LIVE REVIEW + PHOTOS: LAKE MALICE AT THE GARAGE, LONDON 09/10/26

Lake Malice have one big question to ask with their debut album I Wanna Know If It's Real - not just the title, but a scream into the void of modern life, social media and matters more existential. Alice Guala and Blake Cornwall bought their dancing shoes for the dedicated crowd at The Garage to see off the end of their 2026 headline tour in style.

Coming all the way from Berlin in support was Chaosbay, a quartet bringing German eccentricity to their metalcore, the band members jumping around so intently that it seemed they may actually launch themselves into the crowd at any moment, with ‘MONEY’ setting the tone for the fast pace that was to follow.

“Let's have some fun tonight” frontman Jan Listing grinned. “We're gonna play a new song called ‘How does it make you feel?’ Feel free to go crazy”. Listing and the rest of the band put their money where their mouths were  and went dashing and crashing around, inducing the crowd to do the same.

Acknowledging London and its musical influence on the band, a heavy cover of ‘Message in a Bottle’ by The Police caused an unlikely but entertaining wall of death.

“We'd love you to come back for our show in March at barfly” Listing offered to the pits, hoping that the enthusiasm of the Lake Malice fans might translate to their own event. Undoubtedly a few fans have won at The Garage as the set ended with ‘MANIAC IN THE MIRROR’, with a call and response to be proud of.

To an already rowdy crowd, riled up from their supports, Lake Malice took to the stage, going in hard with ‘Chrome Red’. The ‘I Wanna Know If It’s Real’ tour found it's terminus in London and the Brighton duo were ready to use up their last morsels of energy on the grateful crowd in the capital.

After further warming up the room with the ever popular ‘Scatterbrain’, Guala recognised the road that had led to The Garage and their tour as a whole.

“We're used to supporting other bands and we are here on our own headline tour”, she mused.

Although the band and crew may be tired, the gratitude for the fans that showed up to have a bloody good leap around is obvious with every drop and every breakdown.

Guala explained the inspiration for the album title - ‘‘It’s a phrase we say a lot when we’re scrolling social media and see all the AI slop”. Before launching into ‘Ghost in a hell' a frantic track, leaning heavily on the electronic side of the band's sound and getting the pits going with gusto.

Listing some nostalgic throwbacks (tamagotchi anyone?), Guala introduced ‘90’s Bitch’. Lake Malice are a band with a heart of gold and a penchant for the golden age of culture. Although a lot of the topics of their songs are rooted in frustrations of modern living, this track serves as a celebration of everything awesome about their childhoods.

Thanking the fans for embracing the new music, Lake Malice brought support- Eville back onto the stage to assist in the delivery of the scathing ‘Main Character Energy’, a great collaboration but also possibly a moment of relief for Guala who admitted after a long tour her vocals were suffering.

‘Stop the Party’ scored high on the fan favourite list- a song written about anxiety and depression, but morphing into a way to fight it, Lake Malice do this part so well, using hopelessness, disillusion and pain to craft their music but then turning it into a cathartic release instead for the listener.

After a brief speech about the evils of Andrew Tate, Guala declared, “Focus on real life, ignore that fucking noise” and the track ‘Real Life’ cemented that message.

‘Rly ok’ brought a treat with a flawless live saxophone solo, and after musing on if she could even get through the next song with her tired vocal chords, Guala gave in and introduced ‘Mitsuko’ to a roar of approval.

Cornwall took his opportunity to get down into the crowd on this track, with a swirling vortex around him and a small scale pile up at one point, the chaos wasn't over yet, with the guitarist then climbing up somewhere stage right - the man can't be contained.

With a cover of ‘New Religion'’ by Bebe Rexha (in turn a cover of Faithless’s ‘Insomnia’), and a finale of ‘Bloodbath’ to a room of swaying arms, Lake Malice closed the curtain on the ‘I Wanna Know If It's Real’ tour, but don't worry, this is a band that is just getting started.

Words by Imogen Bird.

Photos by Florelle Servageon.