Live Review: Squid - Roundhouse, London 26/04/2025
The post-punk psychedelic powerhouse group that is Squid spun the heads off of the crowd lucky enough to see them perform at Camden’s Roundhouse.
After a spellbinding UK tour, the band tied things up neatly at London’s historic venue with a mesmerising show that boasted their music, new and old. The seven-piece band, made up of two guitarists, bassist, drums, percussionist, violinist and keyboardist hosted an adoring and present crowd whose bodies shifted as quirkily as the music sounded. Alongside the myriad of organic musical instruments was also a joyous array of electronic sounds which filled the rounded house with sweet airs.
It’s clear to see that maximalism has been making a comeback in the 2020s and Squid are an excellent example of that ideology for they have such a huge sound that you’re scarce to find in many other groups. Their experimental, dare-I-say, avant-garde style of rock music puts the listener in a state of confusion of whether to full-body dance, sway or just watch on stoically.
The band opened with their jaunty yet haunting, keys-heavy single off of their latest project, Cowards – Crispy Skin. The track has Ollie Judge’s signature cartoonish singing style which he stretches out and characterises with such ease across every track. His voice is as elastic as Mr. Bean’s face and it works perfectly. A welcome surprise was the inclusion of a violinist to their live set which added to their already huge orchestral sound.
Each track the band brought into the mix was accompanied by strobe lights of red, blue and green, visions of another dimension were conjured into imagination. The stage is draped in revolutionary banners displaying various messages. Anxiety Dream and The Guests Fled My Home and Really Fake and Insincere. The strobe lighting, the banners, the out of this world music and the round venue all put together took you into the world of Squid.
They continued to play tracks off their new album like the enchanting hip-swinger Building 650 and the funky and ambient track Showtime! Harking back to their noise-music days they treated the crowd to the joyride that is G.S.K before setting their set’s midpoint with one of their most popular tracks Swing (In A Dream) off their acclaimed second album, O Monolith.
Squid do allow their music to take you on your own journey. While they are not particularly animated performers in the conventional sense, their music has such a vibrant character that you feel as though they are bouncing from stage to ceiling. Their sound combines electronic and acoustic voices to beautifully conjure a strange extra-terrestrial sound that is so unique to them alone.
One of their funkiest tracks the crowd was encouraged to mosh to was the guitar-heavy Undergrowth whose chorus is written for the purpose of a headbang or at the very least a heavy foot stomp. The band left with the exit track off their latest project, Well Met (Fingers Through the Fence) which has a simmering end that leaves you wanting more and yet also feeling completely satisfied.
But of course, like a good little band, the boys were back for their encore less than a minute later. They played the crowd out with renditions of two of their early big hits, Broadcaster, where frontman Ollie took a break from his drum kit to rouse the crowd through the steadily crescendoing track. The band actually left us with the Bright Green Field classic, Narrator. A track which from the start to finish of its eight and a half minutes encompasses everything that Squid is. What that is, I’m still not sure, you’ll just have to listen.
Words by Adam Mir
Photography by Katie McLellan-Salisbury
