LIVE FROM THE PIT: REALITY UNFOLDS- DAY ONE

Out Of Rage reviews Reality Unfolds Festival in London, featuring post-hardcore, pits and Pupil Slicer

The first day of a festival is always such a wonderful experience - the anticipation is enormous, the pints are slipping down easily, everyone is in high spirits and energy levels are at a maximum. Such was the same at Reality Unfolds, and lucky enough the lineup was absolutely stacked so more than deserved every single ounce of energy the crowd could muster.

With openers Good Cop starting things off early at 6pm, the crowd did need some warming, but their chaotic queer hardcore did more than enough to get some pits opening up sharpish, and songs like ‘I Identify As A Death Threat’ summoned people to the microphone in a second, as is the hardcore way.

Incaseyouleave kept everyone ticking over with some brilliant Midwest emo/post-hardcore that was intense and angelic, a real contrast to the previous set but in a completely cohesive way.

Third on the day was As Living Arrows who performed a phenomenal post-screamo set, that fit the tone of the day brilliantly. Playing songs off their album ‘In The Absence Of’, they were a force on stage and made for an excellent choice of band on this lineup.

The ever brilliant Death Goals came next, acting as subheadliner to our two coheadliners of the evening. Their queer hardcore act was a riot, lyrically and physically, with spin kicks and elbows literally everywhere. ‘Shrike’ was a clear favourite, and had people flying through each other throughout what was a wonderfully chaotic set of music.

The first coheadliner to play was Milan’s Øjne, who I’d never heard of and am deeply upset that this was the case. They will be nigh impossible to beat as my favourite new find of the weekend, playing a beautiful style of screamo that alternated between 'SeeYouSpaceCowboy-esque' breakdowns and Deafheaven style shoegazey moments. A stellar live act, they were downright incredible.

At the end of the night, we were lucky enough to be watching Pupil Slicer play their first ever London headline show, and it was all we could have asked for! With a rather different lineup than has been seen before, there were a few nerves as to whether the band would be up to scratch, but a brilliant run through of some cuts from 2023’s masterful ‘Blossom’ followed by three blistering tracks from ‘Mirrors’ gave the onlookers at the New Cross Inn no room to breathe. All in all, the perfect way to finish off an amazing day of live music.

Words: Jake Longhurst

Cover Photo: Kayleigh Fryer