On a moderately sized island just west of Great Britain, indie music seems to be undergoing an unprecedented takeover. In the 2020s, Irish indie music has been oozing with quality, whether it’s your well-established veterans like Fontaines D.C. or your up-and-comers like Bleech 9:3 and Madra Salach. Falling into the latter category, Dublin-based Basht are certainly making a notable impression.
Having built up their career through earlier EP’s and on the live circuit, their eagerly anticipated debut album, ‘Poor Advice’, was released just three weeks earlier to widespread critical acclaim. Combining their phenomenal new record with their well-revered live shows, it was a match made in heaven that you knew was going to live up to the hype. Even then, however, the lasting impression that they made on what was the band’s biggest ever headline show will be regarded as an “I was there” moment for those lucky enough to be in the room.
Opening tonight’s show, the aptly named The North brought their talents from up north in Leeds to the south in the capital, and along with them came a large number of fans who arrived early to see them. From the amount of people in the venue, you’d be mistaken to think they were the headline band! Their youthful energy was infectious throughout their 30-minute set, and while they might not exactly be reinventing the wheel, tunes such as ‘Wallow’ and ‘Soundtrack Your Soul’ are reminiscent of fellow indie compatriots at the beginning of their careers, such as the Arctic Monkeys. With their rapid rise in 2026 and their trajectory only heading upwards, who knows where we may see them end up!
If there’s any sign to indicate that your show is starting with a bang, then ‘Keira Knightly’ is the definition of a perfect pick. From the get-go, you go to see, hear and feel what the band was all about: fiery and unapologetic guitar-driven music with a dedicated sold-out crowd of 1500 fans to match it. There is a drive in the band’s sound that’s almost unrivalled by even the finest of groups out there at the moment, characterised by tracks like ‘Terror TV’, which The North’s frontman Billy Memphis joins in on.
Perhaps the most impressive thing about Basht’s set, however, was their ability to balance their two different, contrasting sides; while there was all the time for their guitar-laden music with loud, punchy riffs and vocals, there was a side of beautiful composition and poetic lyricism. The band’s reflection on political commentary was present throughout, and not in any way in a subtle manner. Frontman Jack Leavy exclaimed “Free Palestine!” before ‘Kids Vs Guns’, a song that initially started as a poem revolving around the one-sided conflict of the genocide in Palestine, with children directly in the firing line.
While Basht’s phenomenal debut album is unequivocally the star of the show, there is also room for some of the work off their 2 EP’s, ‘Dirty White Lites’ and ‘Bitter and Twisted’, which get some of the loudest singalongs from the crowd of the night. ‘Wild Horses’ in particular is a firm fan-favourite, with even a few crowdsurfers getting involved! Perhaps the most intense moment of the set comes courtesy of ‘Circadia’, with fans creating huge circle pits to what is debatably the band’s heaviest track yet. Jack Leavy’s showmanship is on top form as he takes the lead of the crowd, creating a second-to-none atmosphere.
As the set drew to a close, KOKO’s iconic mirrorball sprung into action on the final song of the set, ‘Poor Advice’, which provided a visual spectacle for all involved. The most important spectacle of the night, though, was obviously the band themselves.
In a genre where there is seemingly a new band emerging every week, it can sometimes be hard for the 1% to differentiate and make a name for themselves. Basht fall firmly in that 1%, and thankfully for them, they will almost certainly be a band everyone will be talking about a few years down the line.
