Words and photography: Chloe Jackson-Nott

The Blackout, a Welsh rock-band from Merthyr Tydfil, said their farewells back in 2015 leaving many young emo hearts broken. But in the year 2024, they have reunited once more and gone on the road to mend those broken hearts.

Joining the boys on the road were Dead Pony and for their Cardiff show, they welcomed De’Lour to the stage to open the set. Each night a local band open the show and for Cardiff the five-piece band were selected. They thrashed out banger after banger with the songs, Suncrusher, Cold Decisions and Crown. We recommend giving these guys a listen! Dead Pony were second on. They are a Scottish rock-band from Glasgow. Sean Smith said on stage that he is in awe of their chosen band name as it sounds incredibly punk rock. These are another band to keep an eye on – their new single RAINBOWS is out now!

Uproar and nostalgia filled The Great Hall in Cardiff, the moment The Blackout jumped onto stage. Opening the set with This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things, the boys had the audience eating from the palm of their hands immediately. Frontman Gavin Butler, injured his achilies during the Manchester stop on the tour so performed the show in a boot, but props on his for continuing the tour despite the circumstances!

Cardiff successfully made Sean Smith cry three times in total and had poor Bob (James Davies) sat on the floor as he patiently waited for the crowd to stop chanting We Are The Dynamite. During I’m A Riot, You’re a F**cking Riot, there were actual riots in the crowd. The mosh pits got heavy and security intervened at one point but everyone kept each other safe and made sure they were all having the best night. They ended their set as they always do with Save Our Selves (The Warning). It’s usually at this point where Sean Smith would ask the audience to get down but the crowd knew exactly what was expected of them.

We’re so glad to see The Blackout’s return and feel like society has been restored in South Wales. We look forward to see where the boys continue and how they perform at Slam Dunk this year!