Catfish and the Bottlemen at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Like them or not, Catfish and the Bottlemen were indie titans of the 2010s, releasing three successful albums and gaining a huge, passionate fan base. There were a few mysteriously quiet years before having a few false starts with their return, as band members left, and a number of post-COVID comeback shows were cancelled last minute.
2024 looked more promising, with the group finally releasing a new single and announcing two 2025 stadium shows. But guess which 90s band announced their own comeback shows a week after they did…? Not only that, one of them is happening ten miles away at Wembley Stadium tonight.
On the bright side, Sunday 3rd August is a good day to be an indie music fan in London – you’ve got Catfish supported by James and DMAs in Tottenham, or the 90s bonanza of Oasis, Cast and Richard Ashcroft in Wembley. We’re here for the former – so how do they do? Given they’ve drawn some ire for those cancellations and a lack of new music, they’re pretty damn good.
DMAs and James open the night brilliantly, and Catfish spectacularly keep the show going. Frontman Van McCann has the stadium enraptured from the literal word “go” alongside the chugging chords of Longshot. Straight after is Kathleen, taking the crowd back to a time when “You’re simpatico” were the lyrics of choice for many Twitter and Tumblr profiles in the mid-2010s.
For fans of unconventional band merchandise, on sale are black and white inflatable alligators, a nod to the album artwork of 2016’s The Ride. Amusingly, a lot more of these get thrown into the crowd by security for Pacifier just to add to the chaos and join their standard green counterparts, while some have been brought from home. And a couple of people are in alligator onesies (worse gig outfits have existed).
Crowd interaction from Van McCann is minimal, but a Cheshire cat grin gives away his glee. He throws himself, his guitar and his microphone stand around like a kid on too many e-numbers, but stands still to hear the stadium sing during moments like an extended outro for Homesick and the sole acoustic number Hourglass.
They sound like a huge, well-oiled machine. No doubt, Catfish and the Bottlemen were meant to headline stadiums; it’s obvious. The timing, however, is slightly questionable. Their 2024 single Showtime isn’t played, and a new album is supposedly on the way, but there’s been no mention of it for a while. Perhaps it was meant to be here by now, when these stadium shows were announced last year?
Regardless, the 2010s were a pivotal time for many here tonight, and this band was their soundtrack. T-shirts are swung around, pints are chucked and grown men holler and sob. With a mighty closing trilogy of 7, Cocoon and Tyrants, it’s been decidedly nice revisiting simpler times when Strongbow Dark Fruits was the drink of choice and hangovers were easier to recover from.
For now, it seems only Catfish and the Bottlemen know what’s next…
Gem Hurley
Photos: Guifre de Peray
For further information and future events, visit Catfish and the Bottlemen’s website here.
Watch the video for Cocoon here:
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