Brakes

We arrive at this lovely new festival set in Hove Park, to the pop punk sounds of Kemptown boys Brakes. They passed us by at the time but friends are excited and we can see why. Fresh from selling out Alphabet twice earlier in the week the band seen invigorated. A cover of country classic Jackson featuring the bass player’s wife on in the place of Nancy Sinatra and June Carter is a lot of fun before they hit us with an All Night Disco Party, which certainly gets the daytime crowd dancing. They are clearly having a blast.

Kid Kapichi

We make full use of the best press hospitality we have ever encountered and then the boys from Hastings explode in a storm of rock. It’s a joyous noisy racket in the late summer sunshine. A touch metal for these ears, they still draw a big crowd to the front of this delightful event. ‘New England’ which featured Bob Vylan is a nice slice of political punk sleaze. Undoubtedly they can hit some melodic sweet spots too. It is certainly enough to turn the ears of a man who had up to now been a doubter.

Sleeper

Keeping on the local theme Sleeper take to the stage for their indie Brit pop, while the Levellers in-crowd play with their clothes pegs. Odd traditions but they all seem happy enough. Louise is clearly having fun, waving at people in the crowd. “This song is for the beautiful women in the crowd.” A jaunty rendition of ‘Statuesque’ follows. For full disclosure this writer hated Britpop and fled to the raves in the woods. We find ourselves much mellowed and quite enjoying the pop hooks and punky licks of this confident band surrounded by an extremely good natured crowd. Their cover of ‘Atomic’ as featured on the Trainspotting soundtrack is certainly a high point of the set. That a cover is the most memorable song is both a blessing and a curse.

Levellers

We take our spot right down the front, and the Levellers explode with what is our favourite song by them. Obviously we should not be surprised given it is the first song of ‘Levelling The Land’, but it would seem they are not just celebrating the album, they are playing it in full. Its such a strong start to the show, it almost knocks us off our slightly tipsy feet. Absolutely brilliant.

It’s hard to understate the importance of ‘Levelling the Land’ to a man who was 15 then. Truth be told, It’s a bit more than ‘The Girl from 15 years ago’ now. 35 would be more accurate.

An impressionable mind that heard “If I would live the life I please then I would be a free man”, and took it very much to heart. This writer could actually cry hearing those words that meant so much sung for the first time in front of his face. Oops. Possibly, dear reader he just does. “Liberty!” as Jeremy cries out to the crowd.

This show is doing every note justice. A seriously good band returning home in what is a surprisingly rare home town show be that in Brighton or Hove (actually).

A seriously good band not afraid to be political in what are undoubtedly dark times. But then this is a band that lived through the ‘Battle of the Beanfield’ an know what right wing oppression means.

By now we are dancing so hard and smiling so much we don’t quite know where to put ourselves. We really don’t. Staying down the front it is then. From here on in it’s nothing short of triumphant.

They play a second set culled from the rest of their career, including a barn storming rendition of ‘World Freak Show.’

The lights go dark and then Stephen is back on stage with his Didgeridoo as the encore opens with ‘This Garden’ that brings in guest vocals from Lilly of the Meffs, who we sadly missed opening the show earlier in the day.

Mark thanks the bands, comments on the fact some locals didn’t seem to like this event happening and they close with ‘Beautiful Day’.

And dear reader at this point, all we can say is we really did have the best time and it really was a beautiful day re-connecting with faces from our time in this fair city. What a positive force this band are, on their local community and for their fans.

Levellers Celebrate Levelling The Land
Hove Park – 5th September 2026

Words: Nick McAllister
Photos: Stan O’Shea