On the face of it, Burn it Down should never have worked. Little old Torquay just doesn’t host award-winning festivals – or at least, it never used to. Six iterations in, however, and the Best Micro Festival in the country (officially) is only going from strength to strength. Burn it Down is now truly the beautiful, grungy little swan song that signals the end of the traditional festival season, bringing the curtain down on summer with two full days of riffs and inflatables. This might just be its biggest and best year yet.
The team have once again quietly amassed a diverse programme, covering most subgenres of heavy music. The production here has always felt slick but lean, with the team opting to let the line-up speak for itself. This year, there are some notable changes to the site – perhaps in recognition of the added attention that comes with the aforementioned award. Alongside the much-needed dedicated merch space (which frees up standing room on the balcony overlooking the main stage), as well as some important new welfare initiatives, there are also two festival-adjacent events – one of which is a boat party DJd by Dream State’s Jessie Powell. As a result, the whole setup feels a little more professional, and it’s encouraging to see this expansion.
Haggard Cat
If Robert Johnson had sold his soul at those crossroads to play in mid-80s Black Flag, which admittedly seems like quite a niche request, the result might have been something vaguely like Haggard Cat. Equally, it might not. Either way, they’re tasked with kicking things off at The Foundry, on the festival’s main stage. It’s early, but the Nottingham two-piece’s demonic, sludgy interpretation of electric blues-rock laced with post-hardcore has attracted a respectable crowd. We’re treated to several cuts from 2021 EP ‘Cheer Up’, as well as a throat-shredding rendition of live staple ‘American Graffiti’. Any cobwebs can consider themselves well and truly shaken away. Burn it Down is off and running.
Blank Atlas
Over the road at the Apple & Parrot, the line-up on the festival’s most intimate stage is incredibly strong this year. Bristol three-piece Blank Atlas are one of the early points of interest, having finally released their decade-in-the-making debut album last year. Gamely battling through some persistent technical issues, including a brief power cut which threatens to interrupt the climax of ‘Better Off Dead’ (but does not succeed), they lay down a set of angular but melodic alternative rock, that channels the lofty choruses of Deaf Havana and the barbed riffing of Arcane Roots.
Tropic Gold
It’s no surprise at all that Tropic Gold have been turning heads this summer, attracting sustained support from both BBC Radio One and Kerrang magazine. Their high-energy brand of modern metal is smooth and glossy, like a tin of Dulux or a Flat-Coated Retriever, and the mournful undercurrent of contemporary house music is laced liberally throughout. Their early evening set has the venue absolutely packed out, and the reaction to recent single ‘HAPPY’ suggests that the window of opportunity to see them in a grungy little bar, with a pool table just a few feet away, may well be closing.
Enola Gay
Owing to some delays brought on by lingering technical problems, Enola Gay’s Apple & Parrot headline slot sleepwalks into an unfortunate clash with main stage headliners Wargasm. For this reason, there’s a slight thinning of the crowd towards the back end of their set, but anyone who leaves ends up missing one of the highlights of the weekend. A breathless, chaotic performance from the Belfast post-punks ensues, with vocalist Fionn Reilly spending half the set dangling from the adjoining mezzanine. The guitars swirl around his hostile, claustrophobic delivery, and the pulsing bass careens around the four corners of the room at a sweaty gallop, like a wild horse barely contained. A relentless light show hacks away at the backlit curtain behind them, framing the band in some kind of nightmarish Twin Peaks Black Lodge scenario. It’s incredible, captivating stuff.
Love Rarely
Leeds-based post-hardcore five-piece Love Rarely possess a curious, jazzy intricacy to their twisted sound, positioning them somewhere between enduring genre titans Rolo Tomassi and menu screens from imported Japanese video games of the 1990s. Tracks from this year’s debut EP ‘Lonely People’ dominate the set, with ‘Entropy’ and ‘Say Yes’ a particular highlight.
Split Chain
As is customary, there have been a host of mostly beach-themed inflatables in the air at various points during the weekend – this is the English Riviera, after all – but things go up a notch as Split Chain hammer through their mid-afternoon main stage slot. Various objects, including an increasingly sad-looking rubber ring, skim the arms of crowdsurfers as the Bristol band deliver a set of hard-hitting, hazy alt-rock. As they finish with the powerful one-two of ‘Extract’ and ‘Fade’, they appreciatively describe the show as one of the best they’ve ever played.
