16 October 2026 (gig)
2 h
It's a brisk autumn evening down in Cornwall, Marshall Amplification are sponsoring the tour, and the "Made of Loud" package is rolling into the Princess Pavilion in Falmouth. I am proper excited! It’s been a minute since a heavy tour of this calibre made its way down to our neck of the woods, but tonight is all about celebrating independent venues, keeping grassroots music alive, and turning the volume up as high as it will go. Time flies when you're waiting for a proper mosh pit, eh?
Bristol alternative-noise outfit Knives walk onto the stage first and immediately start trying to tear the room apart. I should pre-warn anyone who hasn't caught these guys before: Knives do not perform a standard, polite opening set. They are an unhinged, beautiful mess of post-punk and noise rock. Frontman Jay Schottlander delivers vicious, barked vocals over a heavily saturated, grungy bassline from Ben Marshall. What sets them apart, though, is saxophonist Maddy Hill. She completely commands the stage, weaving unexpected, hypnotic layers into standard heavy tracks like Vermillion and Eat Thy Neighbour. Their raw, chaotic enthusiasm completely wins over the growing Falmouth crowd right from the first note.
Next up are California legends Ignite, bringing a distinct contrast to the evening by injecting a classic, sunny Orange County melodic hardcore vibe straight into Falmouth. There's no bullshit whatsoever here—just blisteringly fast, short-and-sharp slabs of upbeat punk driven by Craig Anderson's incredibly punchy drum work. Vocalist Eli Santana sings with absolute sincerity, and he quickly galvanizes the room, sparking a massive pit and a proper swirling circle pit incredibly early on in the set. The crowd is fully on board, shouting along to anthems like Poverty For All and Veteran while bass player Brett Rasmussen holds the rhythm down tightly. This is a band that knows exactly how to make a room move, in fact I can't remember the last time I saw a circle pit for a support band! These guys could have headlined tonight and we would have been happy.
Then the mighty Cancer Bats take the stage, and the floor instantly transforms into a swirling, frenetic pit of energy. They’re here celebrating their fantastic new album Give Me Dirt, and frontman Liam Cormier acts as the chaotic maestro of the night. He treats this intimate pavilion room with the exact same explosive energy they usually reserve for massive festival main stages.
The lineup has had a bit of a check-in for this tour cycle, with new live drummer Ian Romano stepping in for original drummer Mike Peters, who recently stepped back to focus on family life. Romano doesn't miss a single beat, locking seamlessly into massive, punishing grooves alongside bassist Jaye R. Schwarzer. Jackson Landry's guitar riffs carry an immense weight in the venue, hitting you right in the chest.
What continues is just a platter of delicious, heavy morsels. The band tears through an unyielding, no-encore setlist featuring blistering renditions of Trust No One, Pneumonia Hawk, and Lonely Bong. A massive highlight of the night comes when their tour merch manager, Brooklyn Doran, joins the band on stage to provide guest vocals. Her performance adds a brilliant dynamic depth to the tour's heavier, slower numbers, duelling clean vocals against Liam’s roars during stunning renditions of Long Tooth and Hammering On.
The cover of Beastie Boys Sabotage is an expected highlight, by the time this comes on I've been in the pit for an hour or so and am surviving on adrenaline and IPA, what a song, what a cover, what a pit!
By the time Hail Destroyer comes on, I'm in the middle of the circle pit. It's loud, it's violent, in a friendly way ( if you know you know) and it's fantastic. This is true hardcore dominance.
This has been an incredible evening shared with a thriving Cornwall hardcore scene, proving once again that Falmouth is drawing in some of the most exciting acts around. The Princess Pavilion proved to be the perfect host for independent live music, and unlike some outdoor summer gigs, you couldn't complain about the volume tonight. The energy was electric, the sweat was real, and the amps should always be turned up to 11!
