By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

WHEN?: Thursday 17 September, tour runs through 24 September 2026

Setlist: Remedy; Waiting On Nina; Fault Lines; The Thread; I Don’t Need Light; From Here To Nowhere; Three Moon Trail; Removed; Matter; Early Promise; DLR

Family Stereo ‘folkish rockery’ frontman Blake Watt is reflecting on this, his band’s 1st sell-out London show, and tells an amusing story about ‘survivors’ guilt’.

• Read on for reasons including how to see Family Stereo next on tour

His band last played this venue above a north London pub in November as support for Mumble Tide but an hour long power cut after Family Stereo’s set meant the headliner’s act was ruined leaving Watt and co with ‘survivors’ guilt’.

He’s no reason to feel guilty, joking: ‘Sergio, the sound guy, didn’t remember it so clearly. Perhaps he struck it from his mind.’

Less easy to forget is Family Stereo’s fine debut LP The Thread, an album of the week for us in August, which we learned to love over repeated summer plays on the monstagigz, ahem, family stereo.

The bulk of its tracks are played tonight in this 11-song set by a band including a shoeless bassist in stockinged feet bearing the legend ‘sock ‘n’ roll’, a guitarist, keyboardist, drummer and percussionist who’s also manning the merch stall.

It’s a fuller and slightlier rockish sound than the tasteful mostly midpaced album and we enjoy, in particular, the band harmonies on old song I Don’t Need Light not featured on the LP.

Set closer DLR is perhaps our favourite Family Stereo song (watch and listen above) not least because it’s slightly more uptempo than many of the band’s tracks and is given an opportunity to rock out a little here.

There’s an intriguing mystery to the lyric (‘And I’m nearly 22 but sitting in your car I’m older. There was once a day you could put me on your shoulders.’) yet its rooted in London thanks to its title with vivid detail about crumbs in bed married to a killer folk tune flecked with Americana.

New song From Here To Nowhere signposts there’s more to come – but to where? – from this Family Stereo and indeed Watt mentions an upcoming MOTH Club gig in east London in March which should be on sale soon.

We also very much enjoyed the support set from Kathi Deakin who had a Germanic twang to her vocal and delighted with folky tracks mostly from her debut album Perennial which definitely made us want to seek out more songs from her.

So Family Stereo have no reason to feel ‘survivors’ guilt’, definitely aren’t guilty pleasures and you would do well to spend a little time stitching together their debut album The Thread.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy Family Stereo Tickets
• Have you seen Family Stereo before and what did you think of them? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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