GIRLY REPORT: Malicious Compliance, It’s Cold Outside & Wombstone.

26th of February 2026 @ Blondies, Clapton.

Sometimes being the front man’s girlfriend means showing up before their set by the skin of your teeth because you couldn’t leave work early on a Thursday. Obviously still wanting to show support I do what any resourceful lady would do: Makeup on the first train, pre-drink on the second and change my shoes on the tube. Can you guess what part of the plan went tits up? Turns out I didn’t need to rush because the set times got changed the day of and left me with a good twenty minutes to spend at the bar. 

The lineup was purely Kent based with genres ranging from nu-metal to grindcore and even mathcore. Considering this was a weekday gig it was surprisingly busy. Malicious Compliance opened the night on a bang by getting the crowd pumped who were definitely curious to begin with. A head bang here and there alongside one person DYING to start a mosh pit. Which I eventually fell into and subsequently got light headed and fell out of. Obviously I made a quick recovery and got back into the aggressive groove. All in all everyone seemed pleasantly surprised by the scene newcomers, I can almost guarantee a few in the crowd jumped on Shazam mid set. 

Followed by a band with one of my favourite names to date: It’s Cold Outside I Should Kill Myself who happened to be my introduction into mathcore. They were an intense two piece band whose tight timings were a standout for the night. Despite their chaotic structure, it became clear it was all intentional. From the hysterical vocal delivery to the extremely fast melody, the performance kept my attention away from merch table duties! All the while I was attempting to sell the last few t-shirts of this merch drop, Wombstone came to the stage to round the night off. They were by far the most fun to dance to with the audience inclined to agree. While bringing the liveliness towards the end of the night they kept the energy pumping with thick arse breakdowns and distorted instrumentals. 

As the night drew to a close, I was craving a McDonalds, my mascara was hanging on by a thread and the last train from Clapton was getting closer and closer. Turns out cabs on a Thursday night are reasonably priced between three people from London to Kent. Which was a great idea until there was traffic that caused so much of a delay that the trains would have been quicker and cheaper. Got my double cheeseburger meal though.