La belle Angele in Edinburgh has been on fire recently with their band bookings and this night was no different. Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs was the headliner on 15th April, and I went along to see what this show on their ‘Death Hilarious’ UK & European tour was like.
If you haven’t heard of this band before, they are classed in the stoner metal/heavy metal genres but definitely have a punk edge to them. However, before I dive into Pigs x 7 and their set, let’s talk about the support act first.
Split Dogs were first to the stage, the punk rock band from Bristol, UK are the epitome of classic old skool punk. The type of punk that’s raw and back to basics. They came to the stage with an instant burst of energy that blasted through the crowd, and it was given right back to them. As someone that has never seen them live before, I was in awe watching lead vocalist Harry Atkins command the stage, bouncing around, rolling about, jumping up and down. They never stopped from the second they came on to the second they left. Their Tina Turner-esc moves, and kick ass attitude just had you hooked from start to finish. Guitarist and vocalist Mil Martinez is also a huge force on stage, with his rockabilly punk rock look, heavy sideburns and sick guitar licks.
A pure joy to watch. The performance made me feel like I had been transported back to a little dive club in London at the back end of the 70’s and was out rebelling against my parents and discovering leather and spiked dog collars for the first time. The nostalgia and presence this band bring to the stage with them is exactly what you need if you’ve had a bad day and want to put the world to rights by letting all the angst from the day spill out in the pit.
The four-piece band gel so well together. They know exactly what they want to put across and how to do it, which is also apparent in their music videos. The retro and nostalgic vibe is present in everything they do and it’s nice to see a band stick to their genre and do it well! Highly recommend you catch this band live if you get a chance, and I for one am looking forward to hopefully catching them at one of the many festivals they are playing this summer.
On to the main act of the night and Pigsx7 kept the crowd waiting a little over their allocated start time, but boy was it worth it. When they did come to the stage it wasn’t just a gig, it was a whole collaborative effort from lighting to sound, to performance. At least that’s how it came across.
They opened their set with their song ‘The Wyrm’ which was a lengthy one at around seven minutes long, but the intro makes up around three minutes of this with a long but impactful build up, leading into heavy raucous guitar riffs and vocals. Singer Matt Baty looked ready to go in the ring for an 80’s style WWE wrestling match with his knee length shiny shorts and Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart black vest. The stances and poses he was pulling throughout also helped to affirm this illusion.
Addressing the crowd, Matt joked about needing to give the booking team at Download festival a more mainstream sound offering and then hopped right into a cover of ‘Boom Boom Boom Boom’ by the cheesy Eurodance group Vengaboys. Of course, this sounded nothing like the original much to the crowd’s relief but a fun and humorous addition to their set. Clearly a cheeky dig at the fact some festivals in UK, that have prided themselves on being predominantly in the alternative Metal and rock genres now seem to be welcoming bands considered rather lightweight in those categories to their line-up.
I love the energy, heavy hitting punk and throwback metal vibes that Pigsx7 bring to their music, I could’ve sworn at times that Ozzy Osbourne the prince of darkness was on vocals at times, with Matt’s sound. The rest of the band seemed happy to let him do his front man thing while they provided the immense soundscape to the whole set. It was a powerful gig from start to finish, with the perfect support act to boot. Pigsx7 finish up their European tour in Hamburg on 28th May before heading off to the US for shows right through the summer. Hopefully we will see them on some big festival bills in the UK in 2026!
