Sheffield’s indie showcase landed back in town for another successful gathering of the best up-and-coming music on the scene.
Photo: Ollie Franklin
Sheffield’s very own Float Along Festival returned to the city again this year for its annual indie music showcase. Featuring some of the brightest up-and-coming bands and artists on the circuit, the lineup was nothing short of being absolutely stacked. It’s always a good judge of a lineup when there are as many great acts you can’t see as there are ones you do actually get to see. The day was split across a couple of Sheffield’s live music venues — Sidney and Matilda and Corporation — before a final, closing event at The Octagon.
Kicking things off were Leeds’ Nature Kids, who opened the festival up on Sidney and Matilda’s BBC Introducing stage. The band kicked things off with the lovely Light Rain before revealing their drummer was in Spain for a wedding and the band would be sitting down cross-legged on stage for a more mellow and intimate show. It was a real treat as the band riffed through some new, unreleased songs alongside standouts from their self-titled debut album.
Curtain Glow was a real highlight before the band played a new song called Big Wall, which sounded like an infectious version of what it might sound like if Bob Dylan played with MJ Lenderman. What makes Nature Kids so interesting is their vivid, literate imagery wrapped in tightly put-together guitars, bass and keyboard arrangements. It was certainly a treat to hear a more mellow set without their drummer, but it would be great to hear them with their complete band in full swing to hear the other side of their superbly written songs.
As great as Nature Kids were, this is where some of the festival’s organisational issues unfortunately started to creep in. By confining the vast majority of the lineup to Sidney and Matilda, which is quite a small venue, there were times when the sound from the other stages bled into other rooms. With Nature Kids playing a drummer-less show, it became quite jarring to hear the sound of drums — either from a soundcheck or performance in another room — bleeding in over their performance.
Unfortunately, with Little Grandad on inside the basement next, more issues came to the surface. The basement inside Sidney and Matilda is a great space for hardcore music due to its lack of stage and low ceilings, but for anything else it is completely impractical. If you are any further back than the first row, then you simply can’t see anything as the band isn’t raised at all. Thankfully, I was able to get myself to the front, but there were plenty of grumbles from people who were only half a metre from the stage and couldn’t see anything at all.
Thankfully for them, Little Grandad sounded absolutely electrifying. You didn’t need to see them to know you were hearing something special. With an EP just released and a debut album on the way sometime in the future, this is a band primed for big things. Opening with Sleepwalking, Little Grandad proved they have everything.
Effortless hooks and infectious vocals, incredibly tight drumming and Neil Young-esque raging lead guitar lines. More than this, they are a completely fluid band. They shared vocals and even shared instruments at times. Their guitarist often switched from trumpet to guitar and, during one song, the drummer even played guitar before switching to drums midway through the song. It’s always exciting seeing a band brimming full of excellent creative ideas and simply having so much fun letting loose on stage. Combine that with undeniable chemistry and excellent songwriting chops, and I think it’s safe to say we’re going to be hearing plenty more from Little Grandad in the not too distant future.
Sheffield’s very own Gia Ford was up next, armed with her stunning latest record A Room Within A Room. It was another packed-out room even ten minutes before she entered the stage, and her ethereal, reverb-soaked vocals soared throughout her thirty-minute set. Ford has put together a band that absolutely rocks and really brings her songs to life. She masterfully mixes the grand, operatic vocal style of Weyes Blood with the energy and swing of early Beatles records. It’s a combination that really works for a live show.
It’s clear Ford loves playing a homecoming show, and it was incredibly endearing to see the smiles and joy on all the band members’ faces. Older single Poolside was a particular highlight and fellow old song Loveshot brought tons of disco energy too with its four-on-the-floor ‘80s-style drum beat. New songs At Least For Now and How Do I Reply? brought the house down. I have a feeling those in the crowd will be spending plenty more time with the excellent Room Within A Room after this set.
Speaking of having fun on stage, I don’t think anyone was having as much fun all day as Cucamaras. They brought a hurricane of punk energy to the festival and wasted no time in whipping the crowd into an absolute frenzy. The band opened with Junction and blasted through their triple-threat vocals from the get-go. Put simply, Cucamaras are a band in a hurry. Their frontman literally could not control his Joe Strummer-esque humping leg movements as he gyrated and exploded with energy throughout every song.
It’s hard not to get drawn in when you see a band not only having this much fun, but also going hell for leather like this. There were Rites of Spring-style desperate vocals on Fighting before they launched into the standout song of the set: a new song called Saturday Morning. The band rampaged towards the end of their set with a version of Count Me In that was so frantic, not only did their frontman snap a string, but he also lost control of his guitar strap. These sort of trivial things don’t deter a band like Cucamaras, as they ploughed on ahead with buckets of raw, dizzy energy to close out the show.
