ALT BLK ERA: NOTTINGHAM, UK
ALT BLK ERA with support from Saint Agnes
at Rescue Rooms in Nottingham, UK - 30/05/2026
★★★★★
words and photos by Mel Tumber
ALT BLK ERA rocked their hometown of Nottingham, UK at an utterly deserved sold out show in Rescue Rooms on May 30th. Joined by Saint Agnes, they brought a ferocious and empowering performance to the Midlands that fans went crazy for.
ALT BLK ERA by Mel Tumber
For the opener, Saint Agnes, their set may not have been long, but that didn’t stop them from making an impact on the fans of the headliner. They began by playing ‘Get Them Out’, quoted by the band as being an homage to ‘March of the Pigs’ by Nine Inch Nails. The song began with heavy distortion and frontwoman Kitty’s powerful vocals cutting through, followed by the kind of guitar riff that you’d blast in your car at night.
Later, they played ‘The Ghost’, where the chorus questions “am I a ghost? Can anyone see me?” Suit-clad Kitty’s unmistakable presence proved these lyrics wrong - you could feel her energy radiating from the stage into the crowd, encapsulating everybody in the room in a bubble of music and pure enjoyment. The quartet’s booming music combined with the strobe lights made for a heart-racing experience that had the audience fully warmed up and buzzing for ALT BLK ERA, who would be taking the stage shortly.
When ALT BLK ERA began their set, they didn’t immediately go on stage - instead, letting their guitarist and drummer create a climactic buildup for their inevitable arrival. When they did skip onto stage, Nyrobi and Chaya - clad in their classic white and black respectively - were met with a roar of applause. They opened the set with ‘Our World’, a fitting title for the beginning of the show. In that hour-long set, it truly did feel like the world was revolving around the artists on stage, and we were all entranced within their little bubble of music, love and respect for one another.
Within a couple of minutes of being on stage, the sisters were already leaving again, entering the crowd to finish their opening song, leaving fans and fellow photographers scrambling for a good view. The trust they put into their audience did not go unnoticed - for any artist, physically surrounding yourself with fans can be incredibly daunting, but Nyrobi and Chaya did not falter or miss a single note. They continued the trend of audience interaction throughout the night, with Nyrobi perching on the edge of the stage watching her sister perform and encouraging the audience to hype her up, and, later on, both women getting the entire crowd to crouch down during the buildup of a song only to rile everyone up again with the explosive beat drop.
The night ended with their most popular song, ‘Run Rabbit’, which brings in D&B and electronic influences, but with a touch of alternative music too. A song that gradually builds up to a powerful drum beat, it had the perfect formula for mosh pits to open - and open they did. The main hook of the song “run rabbit, run rabbit, run run run” - a modern twist on the 1931 Flanagan and Allen song ‘Run Rabbit Run’) is something that could very easily become an earworm - it certainly did for me as I was travelling home.
ALT BLK ERA do not conform to just one genre - instead, their music is a delicious blend of rap, alt-rock and pop, all combining together to create something unique that had the audience jumping, dancing and moshing nonstop. They are something fresh and new in the music scene, and the music paired with the sisters’ beautiful contrasting black and white outfits cemented the night as something the concert-goers would not soon forget.
SAINT AGNES
ALT BLK ERA
