Gig review: At The Arcade at Network 3, Sheffield

On Friday evening, music goers filed through Sheffield’s Network 3 doors to watch one of the best young bands on the local music scene – Rotherham quintet At The Arcade.

Originally starting out as a playing covers in 2017, the band gained quite the local following until the Covid-19 pandemic halted their upward trajectory. The band then decided to write and perform their own songs, releasing their first – The Ones That Got Away – and they haven’t looked back since.

Support on the night came in the form of two Sheffield bands, Arkanian and X2 Fast. The latter, a five-piece pop punk band, only formed in 2023 started off proceedings and impressed with a great set. Frontman Nathaniel Billings powerful voice courted the crowd’s attention. Alone in the Darkness, which is out on Spotify, was a real hit with the vocal, appreciative crowd.

Arkanian, a five-piece rock band led by superb female vocalist Lily Crooks performed a great set, too. Positions and IDOLS were two songs that were warmly received by the crowd.

Shortly after 9pm, At The Arcade frontman Brandon Walton led the band on to the stage to a great ovation. The band opened up with Small Town Gossip, swiftly followed by latest single With You, an extremely catchy number with sublime guitar riffs.

Stuck in the Grooves, Cocaine Dreams and a superb cover of the Black Keys’ 2011 hit Lonely Boy had the crowd singing and swaying in unison.

The band temporarily left the stage with frontman Brandon Walton remaining. The crowd were treated to a solo of The Enemy – Walton captivated the crowd with the poignant, powerful number.

The band rejoined Walton and performed a great cover of Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze, followed by the anthemic Honest To God.

Walton demonstrated his powerful voice and impressive range with a mash-up cover of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit and Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean – two songs that had revellers dancing and singing in unison.

A latter half of the set featured Hybristophilliac, Lighten my Load and The Ones That Got Away. “One more song” echoed through the room with an appreciative crowd desperate to hear more. The band responded in kind with an encore of In The Morning, the first song that they had ever written as a band.

For a band so new in craft, they commanded the stage incredibly well, connected and engaged with the crowd and were clearly in their element relishing the big stage. Something, I can guarantee, that they will be doing a lot more and on much bigger stages to come.

Check out the band on Facebook and Instagram – At The Arcade. Their music can also be streamed on Spotify.