By this time in the afternoon, Sidney and Matilda was absolutely heaving with people, and I decided that it was probably best to stay around rather than make the trip across town to see Opus Kink at Corporation. It was better not to risk being unable to get back in at Sidney and Matilda, but it was a shame more venues across Sheffield weren’t utilised for Float Along to avoid issues like this.
Sheffield is a city full of amazing spaces to hear live music, and I think everyone’s experience would be much more comfortable if they were able to spread out a little. Things did feel a little ropey at times mid-afternoon; such was the number of people pouring in and out of each of Sidney and Matilda’s three stages. Thankfully, I was spoilt for choice of bands to see at Sidney and Matilda in the meantime, and I decided to head back to the BBC Introducing stage for indie rockers Vehicle.
The band sounded like a classic update on The Vaccines-style of indie music of the mid-2000s. All indie, none of the landfill. The band sported rock ‘n’ roll sunglasses and had mountains of swagger on stage. If anything, they may have tried to be too cool as their performance lacked the energy their sturdy collection of songs truly deserved. Their bassist was the clear star of the show, with his grooving bass lines really cutting through. Their set highlight, You Are Not A Cowboy, sounded like The Cramps with its rockabilly groove, demented vocals and blasting drums.
Speaking of demented vocals and blasting drums, Grandmas House were up next with their brand of powerhouse post punk. They had bags of energy and flung themselves around the stage at will. Their songs are full of screeching vocals and frantic drumming. They are very much in the same ilk as post-punk bands like Lambrini Girls with their fervent punk energy. Where Lambrini Girls offer unbridled anarchy, Grandmas House counters with a slightly more refined and tuneful approach. It’s refreshing to hear a post-punk band unafraid to write a catchy chorus and not take themselves too seriously. They have tons of fun on stage and enjoy playing around with the audience throughout the show.
When frontwoman Yasmin Berndt asked the crowd if they “liked that one” with a cheeky grin, the crowd responded by going wild. Afterwards, they performed Taxidermy from their recently released debut album for the very first time live. The band share vocals around the band members, and it’s invigorating to see the chemistry between the band as they play and swap vocals with one another.
It’s not all balls-to-the-wall energy; Grandmas House are able to slow things down when they want to, too. When slowing things down, it’s enough to remind you of shoegaze titans slowdive with their fuzzy breakdowns and walls of noise. By the end of the set, Berndt asked the crowd if they “fancied jumping around” before firing into Choo Choo with rage and gusto. The crowd certainly obliged, and the grins on everybody’s faces told me this was not a set or a band people would be forgetting about anytime soon.
The final act of the day (for me, at least) was by far my most anticipated and, judging by the mood inside the festival, everyone else’s too. Man/Woman/Chainsaw are one of the most acclaimed and hyped bright new bands, and their debut album Cannonball has garnered them all sorts of effusive praise. For anyone wondering if the hype was real, that question was answered by the time we got to the end of the first chorus of their set opener, Only Girl. Of course, it was answered with a resounding yes.
Man/Woman/Chainsaw are indeed worthy of all the hype and, in Sheffield, they were hell-bent on proving it. By the time they got to their second song Canyons the mood in the venue was tangible. It felt like we were witnessing something truly special: a band on the cusp of stardom slugging out a dazzling show in an overcrowded, fervent room.
Man/Woman/Chainsaw have written a whole debut album full of excellent songs, but seeing them live is a chance to really appreciate their raw credentials as a band. Nearly every band member gets a chance to shine vocally, and they are all such distinctive characters, singers and musicians that it’s genuinely hard to know where to look or who to pay attention to.
The answer for a band like this, of course, is: everyone, everywhere all at once. By the time we got to Goddam, Lizard Man!, the floor was absolutely shaking. It felt like a carnival inside Sidney and Matilda. At the end of the set, the band brought out a pink chainsaw that blew bubbles into the crowd as they kicked into their closing number Nosedive. It was incredible to see an entire crowd come together in love and adulation for one song, and it really dawned on me just what an addictive and triumphant song it is. It felt like there wasn’t a single soul in all of Sheffield who wasn’t singing along to it by the end. If Sidney and Matilda weren’t rooted to the ground by bricks and mortar, it would have been slung into outer space.
Just like that, in a riotous blur, Float Along concluded for another year. It’s a testament to Sheffield’s love of music and supporting up-and-coming bands that so many people gathered to get to Sidney and Matilda and Corporation for the festival again in 2026.
The festival got a lot right: the lineup was perfect and offered the perfect mix between known names and bands who are looking for the opportunity to gather an audience. However, it would be nice to see the venue expand and split bands across more venues to avoid overcrowding. Ultimately, having a festival like this taking place in Sheffield is an asset to the city and its people — I’m already counting down the days until Float Along 2027.
