LIVE REVIEW + PHOTOS: PENDULUM AT DREAMLAND, MARGATE 31/05/25
Pendulum have a mystic that is quite hard to define. They seen timeless, illusive and monumental whilst also utterly modern, tangible, and at Dreamland in Margate, within arm's reach.
With them, Pendulum brought a trio of varied and exciting supports for a sunny day adjacent to the beach, the first of which - Normandie brought the funky grooves. The Swedish band showcasing their unique take on how to make rock really, really sexy.
This sensuality was on full display during ‘Babylon’, a truly catchy number performed with gusto and stellar vocals from frontman Phillip Strand.
Providing a swift change of pace, WARGASM bounce around the stage, screaming, shouting and generally demanding everyone's attention.
“This is a song we wrote with our friend Fred Durst”, one half of the London duo, Sam Matlock explained before they stormed through ‘Bang Ya Head’.
After a brief foray into the crowd during ‘Spit.’, and a restart of ‘fukstar’ to ensure vocalist/bassist Milkie Way was satisfied with the energy of the circle pit, WARGASM rounded off the set with ‘Do It So Good’, the scrappy nu-metallers leaving a taste of chaos in everyone's mouths.
Bob Vylan is known by many names, a lot of which singer Bobby Vylan reeled off. The list included, ‘Slam Dunk hooligans’, ‘The cutest band in punk rock’ and ‘The Fred Perry mafia’. Along with drummer Bobbie Vylan, (both names pseudonyms to protect their real identities) the pair provided a politically charged set with plenty of impactful grime infused punk but also a ton of stories and compelling crowd work.
‘He's A Man’ perfectly demonstrated the cheeky and charming delivery ‘The Bobs’ maintain whilst dishing out aggressive lines and heavy bass.
‘I used to live here. Did any of you ever see me on my travels?’ Vylan asked. A perfect prelude to the signature track of the band's career ‘We Live Here’, a song that shines a light of the struggles of non-white children in the UK.
“Anyone who doesn't like our political views, go to the bar and come back when Pendulum come on.” Vylan encouraged as he addressed the recent furore around Irish rap stars Kneecap. Bob Vylan performed with a pair of Palestinian flags adorning the stage, leaving little room for ambiguity about where their loyalties lie.
As the duo finished up with the powerful ‘Hunger games’, we took in the disparity between the nudge and wink, bloke-down-the-pub stories and the seriously important social commentaries, in the form of rip-roaring punk rock.
By 2025 standards, Pendulum's genre-melding mix of Heavy Metal and Drum & Bass could seem somewhat… pedestrian. The modern alternative music scene is after all, flooded with innovative artists, fusing every conceivable combination of styles, but twenty years ago, in 2005 when Pendulum released ‘Hold Your Colour’, they were the pioneers of amalgamating subcultures into a beefy, attention-grabbing soup of sound.
Luckily for fans, Pendulum are no throwback band. Releasing fast paced ‘Save The Cat’, a fun and on brand track - complete with a sprinkling of meows - only a few days prior, and with new album, Inertia due for release at the end of August, big moves are being made.
We are treated to the live debut of the aforementioned track early on in the set to feverish energy throughout Dreamland. Drinks are thrown and pits are moshed as the Aussie powerhouse thumped through their set.
Predictably the legendary ‘Propane Nightmares’ turned up the carnage and a remix of ‘Blood Sugar/ Voodoo People’ kept the energy going.
Pendulum were then joined on stage by Wargasm to debut the frantic and aggressive, ‘Cannibal’- one of many collaboration tracks from Inertia, the album featuring guest spots from not only WARGASM but also Bullet for my Valentine and Scarlxnd amongst others.
“We're gonna take the pace down a bit after that” frontman Rob Swire then announced the epic, but more mellow ‘Encoder’, and then brought the energy back up for both parts of ‘The Island’.
The journey through both nostalgia and new wrapped up with the huge ‘Watercolour’ and ‘The Tempest’ from 2008's iconic album In Silico. Calling time on an awesome return from an eminent act, the dream comes to an end in Dreamland, but the promise still remained of lots yet to come from the mighty Pendulum.
Words and photos: Imogen Bird
Full photo gallery for Pendulum here
Full photo gallery for Bob Vylan here
Full photo gallery for WARGASM here
Full setlist below:
Napalm
Save The Cat
Propane Nightmares
Come Alive
Crush
Blood Sugar / Voodoo People
Colourfast
Cannibal
Encoder
The Island - Pt I (Dawn)
The Island - Pt II
Nothing For Free
Halo
Archangel
Witchcraft
Self vs Self
Watercolour
The Tempest
