GIG REVIEW: Riskee and the Ridicule + Dead Wet Things @ The Grove, Newcastle, Friday 21 November 2025
You’d think Riskee and the Ridicule frontman Scott Picking (aka Riskee) is setting off on a winter hike as he takes to the stage on this cold Friday night in a Stone Island jacket zipped right up under his chin.
But it won’t be long before he sheds not only the jacket, but also the long-sleeved shirt and string vest he’s wearing under it, ending up bare-chested, as his band send temperatures soaring at The Grove.
The hyperactive singer is the undoubted star of the show as the grime-punk five-piece from Kent lay waste to The Grove on their latest return to Newcastle.
He prowls the stage, spitting lyrics and putting every ounce of his being into his performance. Talk about leaving nothing in the dressing room…
Although they live 325 miles away, the band have plenty of friends here. They have a devoted following up north, and with shows as intense as this that’s no surprise.
Picking thanks the crowd for being one of the first places Riskee could sell tickets, and they clearly love playing in front of a Geordie crowd.
In their 70+ minutes on stage they demonstrate – if ever there was any doubt – why they’re one of the outstanding bands on the DIY punk circuit today.
They open with a guitar-heavy reworking of Lords Of Rave, the drum ‘n’ bass banger they collaborated on last year with DJs Phantasy and Nicky Blackmarket, which I’ve never heard live before.
We’re soon into more familiar territory though, as it’s followed by Body Bag Your Scene and Banger, two of their best-loved songs, and the dancefloor is soon moving to their hardcore riffs.
Formed in 2011, Riskee have four albums to their name, and a handful of standalone singles and EPs. A couple of them, Blue Jacket and their stunning cover of Lana Del Rey’s Young & Beautiful – are among the highlights of their set, not that there are any lows.
The band – Jimbo Aglony on guitar and screams, Jordan Mann on guitar, bass player Ben Maz and Matt Verrell on drums – are just back from their biggest European tour yet and firing on all cylinders.
There’s none of the leaping around that other bands indulge in, they just get on with laying down a relentless backdrop of hooks and riffs while Scott/Riskee rules the roost. They sound like nobody else on the scene, but the effervescent vocalist is their secret weapon.
Molotov Cocktails, from 2017’s breakout second album Blame Culture, gets a great reception, and In The Dark We Dwell, from 2019 follow-up Body Bag Your Scene, is even better.
After a heartfelt How I Feel, from their most recent album, 2023’s Platinum Statue, Riskee announces there’ll be ‘no wanky encores, no walking off stage and coming back in’ and demands the crowd’s souls for the next couple of songs, promising to give them back.
A rampaging Kaboom! is followed by Accelerate, and with that this most engaging of bands take their bow, and leave everyone with the feeling that they’ve been part of a very special gathering.
Tonight’s openers, Dead Wet Things, have only come 10 miles from Sunderland, but are akin to Riskee in having a captivating frontman who more than makes up for the rest of the band’s relative onstage inertia.
Pablo is the gobby mouthpiece of these self-described council estate scumbags, who I warm to a bit more every time I see them. Like Riskee’s, their music is hard to pigeonhole, but it’s just as addictive.
Big riffs, juddering basslines and driving drums provide the perfect canvas for Pablo to paint his pictures of working class life’s ups and downs, and over the course of 40 minutes onstage they win more than a few new fans.
They start with a blazing Camp Freddie, and pick up pace with the likes of Big Bag A’ Cans, Skint and Weekend Lover. There’s a couple of songs here I don’t think I’ve heard before, and a chat at the merch table indeed reveals they’ve got tunes they haven’t recorded yet.
Dead Wet Things have released half a dozen digital tracks, all available as name your price downloads from their Bandcamp page HERE, and they’re all worth your time and money.
They’re waiting until the time is right for some sort of physical release, but their momentum is building nicely and I hope that’s not too far away.
