State of Heat: The London Tastemaker Alternative to Festival Season Announces its Full Lineup
Come to the Old Blue Last this summer to see your next favourite band - including the likes of Gegenpress, Magda(1999) and Sodden Pelt as part of the free event series State of Heat and the SC/SH August Weekender - all yours for the price of two pints in London.
State of Heat is a fantastic way to discover your next favourite bands, with a series of 9 shows running from June to August, curated on genre rather than hype, during festival season as a series of events that stands out beyond the festival, but instead, gets you back into the local venues. In this case - The Old Blue Last - deliberately billed as something counter-programming to those who are fed up of camping in the rain, queuing for the bog and expensive pints in paper cuts and your neighbours playing loud dance music at 3am when you’re trying to get some sleep. It’s the anti-festival goer dream with enough on to party for the weekend – opening on the 16th of June and running all the way through to August 11.
Corin Veitch, Lando Manning, Yorick open the event series at the Old Blue Last June 16th with a lead-in to the August Bank Holiday Weekender. It’s pretty special: these gigs are all free, all no-charge, all you have to do is turn up at the venue with a Dice ticket and you’ll just have a great time. The Old Blue Last is an iconic tastemaker venue, situated in East London – bustling full of life and energy. Throughout State of Heat you’ll get a real taste of the future: it runs and runs through to bands like Born in April, Sun God, Sodden Pelt, Your French Girlfriend, Animal Soup, Running Standard and Ropeburn – with special guests TBA on July 21. It’s eclectic highlighting the best up and comers in the industry – bands like Crap Stallion must be seen based on their name alone; and June 23rd is one to earmark as a result in a whole festival full of stand out names.
The Scream/Shout August weekender is paid for, but shouldn’t be ignored (would you rather buy two pints in London (there are some places now where the cost of the festival wouldn’t even cover that!) or come and see a whole day’s worth of good music?): the first day is an emo/slacker/post-hardcore sound and the heavy hitters on day two land for a noise/post-punk line-up. For fans of both, it’s a dreamy weekend: My Rushmore, Pushbike, Elwell, Godzooki and Sharkpit lead day one, whilst Day 2 welcomes The Eurosuite, Gegenpress (try this tactic on football manager for near guaranteed success, though a great band in their own right), Fatberg, Magda (1999) – one of the highlights of Left of the Dial in 2025 opening a boat gig with free alcohol as support for Bruise Control at 11AM – and Oyster – in sure to be an electric, buzzy weekend in the late August heat. As alternatives to big festivals; you’ll get your money’s worth and then some - and discover acts that played in pubs long before they went on to do the festival circuit in 2027.
TICKET LINKS
● State Of Heat: https://link.dice.fm/Za792d5d5bf4
● August Weekender: https://link.dice.fm/Eefb99fffe95
FULL LINEUPS & DATES
● State Of Heat:
16th June: Corin Veitch / Lando Manning / Yorick
23rd June: Crap Stallion / Form Affinity / Born In April
30th June: Long Distance Runner / Ropeburn / vera
7th July: Meat Cute / Wish / Permutations
14th July: Contrail / Fool / Lots Of
21st July: Sodden Pelt / Sun God + special guests TBA
28th July: Dead Slow Hoot / Your French Girlfriend / Sailboat Davidson
4th August: Animal Soup / Running Standard / Committee Of Sleep
11th August: Louis Gardner / Visit Me / Brette Wolfe
● Scream/Shout August Weekender:
Day 1: My Rushmore / Pushbike / Elwell / Godzooki / Sharkpit
Day 2: The Eurosuite / Gegenpress / Fatberg / Magda(1999) / Oyster