Perth’s most mental musicians, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, have returned to the UK for a double album tour. They released two entire albums in 2025: Pogo Rodeo and Carpe Diem, Moonman. Gracing Birmingham with their presence in The Clearing, Digbeth, they delivered a night of kaleidoscopic mayhem and pizzazz.
The Crumpets have entered a new era, with plenty of major life changes that often accompany growing older (families and children mostly), and they have left it all on stage. Known for their breakneck pace and blistering albums, they bring that ferocity in full to their live shows, along with their signature quirkiness. Nothing quite captures the Crumpet’s absurdity than the beginning of the set, the full-length ‘Nessun Dorma’ – an absolute operatic banger – but “sung” by a stuffed tortoise in a high chair. Question marks all round.
The set was all gas, no brakes from then on; launching straight into ‘Bill’s Mandolin’ from And Now From The Whatchamacallit, into each of the 2025 album’s most popular songs, ‘Salsa Verde’ and ‘Manny’s Ready To Roll’. ‘Salsa Verde’ was classic Crumpets, and seamlessly weaves a full verse of The Beatles’ ‘Come Together’ in the middle. It’s satisfying to see good musicians in their element, and the Crumpets always put on a polished performance.
The set featured a lot of 2023’s Fronzoli which elicited no complaints. A bit of an underrated album, songs like ‘Nootmare (K-I-L-L-I-n-G) Meow!’ and ‘Hot! Heat! Wow! Hot!’ was well received. A major strength of the set was the visuals on-screen; the constant changes and medley of colours were beautiful but not distracting. You could say it was almost… psychedelic.
Mainstays of the Crumpet’s live set made familiar appearances: Night Gnomes’ ‘Lava Lamp Pisco’, and plenty of tracks from High Visceral, Pt. 1, such as ‘Cornflake’, ‘Found God In A Tomato’, and ‘Cubensis Lenses’. ‘Cubensis’ was the perfect end for a 5-song encore, featuring other songs like Carpe Diem, Moonman’s ‘March on for Pax Ramona’ and ‘Another Reincarnation’.
One criticism (more of an oversight, really) would be the exclusion of ‘Weird World Awoke’ from the Birmingham setlist. Featuring an overt reference to Brummy legend Ozzy Osbourne, it seemed like a missed opportunity to tie Perth to Birmingham. This could very easily have been a hardware limitation, as plenty of the Crumpet’s catalogue requires around 10 people to play accurately. It’s more a testament to the intricacies and prowess of their craft; they certainly know what they are doing.
Still, the Crumpets put on another stellar show, and their musicianship shows no signs of slowing down. Now having eight strong records to their name, the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets have more than earned their spot as pioneers of psych rock.
