By Chris Taylor.
Every few years I’ll catch a Southampton show that’s so intense and important that I’m literally left gasping for air.
They’re the times when you can tell the whole crowd knows that this is the last time we’ll ever see this band in an intimate setting. There’s a wild energy that’s completely unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced. However much it’ll hurt in the morning, we can’t hold back. The heat gets so oppressive that you can see people having to pull back to breathe, but no one is still for long. Someone crashes head-first into my jaw and I see stars, but a second later we’re back at the front, shoulder-to-shoulder, all pain forgotten.
Callous Daoboys at The Joiners in 2026 joins this list with the likes of Hot Mulligan at The Joiners in 2023 and While She Sleeps at the Talking Heads on the You Are We tour.
All signs pointed to the venue being upgraded to a larger space shortly after the tour was announced. The Daoboy’s 2025 I Don’t Want to See You in Heaven was one of the best albums of last year in any ‘-core’ genre, so it wasn’t a surprise that the whole UK tour sold out in no time (with Southampton, on February 21st, being one of the first). Most other cities quickly upgraded to (and sold out) spaces the size of the Engine Rooms. It feels like it must be some kind of Joiners Live black magic that maintained this as one of the most intimate shows on the tour – for less than £20 a ticket – prioritising their reputation for delivering ‘I was there’ moments to the local music scene.
It’s another show that’s basically full by the time the first band comes on, and rightly so. Love, Rarely are a relatively new band from Leeds, who I started seeing pop up on posters last year. They deliver a mix of janky guitar, hardcore screams, and progressive technicality, with shades of ‘90s post-hardcore like At The Drive-In crossed with modern midwest emo and mathcore. Their set is captivating and cuts right through the crowd, even though we start off so far back we’re basically in the bar. I’m very excited to check out their album properly and catch them again when I can (hopefully!) get a bit closer.
Knives are another band that I hadn’t come across before the tour announcement, but have started noticing on more line-ups since. They’ve got more of a modern, British post-punk sound than the other bands on the bill – I think there’s undeniable influence from fellow-Bristolians IDLES, with the hip-shaking guitarists on stage mixing with uncomfortable, discordant riffs, odd rhythms, and gruff shouts. But if, like me, you felt like IDLES never quite got heavy enough, and their uneasy brand of post-punk that felt so poignant in 2018 hasn’t kept up with the chaos of the modern world (or if, like any sensible person, you just wanted more saxophone), Knives might be the band for you. They dial up the uncomfortable and chaotic up to 11 – easily enough to fit in with the mathcore line-up – and add touches of anything from hardcore to jazz. Meanwhile, they still maintain an underlying sound that feels rooted in the post-2000s southern UK punk and hardcore scene, harking back to things like Reuben, Gallows, and all the other underground bands of that era. Closing out with a reinvented cover of Kate Bush’s Babookshka gets the crowd in full voice.
“Normally we’d do an epic walk-on, but there isn’t space here, so we’ll just get started – that OK with you guys?” the Callous Daoboys ask the crowd, and from there on out, it all gets a bit blurry. The set is immaculately crafted, effortlessly flowing from the disgustingly heavy mathcore of Converge and Dillenger, to modern post-emo with vocal hooks that are as melodic as pop songs, to two-stepping hardcore. The crowd is given just the right moment to catch a breath or to dance together before breaking down into chaos once more, never once feeling like it was slowing down or flagging. Before I know it I’m drenched in sweat and the Daoboys are saying there’s only two songs left.
This is a band on top of their game and about to explode. You’ll rarely see a more polished and energetic performance, especially when the music is this complex. It’s almost certainly the last time they’ll ever play a stage this small in the UK, and they’re clearly ready for it. In November they’re coming back to join Enter Shikari on a seven date arena tour, which is set to take them to the next level; after that I’d bet that there will be thousands of new fans who are very jealous that they missed out on this tour, and people will be talking about this special night at The Joiners for years to come.
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