Limbonauts / The Water Rats / London
A trip to Ole London town and to one of its most iconic venue – the Water Rats on Greys Inn Road. Built in 1517 it was known previously as The Pinder of Wakefield and was a well known music hall. It has a long history of live music, and pretty much anyone that is anyone in the music world has played there. Bob Dylan played his first UK gig there in December 1962, and The Pogues had their first performance here in October 1982.
Other London debuts include the likes of Oasis (1994) and acts such as Katy Perry, The Courteeners, and Vindicated also appeared here prior to international acclaim. On October 1, 2004, the venue hosted The Decemberists, who were playing their first show outside North America.
It’s an incredible place, so friendly and with a well fitted and intimate performance space at the back behind the bar, and seems the perfect place for these alternative universe musicians that are the Limbonauts, to make their debut performance too.
Tonight’s show is in aid of charity, supporting anti-war charity thebridge.music and the work they are doing currently in Ukraine.
First up though is a support set from Hayden Parsey, a composer, producer, pianist, guitarist, sound artist, studio owner, dreamer of dreams. Hailing from North London Hayden steps onto the stage with his guitar and keyboard.
With only sparse use of vocals, Hayden delivers a stunning performance of virtuso, meandering atmospheric solos. Whether on keys or the guitar, he uses effects pedals to great effect toad delay and echo to the sounds, layering them to create a beautiful orchestral sound in his live performance.
Theres no theatrics and not just talk, Hayden just lets his wonderful improvisation take you to other worlds.
A thoroughly mesmerising performance.
The masked Limbonaut trio are an Alt Rock trio also from North London, formed in early 2024. Within a month they had released the single “Everything You Know is Wrong”, then their debut EP “Electricity” and their debut album “Shadowheart”. They delivered a style that brings together elements of pop, rock, electronica, funk and all the odd spaces inbetween.
2025 saw the release of their sophomore album “As Above So Below”. The year also saw them pass a quarter of a million streams across the major platforms.
The Water Rats show is their first public performance, and as well as raising much needed funds for thebridge.music charity, it launches their latest album “Antimatter Blues”.
The trio take to the stage all dressed in black, with masks hiding their faces, joined tonight by Carlos García on guitar, a very talented multi-instrumentalist.
What follows is a fantastic set of great rock, infusing elements of reggae rhythm, and a hearty dose of funk. With Carlos on guitar, there are some delightful blues rock riffs in there too.
The songs all have a rock solid groove to them, but are also packed with some fantastic lyrics, tackling many of the philosophical, and emotional dilemmas of our overloaded apocalyptic age.
A real enjoyable performance, and a band that can take the recorded tracks and bring them to life on stage. Fun, funky and otherworldly.
A great debut live performance, and 2026 looks to be a stellar year for the inter-dimensional masks beings !
