By Eve Davies, Music Co-deputy Editor
Not to toot my own horn, but I’ve been banging on about Manchester four-piece Westside Cowboy since their debut single dropped, and after catching them in Bristol, I don’t plan on shutting up any time soon.
I first saw them supporting Blondshell, where their quirky charm stole the show. When their second-ever headline tour finally came to Bristol, my expectations were already high. Outside, people huddled in coats and scarves, but inside the room was packed with a strangely perfect cross-section: students, older indie heads, people who looked like they’d wandered in off the street.
Westside Cowboy had a borderline absurd 2025 by any metric. Made up of Paddy Murphy on drums, Aoife Anson-O’Connell on vocals and bass, and guitarists/vocalists Reuben Haycocks and Jimmy Bradbury, they picked up early hype before they’d even properly begun, earning public praise from Black Country, New Road drummer Charlie Wayne online before even releasing an EP.
Since then: an EP, a debut headline tour, a Glastonbury slot, and now So Much Country ’Til We Get There, a project that stays faithful to the band’s self-coined genre, ‘Britainicana’ — a combination of American country and rock with British punk and indie.
With news that they’ll soon be supporting Epigram favourites Geese, this Bristol date felt a little like a checkpoint. This is the band proving they can live up to the noise, and then some.
The night kicked off with openers Holly Head. Having first caught Westside Cowboy themselves as a support act, I was especially curious to see who they’d chosen to bring along on tour. After having to miss the previous show due to illness in the band, Holly Head played as though they had something to prove, delivering a jittery, full-bodied energy that quickly took hold of the room.
They closed with their new single ‘No Country Is An Island’, a pointed response to the UK’s increasingly hostile anti-migrant rhetoric. It was a poignant political move and a brilliant way to cap off an already impressive set.
Then it was time for Westside Cowboy. After downing a couple of cups of water (quietly recovering from the night before because student life is unforgiving), the band sauntered onstage to Jackie Wilson’s ‘(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher’.
Moments later, Murphy barked out “WESTSIDE COWBOY” before they launched into ‘I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You)’. This was the track that first sold me on them entirely. It was electric live.
As the set unfolded, the joy onstage was infectious. The band kept exchanging grins, while the crowd sang along with surprising conviction for a group still this early in their career. With all four members dipping in and out of lead and backing vocals, Westside Cowboy are able to properly exploit the differences in their voices and build rich, layered harmonies.
The chemistry between them felt effortless. This tracks, given that most of the band met during Freshers’ Week and already had experience playing in other projects. It was definitely a reminder that student gigs still matter and that some of the most exciting bands are forming in those rooms.
They dipped into tracks from their first EP This Better Be Something Great, with ‘Drunk Surfer’ standing out as a personal highlight. It’s deceptively upbeat, before dropping into a quieter, tense bridge where the repeated line ‘you’re scaring me now’ hangs in the air, only to be swallowed by building guitars and drums that crash into a loud, euphoric finish.
Murphy’s drumming really shines here, anchoring the chaos and driving the song forward. He also grabbed bright green maracas for one of the tracks. The friend who joined me, largely unfamiliar with the band beforehand, was completely won over by the end of it.
Between songs, the band’s humour kept things loose. They joked about having tea dangerously close to stage time, with Haycocks warning the front row they’d be in the firing line if it came back up the wrong way, while Anson-O’Connell fretted about food in her teeth — a totally relatable concern when performing in front of a packed room.
‘Shells’ began softly. Anson-O’Connell and Haycocks have an easy, intuitive chemistry, their voices sitting beautifully together. ‘Don’t Throw Rocks’, my favourite from the new EP, followed soon after. Its bursts of screaming and guitar work are genuinely gorgeous. ‘The Wahs’ leaned harder into the band’s American twang, with Bradbury name-checking a ‘dumb American dream’, and carried an irresistible singalong quality that’s tailor-made for live shows.
‘Strange Taxidermy’ was a bit of a gut-punch. I’ll admit I don’t think I’d properly heard it before the gig, but it genuinely brought me close to tears. Anson-O’Connell takes the lead, using her haunting voice with devastating restraint.
The band also slipped in a few unreleased tracks. If this show is anything to go by, an album feels less like a question of ‘if’ and more a question of ‘when’.
They closed with ‘In The Morning’, stripping everything back and crowding around a single microphone. They were accompanied by just one drum and one guitar. The whole band sang together, sweet and folky in a way that felt closer to a campfire than a concert closer.
Orla Ruane
I left the gig feeling oddly light. The band even came back out afterwards to chat with fans, a small but generous gesture, especially given what must be a packed tour schedule. The long walk from one of my favourite venues to my bus stop was a little less bleak because of it.
Westside Cowboy are only just getting started and I’m very excited to see where they go next.
Featured Image: Epigram / Eve Davies
Have you listened to So Much Country ’Til We Get There yet?