Unpeople
The early afternoon crowd at the Apple & Parrot is already well-lubricated, and in high spirits. They absolutely don’t need the mischievous lit match that is Toto’s ‘Africa’ playing over the PA moments before Unpeople walk on, but they get it anyway, and after a lung-busting singalong the powderkeg has been well and truly ignited. Right from the opening riff of ‘waste’, it is abundantly clear that this is going to be one of the most energetic and downright fun sets of the weekend.
Just over a year into their existence and already holding the crowd in the palm of their hands, Unpeople offer track after track of muscular pop-rock numbers that already feel like well-worn anthems. Slide in a raucous mid-set cover of Nirvana’s ‘Territorial Pissings’ for good measure (because why not?), and two members of the band in the crowd, and you’ve got yourself a show. It’s most likely the biggest crowd the third stage at this festival has seen to date. The petition for Unpeople to play at every festival forever starts here.
Lake Malice
With just one EP and a host of singles under their belt, Lake Malice are still relative newcomers, but after a memorable debut on the main stage last year, they have little to prove to the Burn it Down crowd. Opening with the punchy ‘Black Turbine’, they plough through half an hour of genre-bending, riot-inducing dance-metal, before culminating in a poignant moment as set closer ‘Blossom’ is dedicated to festival alumni As Everything Unfolds – whose drummer Jamie passed away in the days before.
Caskets
Given the kind of bands that generally get the best reception here, it comes as some surprise that Caskets have never played at Burn it Down before. Their slick brand of anthemic modern metalcore is a perfect fit for this crowd, who it must be said are more than partial to a kick-drum and a minor key chord progression. It’s testament to how quickly the Leeds-based four-piece have established themselves on the circuit that their debut performance comes in the form of a main stage sub-headline slot on a Saturday night. Soaring singles ‘Lost in Echoes’ and set closer ‘Glass Heart’ sound predictably huge, and get the appropriate reaction.
Creeper
After another pitch-perfect changeover playlist that has everyone dancing along to The Protomen, Black Veil Brides and the actual ‘Time Warp’, the gathered crowd are ready for a bit of theatre. Enter Creeper. Last time they played in this venue, they brought costume changes and indoor pyrotechnics to Torquay on a mid-week winter night. Last year’s Jim Steinman-inspired ‘Sanguivore’ made zero attempt to quash those ridiculous tendencies, instead doubling down on the melodramatic antics and ushering in a late 80s vampire horror aesthetic. By this point, it should come as no surprise to anyone that Creeper are about to open their hour-long festival headline slot with a deliciously over-the-top 9-minute epic about murdering angels.
Predictably, the set leans heavily on ‘Sanguivore’. Highlights include the brooding desire of ‘Lovers Led Astray’, the blood-pumping momentum of ‘Sacred Blasphemy’ and the delicate melancholic reprieve of ‘The Ballad of Spook & Mercy’. Towards the end of the night, debut EP track ‘VCR’ gets an airing. It’s been a live staple for a decade now, but in the context of this current production, it presents a rare glimpse into a more grounded past version of the band, offering a breezy reminder of that transitional period between Will Gould and Ian Miles’ former band Our Time Down Here, and the borderline cult leaders on stage tonight.
A word at this point for one of Burn it Down’s regular VIPs, a giant inflatable duck who appears each year to selflessly ferry crowdsurfers to the security barrier. Tonight, in honour of our headliners, he’s had fangs drawn on, and although he doesn’t last long, he raises more than a few smiles.
Coming back on to finish with the now requisite pairing of crowd favourite ‘Misery’ and a frankly throbbing ‘Cry to Heaven’, a lone pink cowboy hat appears at Will’s feet. He briefly indulges. It’s a fleeting moment that unexpectedly highlights just why Creeper continues to work as a concept. This is not simple style over substance. Behind the costumes and the face paint is a hard-working band who take their music seriously, but not themselves.
One of Burn It Down’s strengths has always been its phenomenal undercard, but this feels like the first year where everything going on during the day has built towards a true headline event. Creeper are a fantastic band, this is a fantastic festival, and vampires are awesome. Long live the Creeper Cult.
ROB DAND