RADAR FESTIVAL
VENUE O2 VICTORIA WAREHOUSE, MANCHESTER
DATE 26/07/2024-28/07/2024
Now relocated to another new venue, Radar is a three-day showcase for diverse live music and masterclasses from some of progressive metal’s most renowned names. This year’s impressive line-up is the most eclectic yet.
The festival openers –Newcastlebased prog quartet Giant Walker –are angelic yet energetic, while Cestra uses the opportunity to display her incredible soaring vocals that are enveloped in a multilayered soundscape.
She mixes in industrial sounds for a dark twist on her heavenly sound.
Newly-formed Vower, consisting of Palm Reader and Toska alumni, play their debut EP and unreleased material, too, although they’re aggressively loud.
Technical issues force Earthside into an instrumental set, but they don’t let that dampen their spirits. Their long-form music is rich with expansive narratives, seismic drums, which punch through the slowly filling venue, and interchanges of airy light and distorted darkness, greatly aided by Frank Sacramone’s boundless energy and fizzing keytar solos.