LIVE REVIEW: BADFLOWER AT HERE AT OUTERNET, LONDON 15/12/25 (+ BILK)
In an era of AI and polished performances, Badflower’s performance at Here at Outernet on December 15, 2025, was a glorious middle finger to perfectionism. This was a reminder that we’re actually starving for something human, messy, and real. As their only headline show of the year and their final curtain call for 2025, they proved that this band doesn’t just play for an audience, but lives in the moment with them. This show was an unpredictable banana-smashing, hammer-swinging, drum-toppling masterclass that London won’t soon forget, showing us exactly why they’re an essential band to watch: They’re the relatable, chaotic heartbeat of modern rock.
Opening the night was Bilk, an Essex trio that sounds like a high-speed collision between a pub fight and a super-fun, energetic block party. Reflecting the highs and lows of British youth culture, frontman Sol Abrahams, flanked by bassist Luke Hare and drummer Harry Gray, walked out to immediate, deafening chants of "Chelmsford! Chelmsford!" from a loyal Essex contingent that had clearly followed them up the A12.
Sol wasted no time, shouting, "What the fuck up, London! Let’s get the party started," before launching into 'Are U Gonna Be My Lover'. That riff is an absolute earworm, setting the tone for a band that blends angsty indie, rap, and punk into something that feels like a cult legend in the making. Sol’s stage presence is refreshingly blunt—no rockstar ego, just a guy telling the room to "Jump around, do your thing, and enjoy yourselves." By the second track, 'RnR', bassist Luke Hare was in a permanent, low-slung stance, as if trying to drill through the Outernet floor with his bass.
There is a raw, infectious catchiness to their sound; 'Brand New Day' channeled the stomping, classic energy of bands like Jet, but with a modern, gritty edge that belongs entirely to Bilk. After checking in with the crowd—"Who's seen us before? Who's seeing us for the first time?" - Sol got honest about the band's future. Fresh off a European tour, he admitted they are "currently going through a shift as a band," and the setlist reflected that evolution.
The room became a testing ground for unreleased gold. We were treated to 'Sister Mary' and the potential next single 'Do You Want It', which had the entire room raising their hands and clapping in unison before the final chorus. They closed with 'What You Gonna Do', another unreleased track that left the audience buzzing. Sol left us with a helpful identity check: "Our name is Milk, but with a B. We’ll be releasing some new music, and we’ll be going on tour." If this "shift" is a preview of their 2026 material, Bilk is definitely a band to keep on your radar in the new year.
Since forming in LA in 2014, Josh Katz, Joey Morrow, Alex Espiritu, and Anthony Sonetti - now known globally as Badflower - have made a career out of siphoning stress, sleeplessness, and mania into massive alternative anthems. With over 100 million streams, a GOLD-certified hit in 'Ghost', and a history of sharing stages with titans like Soundgarden and My Chemical Romance, they brought an honest confidence to a show they admitted was "totally unprepared."
The projections on Outernet’s screens were a fever dream: shifting from beautiful hearts and psychedelic imagery all the way to blood, baby oil, Donald Trump, and Josh Katz’s dog. Anything could’ve happened on those screens, and usually did.
Josh looked out at the sea of fans and shared, “You got outfits, you got hats, you got licence plates, you got swinging hammers, you brought it all here tonight” before coming clean: "Our band didn’t even know we had a headline show in London until we were on the plane. This is the most unprepared show we’ve ever played." He admitted it was the most unprepared show they’d ever played, but that lack of "polish" is precisely why we love them. Josh was also battling a failing voice, but he made a pact with the front row: "I’m going to sing until my voice is gone."
The tuning breaks were a stand-up routine. Josh swapped hats with a fan because their pink beanie matched his outfit and hid his "Boris Johnson haircut" (his words, not mine). He even engaged in a legendary back-and-forth about why 'Mother Mary' isn't on Spotify. "How about you go fuck yourself?" he laughed, explaining that if they re-recorded the "bad" YouTube version, we’d all just complain the original was better anyway. It was that kind of blunt, human connection that makes a headline show feel like a conversation with the fans.
They opened with the jagged, aggressive 'Drop Dead' and 'Number 1' from their 2019 debut OK, I’M SICK.
During 'Paws', a song dedicated to Josh’s dog, the screens filled with touching images of his pup. It’s a song about the pure, uncomplicated love of a pet, and the room went heavy and quiet. “I’ve been struggling with my voice, and now I had that behind me”, referring to the touching visuals, “Now I’m really going to be struggling”. Despite the emotion Katz shares, “This is the last show of the year tho, see if I give a fuck!”
Badflower has mastered a form of emotional architecture in their music. Rather than standard structures, songs like 'Move Me' are built on a gradual escalation of intensity. It started with a fragile, whisper-quiet vocal that felt like a secret shared in a confession booth, before the instrumentation swelled into a goosebump-inducing breakdown that felt like a physical eruption of sound.
Then came the chaos of 'Stalker'. Josh vanished into the crowd, surfing over a sea of hands, eventually grabbing a fan’s phone to record the show from his eyes. While he was out there, Anthony Sonetti and Alex Espiritu held down a drum and bass guitar solo. The absurdity peaked when Josh returned to the stage with a banana; Anthony promptly smashed it with a drumstick mid-solo while Josh filmed it on a tiny camera. It was messy, stupid, and absolutely perfect.
They reached back into their hits with 'Heroin' and 'The Jester' - both No. 1 rock radio singles that prove they can write massive hooks without losing their dark edge.Later, the vibe turned even darker for 'No Place Like Home', with Trump imagery flickering in the background. The track felt like a cry of total alienation, evoking the feeling of being a stranger in one's own country. This bled into 'Family', and hearing the room scream "That song saved my life" back at the stage was a reminder of why this band has achieved such massive success; they articulate the things we're too afraid to say out loud.
Before performing their last song of the set, a fan asks, “Why did you make a song about us?”, referring to the song ‘London’. “We’ll talk about it when we play it’ says Josh. After that, he introduces the final song of the set, “which guess what is not ’London’ ” – clearly hinting that it is not the final song and there are a few more surprises incoming.
They closed the main set with '30', a track about the frontman’s anxieties, self-reflection, and brutal honesty regarding turning 30, exploring feelings of no longer being young.
The encore was a gift to the London fans. After 'Fukboi', Josh joked, "Last show of the year! Last one ever probably, we’ll probably break up after this to be honest". Katz has a running gag with the fans to joke about the band breaking up; however, this stems from his general honesty (which has been rewarded in this band) and his desire for happiness over endless fame. Well, thankfully, they didn’t break up on stage because they gave us two massive live debuts: 'London' and 'Swinging Hammer'. Hearing 'London' in London for the first time was a historic "I was there" moment in the lore of Badflower.
Josh went back into the crowd one last time, and as the final notes of 'Swinging Hammer' rang out, they dramatically knocked over the drum kit in a pile of wreckage.
This wasn’t a band going through the motions; it was four people leaving every ounce of themselves on a London stage because they didn't know if they'd ever get to do it quite like this again. We’ll take the smashed bananas, vocal cracks, weird and unpredictable visuals, and the "Boris Johnson" haircuts over a “perfect” show any day of the week. Josh might joke about breaking up, but on the evidence of that night, I don’t think London is anywhere near done with them yet.
If you missed the London show, you have a chance to catch them live in 2026 as Badflower has announced their 2026 North America Tour, bringing this raw, hammer-swinging energy together with Point North & Olive Vox.
Words by Vlad-Paul Ghilaș (Platform ‘96)