By Rafe Llewellyn, Second Year History
The 'No Service Tour' provided a perfect template for what it is, fun, bouncy and carried by the energy of a good crowd. The lineup and timings of such an event are incredibly important in these kind of gigs, especially with a rather young crowd on a champions league night. As far as supporting acts for your first Bristol headline show go, T.O and Paul Stephan are not weak options.
Paul Stephan immediately called upon the energy of the crowd, calling for the crowd to be with him and 'bounce.' Immediately opening a mosh pit, Paul Stephan set the tone of the night with a sound that is only becoming more popular.
Mixing venomous lyricism and aggressive flows, Paul Stephan blends old-school grime with more new-school softer beats and sung snippets that the young crowd could get behind with great vigour.
His enormous frame commanded the audience's attention in a set that alongside Stephan's performance, was highlighted by T.O's elite enthusiasm behind the decks. The two have worked together on numerous projects and their chemistry was clear.
Occasionally as Stephan bopped and weaved across the stage you could catch T.O spitting every single word with a grin from ear to ear, head swinging to the beat.
Stephan finished his supporting slot with his most popular song, 'Streets Don’t Love me' which was once upon a time a staple of TikTok 'UK-core' edits, though it has since disappeared for the most part from what I can find.
The song was nevertheless gratefully received as phones came out across the room to record the moment. KiLLOWEN is relatively new to performing, a break-out performance at Reading and Leeds in 2024 being his key live highlight.
His experience is clear in his delivery as he produced a slightly breathless performance but his energy more than made up for it. KiLLOWEN is notable for his elite use of samples in rapid UKG flips and striking hooks that make his music unique and extremely palatable to young people.
This elite ability to spin renowned songs, most recently 'Poison' by Bell Biv Devoe, has allowed him to churn out a high volume of catchy tunes in a relatively short amount of time and skyrocket him to prominence in the UK scene.
KiLLOWEN began his set with his classics, maintaining the momentum built by Stephan with 'Top Bins' and 'Rita Ora' before slowing down and delving into his newest E.P. released at the end of February, six missed calls. This was a slower break to the high energy and serves as a better display of KiLLOWEN's talent as a musician.
The crowd responded perhaps most warmly to one of these tunes, released as a single in January, 'Cook and Effy' is a reference to the late noughties' Channel 4 show, Skins that was set in Bristol. It discusses the mixed feelings of new romance and the Bristol reference wasn't lost on the crowd.
For an artist so skilled in creating memorable music, the only shame to the performance was that at times, all that could be heard were the vocals and the rumbling of very heavy bass.
KiLLOWEN revealed mid-way through the set that he had some unreleased material he was struggling to clear the sample for, he played them regardless but his legal battle may be a simple victory after-all as the bass served as a suitable mask.
Despite this, KiLLOWEN's energy is infectious and his gratitude for the crowd was refreshing. An artist with incredible potential, you can look forward to seeing what KiLLOWEN will be doing next.
Featured Image: Rafe LlewelynWhat do you think of six missed calls?
