For their second UK tour, Welsh cover group Punk Rock Factory brought their Just A Stage tour to Bristol’s SWX for a sold out show to open up the run of 12 shows across the UK.
Having found their feet from Tiktok, they were supported by US rock group Adam and The Metal Hawks. From these 4, we were treated to a mix of heavy style covers and their own songs, including their top track Wastin’ time.
With Matt Stocks keeping the crowd entertained between the sets, with his mix of alt-nite and club classic bangers, it wasn’t long before we were treated to the main band of the night.
After a quick intro, with something about being late due to a sausage, we were straight into Just can’t wait to be king, which saw front man Peej come down onto the barrier to sing along with the crowd. You could tell everyone was excited, with the venue feeling like it was filled to bursting.
If you’ve never heard a punk-rock cover of Mamma Mia, where have you been? These boys knocked it clean out and had everyone singing along.
The band rocketed through their mammoth 23 song main set, including the Jackass section, which saw two of the audience crowd surf on Lilos, and one of the lucky ones managed to make it to the bar and back around again.
Adam from AMH came out to join the band for Pokemon, before a section where the audience got to choose the next song from an online selection. I don’t think I’ve seen an audience choose section which hasn’t been people shouting songs out loudly and the band struggling to hear, so this was a nice change from this.
Some jokes about life and their previous tours introduced some of the next songs, my favourite being how when they were in Australia they were Defying Gravity.
Let It Go and Wish Upon A Star brought the main set to a close, with cheers and confetti, before a quick walk off walk on and the last two songs of the night. Oh What A Night and How Far I’ll Go brought the night to a final close, and for their biggest headline tour to date these boys really did a good job.
There’s a couple of dates left on this run of UK shows, before they head to Europe, and then back across the UK in October and November 2024. Ticket available here.
Words and photos by Ted Stargatt – no use without permission.
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