Dork’s Round The Houses rolls into Blackpool with Antony Szmierek leading the charge
Bootleg Social transforms into a sweat-soaked, shout-along celebration.
There’s something about a sold-out gig in the heart of a town that makes everything else fade into the background. Dork's Round The Houses taps into that feeling, celebrating the venues and spaces that bring people together for a proper night out. Antony Szmierek is perfectly suited to lead it. Talismanic, electric and able to break down barriers at the drop of a note, there’s a reason he’s become a national treasure-in-waiting. As a fizzing new era begins, he, alongside The Itch and This Is A Fever, shows that letting yourself go and dancing in the face of it all has never felt more revolutionary than right now.
This Is A Fever step on stage, masks adorning their faces and boiler suits ready to go. They act as the perfect club-soaked jukebox, ready to revel in the party. The mystery makes the appeal that much sweeter: a fizzing mix of The Dare, Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem’s whipping hooks makes them a soundtrack of undeniable fun. ‘Peak Position’ is a knowing synth-dub cut, and when it morphs into a mid-song cover of Daft Punk’s ‘Robot Rock’, Bootleg Social is theirs for the taking. They sit as a new music secret for now, but they’ll be laying waste to late-night memories in no time.
Club floors and late-night euphoria run through The Itch’s veins, and for one of the very best new bands in the country, tonight it’s flowing at full beam. Performing as a duo, they lean into the electronic flourishes that have made their upcoming debut album ‘It’s The Hope That Kills You’ such an anticipated drop; the throbbing basslines of ‘Can’t Afford This’ rising and rising to pure Ibiza-sunset, hands-in-the-air levels, while the snapping punchlines of ‘Aux Romanticiser’ deliver again and again.
The Itch don’t just call you to move - every sound and banger dropped has a reflex response from the entirety of Bootleg Social, which is to move as one, even when stripping things back on the heart-warming ‘Drugdealer’. Dialling the disco ball up to new levels tonight, the closing ‘Space In The Cab’ sees them joined by Antony Szmierek himself to sing back the refrain, as a dance-punk supergroup moment makes its mark in Blackpool on a Friday night. The Itch lay their intentions clear: it’s time to get moving with them.
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