The upcoming indie punk four-piece laid down a marker for what’s to come.

Opening for Westside Cowboy at Scala, Manchester four-piece Holly Head delivered a set that felt less like a support slot and more like a mission statement. Exhilarating, restless and politically charged, their performance made a strong case for why they’re fast becoming one of the most vital names bubbling up from the UK’s indie-punk underground.

From the off, Holly Head were animated and energetic. The band barely stayed still, spinning across the stage, locking into one another’s movement as much as their sound. There’s a physicality to Holly Head that feels essential rather than performative.

Opening with Truman, the band immediately established their knack for building incessant, danceable rhythms without ever losing control. 5/4 followed, its off-kilter time signatures and percussive layers pushing the crowd into unfamiliar but compelling territory. A new, currently untitled track hinted at where the band might be heading next: darker, denser, and even more rhythm-led.

Mid-set highlights No Gain and Trip Hop leaned into Holly Head’s patchwork of influences. You could hear traces of Fugazi’s tension, the groove-first mentality of Fela Kuti, and the sleazy looseness of Happy Mondays, all filtered through a modern, politicised lens. The bass remained indefatigable throughout, anchoring razor-wire guitars and skittering percussion into something that felt both confrontational and oddly euphoric.

The standout moment, though, came with No Country Is An Island, the band’s newly released single and an instant live triumph. Featuring Westside Cowboy’s Paddy Murphy as co-writer and guitarist, the track flickers with defiance, holding a flame to anti-immigrant rhetoric while refusing to become didactic. Instead, Holly Head build their message from the ground up with agit-funk grooves, dancefloor momentum, and a collective release of tension that felt especially resonant in a packed Scala room.

Closing the set, Holly Head left little doubt that they’re a band operating on instinct, energy and intent in equal measure. As an opening act, they were the perfect choice. If No Country Is An Island signals the direction of their next chapter, Holly Head are poised to turn visceral groove-punk into something genuinely transformative for the indie scene.