Beat the Streets 2026
- The Mic Magazine
- 1 hour ago
- 7 min read
Each year, Beat the Streets transforms Nottingham into a city-wide celebration of grassroots music, with venues and organisers raising money for Framework, the local charity helping people who experience homelessness across the East Midlands. More than just a gig-hopping exercise, the event brings together artists, promoters and audiences around a shared commitment to community and accessible creative spaces. From early afternoon sets to late-night closers, this year’s edition once again highlighted the depth and diversity of talent emerging from Nottingham. Across the day, The Mic’s writers moved between venues, capturing snapshots of performances that ranged from intimate and atmospheric to loud and celebratory, with each contributing to a sense of shared purpose that defined Beat the Streets from start to finish.
Drury Hill
A new Nottingham indie band, Drury Hill play the kind of crystalline psychedelic indie pop that lets you get lost in a world of your own creation. Having seen them thrice in the past year, each time they have performed with a heightened quiet confidence. Their style is best defined by a swinging, jangly guitar style and angelic lead vocals, which work together to create a smooth, sugary atmosphere.
Drury Hill’s set carried the awkward charm of an early Wolf Alice gig, pairing unpolished edges with a clear sense of momentum. From the outset, the band worked to draw the crowd closer, beckoning listeners forward and shaping the atmosphere of the room as they played. Rather than feeling tentative, the set benefitted from this immediacy with moments of looseness adding to the band’s appeal. As the festival’s first performances were underway, Drury Hill helped to capture the intimate and welcoming community spirit that would define Beat the Streets across the city.
Terrianne
Dressed in a full outfit of bright pink and with a group of backing vocalists in a similarly neon yellow, Derby’s Terrianne cemented herself as one of the East Midlands’ best pop vocalists with her stellar set. Performing early in a festival is often a huge undertaking, but if Terrianne knows how to do one thing, it’s get a party started. With a vocal style and range similar to that of somebody like Amy Winehouse, she spends her set belting, shouting and hitting incredible notes, whilst also carrying a sense of dignified rage throughout. Her frequent lyrical focus upon women’s struggles in the music industry is often unflinchingly honest, but presented with an infectiously catchy confidence.
Read Liz Clarke’s interview with Terrianne here
Bloodworm
Currently supporting Suede on their Antidepressants tour, Bloodworm are a band who are quickly moving up from the local scene to be national icons of modern gothic rock, but this does not stop them from clearly having the time of their lives in their hometown. Playing a packed out Rock City main stage, they effortlessly blast through a set of cinematic post-punk bangers, defined by their wavy, reverb-heavy guitar sounds and an extremely tight rhythm section. Their music evokes the sounds of the past whilst also pushing forwards, blending their signature 80s-inspired sound with an energy and attitude that feels extremely modern.
Bloodworm’s set at Rock City carried the feeling of a band on the brink, already being spoken about as Nottingham’s next breakout act. From the moment they took the stage the crowd’s energy was insatiable, with bodies pressed forward as lights glided over raised heads. The set felt relentless in momentum as punchy guitar lines cut through the room. By the midpoint, the crowd’s headbanging felt more instinctive than performative, the movement being a physical response to the intensity on offer. It was a set that suggested Bloodworm are fast outgrowing small-room expectations, commanding the stage with confidence and purpose.
Make sure you catch Bloodworm at Rescue Rooms on October 31st.
Seegz
As far as soft indie folk goes, Seegz is certainly an artist that will be central to my listening from now on. His set in the Cherry Lounge at Rock City was enticing; the room filled out with a great range of people which speaks to just how listenable his tracklist was. I was hoping to see a whole band on the stage, but the small venue amplified the intimacy between audience and artist, and the tone of his gorgeous blue and cream telecaster sung above the mix of accompanying – tasteful - electronic instruments. I was very pleased to hear that he would be doing another set soon, with BBC Introducing, accompanied by a full band on the 4th of March – put it in your calendar if you consider yourself a fan of Mk.gee or Djo.
He talked briefly to the audience in between each song about its premise and importance, and spoke with confidence and passion - Seegz was obvious keen to intensify my emotional entanglement with the soft, touching vocal performances he laid over simple, but nostalgic arrangements.
