GIG REVIEW: The Subways + The Meffs + Bulbous @ The Grove, Newcastle, Friday 7 November 2025
Over the course of five albums and more than 1,000 gigs, Welwyn Garden City trio The Subways have established themselves as staples of the UK’s indie-rock scene.
It’s probably as much of a surprise to them as it is to others that more than two decades after they formed, they’re still going strong, having built a devoted fanbase.
While other bands of their vintage enjoyed 15 minutes of fame and then split, reforming later for money-spinning anniversary tours, The Subways have never gone away.
The core duo of Billy Lunn (guitar and vocals) and Charlotte Cooper (bass and vocals) remain in place, and they survived the departure of drummer Josh Morgan in 2020.
He was replaced by The Ramonas’ Camille Phillips in 2021, and she has brought fresh energy and impetus, as they showed in this show, which is part of the For Eternity tour, celebrating 20 years since excellent debut album Young For Eternity.
They might not be fresh-faced youngsters any more, but showed there’s plenty left in the tank, with Cooper wheeling around the stage as she lays down infectious basslines, and a grin ever-present on Lunn’s face as he throws out meaty riffs and having Good Times.
They kicked off with early single Oh Yeah, the song which introduced many fans to The Subways in the first place, and cherrypicked choice cuts from all five albums, as well as revealing that No 6 is in the pipeline.
For more than an hour, they blast out one crowd-pleaser after another, throwing a couple of new tunes into the mix, Passenger’s Side and I Need To Feel You Closer, which both feature on their new compilation When I’m With You.
Highlights of their set include a thunderous Kalifornia, an impromptu and gleefully-received first single 1AM (which isn’t on the setlist) and an exultant version of 2012 single Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
They dispense with the fakeness of leaving the stage and returning for an encore, choosing to carry on playing, and a raspy-voiced Lunn asks the crowd to help him out on vocals, as this tour is the longest setlists they’ve ever played.
The show ends with a closing one-two of fan favourites With You and their most popular song, Rock ‘N’ Roll Queen, which is right up there with the indie anthems of its day, before the band take a sweaty bow.
One of The Subways’ strengths is that they remain humble, telling the crowd they’ll never take their support for granted, and thanking them for the applause.
It’s been a night when The Subways’ place in the alt-rock pantheon is affirmed. Not quite punk, garage or heavy rock, they encompass elements of all three, while maintaining a big pop sensibility.
The same could be said about the two bands who preceded them tonight. First up were new-to-me two-piece Bulbous, a London-based two-piece who play slightly grungy power-pop. They consist of Laura on guitar and vocals and Matt? on drums, and their half-hour set is most enjoyable.
The standout of their short set is Punched (written by Laura after she was attacked by a stranger while waiting, drunk, for a bus. Not once but twice). They didn’t have any merch and don’t appear to have any physical releases, though there’s a couple of digital tracks on Bandcamp HERE.
Main support came from one of the fastest-rising bands on the punk scene over the last few years, Essex duo The Meffs. Consisting of Lily on guitar/vocals and Lewis on drums/backing vox, they have the crowd eating out of their hand from the get-go.
They only have half an hour to impress, and do so in spades as they plough through an eight-song set.
The Meffs deal in slashing riffs and pummelling drums, are fiercely anti-fascist, anti-war and anti-genocide, and they really are a sight to behold when in full flow. You wonder how two people cam make such an impressive racket.
Lily prowls around the stage, firing out riffs, while Lewis hammers out the beat and joins in with backing vocals, and there’s more than a few people in the crowd who already know their songs.
They’ve only got a couple of EPs and 2024’s excellent debut album What A Life to their name, but it’s easy to see why they’re tipped as future headliners of Rebellion Festival, and supported Alice Cooper on an arena tour.
Stamp It Out, Broken Britain, Broken Brains and the closing Clowns all showcase the band’s political punk to good effect, but it’s a cover which is the show-stealer, a full-on, simply stunning version of The Prodigy’s Breathe.
They also show they’re not a band who are content to stay still by playing three new songs. “You don’t know them, so if you’ve never seen us before they all sound the same,” quips Lily.
Suffice to say they’re all bangers, and I can’t wait to hear the recorded versions. There’s a big rush to The Meffs’ merch table after their all-too-short set, so they’ve obviously won a lot of new fans tonight, as well as paving the way perfectly for the headliners.
