The Future Sound of Nottingham is one of our city's most exciting music competitions. In the culmination of this year's event, eight acts from across the area competed at Rock City in a high energy final. Read on to find out which musicians were awarded the opportunity to perform at Splendour Festival...
You can read interviews with all eight finalists here.
First up on the legendary Rock City stage is Molly in the Metro. The rapid-fire set begins with a charming, upbeat instrumental from Molly’s band, of whom have travelled up from London to play, to which Molly strides onto the stage, with signs, hyping up the crowd. An endearing roar ensues, and they blast through their first song extremely well.
The band have a modern indie feel, evoking the sort of sounds and energy commonly found at the Brixton Windmill. Their look is also something to behold, as everyone is clad in white shirts and waistcoats, creating a unified feel. Everything they do, both visually and sonically, adds to a strong sense of confidence and care to the set, as it's obvious that everything they do is crafted to entertain. The second and third songs have slower paces than the first, but these songs make up for a slight dip in energy by showcasing the true musicianship of the band; in these songs, every intricate part intertwines in order to support Molly’s vocals, leading to one powerful sound, a true joy to see and hear.
This was an excellent set, which ended in a loud and long ovation, maybe even the longest of the night. As the first act in a bill of truly brilliant acts, they set the standard really high and it was an extremely enjoyable set.
Sometimes, simplicity is the key to a good set, and No Cash Refunds takes full advantage of this idea. With a live setup consisting of a guitarist, himself and an array of backing tracks, his setup is fully practical and allows him to truly encompass the music he makes, and believes in, through the performance. His stage presence is charming, electric and suave, presenting a true reflection of his music. The sound his act presents is a mix of retrospective pop, with elements of jazz and indie and everything in-between. A very unique act, one that easily fits into the local scene.
Each track is full of soul and suave, and across the fifteen minutes No Cash Refunds crafts an enjoyable, powerful and spellbinding set. As with every act tonight, fifteen minutes feels too short, forcing everyone to cut well-formed acts over time in half; however, most do it extremely effectively, with No Cash Refunds showing incredible showmanship, endearing vocals and variety in his rapid fire set, a true testament to his talent.
Live RnB at its finest. Saffron Gray’s live act is a sight to behold and a joy to hear. Her live band are an extremely impressive bunch of people, a full ensemble that provide a vital, soulful, and rigid backbone on which Saffron can overlay angelic and very well-executed vocals with a cool ease.
I was looking forward to her, anticipating big things; but I was somewhat blindsided by the crowd support, a theme that heaviy runs throughout the night. The support wasn’t so much a long post-show ovation but rather huge bursts of crowd roar after - and even during - every song, and obviously all culminating in an enthusiastic outburst after the set had ended.
In terms of the set’s musical content, Saffron’s vocals and energy are simply beautiful, and each member of the big band puts every ounce of talent into every note and every movement of the songs. Across the set, Saffron’s bubbly and cool personality seeps through, painting her as a charming, smiley RnB force of nature.
Sometimes, you get a gut feeling at a gig, a feeling telling you that whatever is about to come is going to be exceptionally good. I had that feeling approximately two minutes before Archie and the Astronauts took to the stage - a biological foreshadowing of what was to come.
My gut was right. Archie and the Astronauts perform a new brand of rock and roll, one that is powerful, punchy and simply incredible live. The fast pace, roaring guitars and searing vocals that have always lingered in the genre are embodied fully throughout the rapid fire set. Musically, they evoke a strong and resounding rock and roll feel, paying respect to the roots of the genre while catapulting it into new heights via a playfully ferocious performance.
Overall, Archie and the Astronauts played a simply fantastic set which the audience loved, erupting into a wall of applause and noise after the set finished, a strong testament to the band's live popularity and their brand of festival-ready rock.
Female-driven indie-pop is having a big moment in popular music right now, and Emily Alice, alongside her fantastic accompanying band, encapsulate the genre and hype perfectly in the set. The first song, Us Girls, is a brilliant intro to Emily’s musical world, creating a positive feel for the set. The song is about going out with friends and enjoying life, and sets a great idea of her world and helps to build a strong audience connection, something I think this set does best. She has silky smooth vocals that effortlessly slide over the instrumentals, which the band excels at.
Props to the sound engineers across the night, as every act was extremely well mixed, but here it really paid off. Emily and her band’s set was spellbinding, fun, and musically on point, a perfect flash introduction to her genre and her creative abilities.
The second of two incredible full-band RnB acts over the evening’s course, Megs took to the stage alongside her big band with a cool ease. Donning a vibrant blonde wig and equipped with simply exceptional vocal abilities, she stormed through her rapid fire set with swagger and charm. Vocally, it's beautiful; she has a powerful ability to sing intricate yet bold vocal parts and make them sound angelic and clear. Her energy and voice are simply built for RnB in every way, and her band know and understand this fully, allowing them to create strong and rhythmically interesting instrumentals for Megs to flow off.
Overall, her set was simply brilliant in every way, a fantastically chill, yet charmingly feisty, display from a staple of the RnB corner of Nottingham’s music scene.
Benji Romeo is a pop-leaning performer who, alongside a drummer on stage, performs songs that border on hyperpop. With loud and strong vocals and endearing stage presence, he performs his rapid fire set well. With a vibe echoing Nottingham’s own Jude Forsey, it's fun and good-looking live, although it would be good to see a full band as the music certainly fits band energy.
Overall, this was an enjoyable set from Benji, one that mixes pop and rock and indie and electronic music into a multi-genre display for the live setting.
Indie-pop powerhouse Louie Walsh, who is no stranger to the Nottingham music scene, is the final act to take to the stage, which arguably after a night of insanely good acts who all set the bar very high, is a daunting task. But, Louie, alongside his band, take to the task with ease, providing a musically fantastic and vocally insane live rapid fire set. He plays with the audience too, throwing balls into the crowd, creating a party atmosphere. Its fun, powerful, fast and brilliant.
Louie's song Higher stands out and his vocals are amazing live, while every member of his band play their part extremely well, serving up the perfect instrumentals for him to perform to; a true joy to watch.
The FSN 2025 winners were Saffron Gray and Archie and the Astronauts. Don't miss them on the main stage at Splendour Festival: Saffron Gray will be performing on Saturday 19th at 12:30pm, while Archie and the Astronauts appear on Sunday 20th at 12:15pm.
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