Marvin’s Revenge
Now just upstairs from Seegz’s delicate and lovely timbres, Marvin’s Revenge laid down the law with equal passion, but incomparable aggression. The young three-piece rock-grunge group thrash and pulse with hearty tone and superfluous decibels, dipping in and out of anticipating rhythms to climactic roaring of fuzzing bass and screeching guitar – the guitarist’s white telecaster is a beautiful instrument, conducted with a beautiful tearing tone, underpinning the resonance and velocity of the whole performance; it felt like the band were in his hand. While the strangled and distorted bass guitar was wielded by a similarly distorted vocalist, I couldn’t help but admire the severity and – in a way – delicacy of the oral performance. It was, without a doubt, an alt-rock experience to remember. Each song was strung into the next, creating a cohesive, heavy and undoubtedly loud set, never drawing the attentive audience out of head-banging and main-stage moshing.
Marvin’s Revenge brought a sharp burst of unrestrained punk energy to the Rock City stage. Rather than feeling chaotic for its own sake, the movement in the room felt collective as the crowd opened the pit halfway through the band’s set. It felt like a shared release that matched the energy on stage as people threw themselves around to the sounds of overdriven guitars and saturated drums. It was a set defined by momentum and volume, capturing the raw, physical side of Beat the Streets and reminding the crowd why live rock thrives best in packed rooms.
Jahrel JP and the Future
Bringing together blues, post-punk and shades of metal into a melting pot of glorious energy, Jahrel JP and The Future took to the Beta Lounge for an electrifying set. The whole set is fantastic, but the group’s new song “Not For Us” - a righteous condemnation of the UK’s growing sect of roundabout-painters - deserves a special mention. It contains shades of bands like Rage Against The Machine, but the indignation at the heart of the track is its own, with a hook that has been reverberating in my head all week. Jahrel JP himself is a fantastic on-stage presence, commanding the crowd effortlessly into a frenzy, and his presence alone is a reason to keep this group on your radar.
Read Liz’s interview with Jahrel JP and the Future here
Swallowtail
Swallowtail’s set at Rescue Rooms unfolded with a sense of drama. Moments of bowed electric guitar cut through the mix, creating an eerie undercurrent as red floodlights washed over the room and fog gathered around the stage.Partially obscured by the haze, the band felt deliberately distant, drawing the crowd in through atmosphere rather than spectacle.As the set progressed, that restraint paid off, with the audience visibly locked in and attentive. It was a performance that captured the room through mood and tension, offering a more immersive counterpoint to the day’s louder moments.
Fat Digester
The stage of Rescue Rooms was blessed by the reappearance of Nottingham’s own Fat Digester, an eclectic ensemble of musicians characterised by brass, drums, and bass. The great vivacity they created, especially on the back of the ethereal intensity of Swallowtail, was cemented by the vocals of frontman Paul ‘Ned’ Needham, Jo-Jo Hudson, and DeriqPhilips. As a group with a legacy spanning three decades, not only have they mastered a blend of hip hop, ska, funk, jazz, and soul (to name but a few), but their evident friendship and unadulterated joy onstage spread visibly across the venue. From start to finish, the venue’s final performance was a pleasure not only to witness, but also to feel involved in. What a truly incredible end to such an amazing event.
The Publics
Closing the night at Rock City, The Publics delivered a confident indie rock set that felt well-earned. Their stage chat was relaxed and engaging, helping to establish an easy rapport with a crowd that was already fully on side. As the set unfolded, the band appeared to own the stage entirely, moving with assurance and clarity as the room responded alike. There was a sense of momentum and closure to the performance, making it a fitting end to the day’s celebrations, and carried by a band clearly comfortable being the centre of attention.
From emerging indie and uncompromising punk to cinematic post-punk and genre-blurring experimentation, the day’s performances reflected the full spectrum of Nottingham’s music scene. Yet beyond stylistic differences, a shared sense of purpose ran through every room. Beat the Streets is as much about community as it is about music, and the willingness of artists and audiences alike to give their time and energy in support of Framework’s work made that clear from start to finish. In a climate where both grassroots venues and vulnerable communities face increasing pressure, the festival once again proved the power of a city coming together
Contributors are Ben Dale, Emily Rogers, Liz Clarke, and Max Durno
Edited by Ben Dale
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