Music | The Guest List & the Florentenes

Hi, it's Andrea! This is my first full length post and I was trying to figure out what to write about; so I'm writing about an event I went to recently... that I haven't been able to take my mind off.

Last Wednesday (05/03), I was lucky enough to see 2 incredible up-and-coming bands: The Guest List and the Florentenes, perform live in London, only an hour away from my hometown. I've been a fan of The Guest List since around 2021 when they did an absolutely smashing cover of Declan Mckenna's, Brazil and posted it on tiktok. So when they announced a tour including a gig in London rather than just their hometown in Manchester, I knew I had to go and see my personal favourite song, She's not around, performed live; which I did get very emotional during to be completely honest.

The band had a fantastic stage presence and their songs were amazing. I loved listening to their unreleased songs, especially Weatherman which is an incredible song exploring the problems our planet faces. The dedication of their song London to us as the audience was such a surreal moment and, the frontman, Cai Alty's performance of Borderline honestly reminded me of a 'Paul McCartney Yesterday' performance. They finished the show off with 161 which is another beautiful song, inspired by this country's soldiers, especially from Chapell Street; I also got emotional during this as well, for the record. The whole band overall was incredible and I loved each member's performance with their instrument. They brought such great energy and the audience were clearly enjoying singing along to their songs like their new single Loose Tongue.

But before all of this, was their incredible support act, the Florentenes. I didn't know about this band until Wednesday night, but this band (also from Greater Manchester) were phenomenal. I enjoyed every second of them on stage from their amazing new songs like The Gun, to their genuine humbleness [singer, Will Smith, even saying they should "let the real musicians take over"] and their great stage presence. Their performance of Glue was striking and gave a faint alikeness to the Arctic Monkeys' No1 Party Anthem (one of my all time favourite songs). Their performance of Fuel for the Flame had me patiently waiting for it's release two days later (07/03) and their ITV interview on that same Friday; I did in fact watch the whole thing intently and you should too. Their songs Death While Standing and Just Like a Friend also vaguely reminded me of the Arctic Monkeys debut album.

I wish I could talk more about them but I'm honestly just going off of my own personal experience from the gig. 

I would definitely recommend listening to both bands -as they did both feature on my airbuds weekly review- and watching the Florentenes' interview on the ITV website. The Guest List are also going on tour November 2025!
Both of these bands were so great and I loved the gig so so much. The vibe from the audience was amazing and I hope to see both bands perform again soon; and hopefully either of them will release more music by then as well (fingers crossed).

Hope you come again soon, Andrea x