This is the future of British live music — fans are in for a shock

We’ve been overwhelmed with stadium shows and arena tours for the past few years, against a backdrop of independent music venues closing.

Musicians have been open about the bleak trend for live music in the UK, but indie stars The Sherlocks might have the answer.

Brothers Kiaran and Brandon Crook originally formed the band in 2013, with guitarist Alex Procter and bassist Trent Jackson joining five years ago.

‘We fell into the habit of just doing the same things,’ frontman Kiaran told Metro of their unusual Everything Must Make Sense! 2025 Tour.

‘Touring became predictable, and after a while, I think it becomes a little boring for the fans as well as boring for us.’

Kiaran and the band were stuck in this repetitive lull until last year, when a gig in their hometown of Sheffield changed their perspectives.

‘We put on this show at Don Valley Bowl,’ the Heart of Gold hitmaker explained. ‘I think from there we were like, “Why didn’t we do this ages ago?” Everything felt so fresh.’

Their eyes were opened to the possibility of not putting on a ‘bog standard’ gig at familiar haunts like the numerous O2 Academies across the country.

Instead, The Sherlocks decided to try and venture to places ‘no bands really go to’.

‘We’re going to Dover for Christ’s sake,’ he laughed. ‘I don’t think anyone ever plays Dover.

‘These smaller venues do feel more accessible [for fans]. They’re not super small, but they certainly feel a lot more intimate.

‘We feel like we are stepping into people’s backyard and a lot of fans are super buzzing. But I think there’s an element of shock, for some reason.’

The tour trades having fewer stops at larger venues for 29 gigs, ranging from Manchester’s Albert Hall to a place called The Hairy Dog in Derby.

Their stop in Dover’s Booking Hall on November 8, offers a standing capacity of just 330 people — a far cry from Manchester’s near 2,000 capacity.

Although the band has opened for the likes of Kings of Leon, Kaiser Chiefs, and Liam Gallagher at stadiums, going local doesn’t feel like a step back.

‘Stadium gigs are just mental but they’re almost easier, in a way,’ Kiaran said. ‘There’s that many people, you can’t focus on one face.

‘It’s weird. You might as well be staring out at the ocean. So it becomes easier. Whereas when you’re in these little clubs, it’s a different ball game.’

With fewer people, there’s more connection you can have with each person, for Kiaran, that ‘feels like people are staring into your soul’.

He said these gigs tend to work out better as they’re more intense, with the band hoping to ‘just tear the roof off’.

The Escapade singer shared some advice he got from Oasis legend Liam when they opened for him, which was simply to ‘get them guitars up’.

‘That was his big thing to just crank the guitars up. It’s not bad advice to be fair.’

This is what they do for one of his favourite songs to perform live, Sirens, a single from their 2023 album People Like Me and You.

He smiled and added: ‘There’s something about Sirens. There are certain tunes where it’s not my favourite but I know we kind of have to play it because it might have been a single or it’s one of the bigger tunes.

‘But Sirens is one where it happens to be one of the bigger tunes but I still absolutely love it. It’s got a lot of attitude and I think it sums us up, really.’

The Sherlocks are ‘an old school band in many ways’, having started during the indie sleaze era of the 2010s.

Comparing the group to the likes of Sundara Karma or Catfish and the Bottlemen, Kiaran says they ‘fell in the middle somewhere’ of that guitar band surge.

‘Don’t know where but it’s somewhere,’ he joked, adding that ‘some have died off a little bit, some have packed in and some have gone way bigger.’

He’s not sure a band would survive and thrive as easily nowadays, with more and more pressure on TikTok and social presence.

‘Before it was a lot more like get a record deal, and then if you can get a record deal, you’ve basically made it, or that’s certainly the perception. But it’s, not true, because we had a record deal, opted to leave, because it just weren’t working for us.’

When asked about his favourite independent venue gigs, Kiaran recalled a tiny Sheffield venue called The Rocking Chair, which has since closed.

‘That were in early days, pre first album,’ he laughed. ‘That is really, really small, like, 100 people max, probably not even that. I think we once sold it to just a stupid amount of people.

‘Say, if it holds 80 people, we might have sold it to like, 150 and it was just sardines in a can. It was crazy. Those sort of gigs always stick with me.’

The Sherlocks made history at another Sheffield gig, becoming the first unsigned band since Arctic Monkeys to sell out The Leadmill.

‘I think every now and again, you’ve got to check in,’ Kiaran said. ‘You’ve got to check in with the other people that are in these areas that never make it onto bands tour posters.’

He added: ‘I’m not sure how many people we will end up playing to it, but I know we’re all absolutely buzzing.’

Tickets for The Sherlock’s 2025 tour are on sale now via the venues and their own website.

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