disappointed when it comes to delivering a punchy, fun and exciting set. There are few bands that put in as much effort they do which is why they truly deserve all the popularity they have built up over the last few years. They break the mould of hardcore and deliver something a little extra that makes you want to shake your hips just as Brendan does.  

Words and Photography by Hayley Fearnley