The Temple of Prog

The Brickyard, Carlisle

21 February 2026

I wasn't sure whether to title this review "Solstice" or "Solstice/EBB". Then I realised I needed to be fair and just call it a festival review, because even though I only knew two bands going in, I loved every minute of the day. Five bands, eight hours (all standing—God help me), in a brilliant venue with a fantastic atmosphere. The Brickyard is a comfortable size, the crowd is a healthy number but there's space to move, the stage is high and large enough to give even an eight-piece band room to move, and the sound is loud and dense, but perfectly balanced and clear.

And the organiation is flawless. Merch stands have plenty of space in one corner, the bar in the other corner never intrudes on the music, there are a few seats for those that need them, placed at the front and sides. I'm standing immediately behind the two rows of front seats, which gives me a perfect view, as if I was at the barrier but without the neck strain and poor sound that often involves. I stay in the same spot for basically the whole gig, apart from trips to buy an obscene number of CDs.

So... yeah... Everything just works. Everything about the festival is perfectly put together. Band changeovers are a miracle of efficiency—all the bands share EBB's drum kit, which has to help. And there's an hour break built into the running order between the third and fourth bands, so people can go out and get something to eat. Genius.

EBB organise the entire festival themselves. This is the second year they've run one here, and I hope there's a third, because I've pretty much decided I'll come again, no matter who's on the bill.

Also, you know the trend a while back of taking a festival poster and crossing out all the bands with no female members? Good luck trying that game with this festival.

So, it's time to talk about some music.

Opening band is Ideogram, a young-looking instrumental quartet from Scotland. Playing complex post-rock, I guess the nearest comparison I have is Mono with less distortion. They have bags of melody, all packed inside interesting song structures. Their music takes a bit of concentration to listen to, but luckily we're all still fresh.

Next is Doris Brendel and Lee Dunham, bringing a complete contrast in style. An acoustic duo, both sing and both play guitars (though it soon becomes apparent that Brendel is the main singer and Dunham is the main guitar player). Their songs range from blues, to hard-rocking things, to weird proggy numbers about space eggs. Doris Brendel has a phenomenal blusey voice. Phenomenal as in, "Where has this woman been my entire life?" She's made multiple albums but I've never heard her before? (I may have just bought every CD that had her name on it, so that could change.) The duo also have an instantly likeable chemistry with each other and with the audience, egging us on to boo guitar solos and join in a game of "truth or bollocks?"

Next band: Sprigan Mist are slightly bonkers. And I mean that in the best possible way. A five-piece band, they come on in fantasy-new-age costumes and have songs about fairies and mechanical dragons. But the fantasy image ends when they banter with each other and chat with the audience in a completely down-to-earth fashion. They're definitely not taking themselves too seriously. But they take their music very seriously: the songs are great and they are all top-class musicians. I wish I could say more about the songs but it's hard after just one listen to something this rich and complex. But it's superb, and it's a band I will definitely listen to again.

You always expect something unexpected from EBB's theatrical shows. So they take the stage one by one, and each one picks up the wrong instrument. Literally every member is playing something they shouldn't be. And they're not just messing about, each one of them is unexpectedly a true multi-instrumentalist, and they play a complete instrumental number before eventually sorting themselves out into their correct instruments and places on stage for the rest of the set.

I've seen EBB three times now, and each time they just get better. Most of the set is drawn from new album The Mirror, which in terms of songwriting is a huge step up from the debut (which showed us six amazing musicians perhaps trying too hard to be prog for the same of prog; The Mirror puts solid songs first and foremost and then wraps them in mind-boggling proggy complexity). The hour-long set gives them plenty of scope for long instrumental sections, while still fully showcasing all three singers (any of whom could easily carry the lead vocal role if needed).

The whole set is flawless from beginning to end, with highlights being the epic The Mirror, the ridiculous OTT theatre of Day 19, and an unexpectedly emotional Geneva to finish. EBB are a top-tier live band.

It would have been easy for EBB to make themselves headliners at their own festival, and I don't think any of the audience would have objected, but they graciously give that honour to Solstice. And as soon as Solstice hit the stage, you can see why: Solstice are a headline band. That's all there is to it.

On the last day of a tour, and obviously ridiculously happy with it, the eight members of Solstice turn the energy up to 11, and radiate so much joy that you just have to love them.

Andy Glass deserves enormous credit for taking a band that was honestly just a footnote in 80s' music, revitalising it, and turning it into the most enjoyable live act on the circuit today. He's also an immensely generous man—if you've seen him on social media you'll know how much he promotes new, young bands. And the generosity extends to his fans—he has time for everyone. Before the show, he sees my t-shirt and shakes my hand and thanks me for coming, without having any clue who I am. And he's just as generous with his band: every one of them gets plenty of time in the spotlight, even the backing singers who several times take the front of the stage while Andy is content to play from the back or the sides. And why isn't he winning ALL the best guitarist polls?

With Clann now an established favourite, the band doesn't need to concentrate on it, so the set includes songs from across their history. I'm not even sure I can pick highlights, every song sounds so good. But my favourite song is, and will probably always be, A New Day, and tonight it features all five voices in beautiful harmony, building to a soaring climax to end the main set. Then there's the surprise kind-of-encore: a beautiful cover of Your Move (by Yes), all five singers harmonising and the audience joining in that part (you know which part I mean, and you're doing it in your head right now, aren't you?). And when the band realise they've mis-timed the set and they have 15 minutes to fill, they hurridly agree on a stunning (and flawless, though presumably unrehearsed) version of the song that reintroduced the revitalised band to many of us: Shout, from Sia, with Andy wandering through the audience, seemingly trying to say hello thanks for coming to as many people as possible while still playing guitar.

Simply a world-class live band.

Best concert I've ever seen.