Music
Support Act: Reasons to turn up early this month
Don't miss these top acts opening for your favourite band in the coming weeks
We’ve all been guilty of it, the mental gymnastics of working how long you’ll have to rush to the venue after work, cram a Pret a Manger down you for dinner and meet your friend for a drink or two before getting into the venue just before the headliner walks on at nine.
But there’s a lot to be said for getting down to your next show early. Forget the stress of carving your way through crowds to find some sort of view of the singer. Get a lay of lands so you know your bars from your toilets and cloakrooms. Above all, catch the support act. It’s often one handpicked by the headliner you’re here to see, or a local act you never know existed, one that’ll likely be a headliner of their own in a year or two.
In this new series, we’ll be highlighting a few of our highly recommended support acts opening your favourite artist in the coming weeks.
Sierra Ferrell
Hailed by NPR as “The May Queen of American roots music – no matter what month it is,” Sierra Ferrell incorporates elements of bluesgrass, country and gypsy jazz into a sound that continues to etch her name bolder into the book of Americana greats. Her 2024 album Trail Of Flowers earnt her Best Americana Album, Best Americana Performance, Best Americana Roots Song and Best Americana Roots Performance at the Grammy’s, so expect this run with the Mumford boys to be her last time as a support act in venues of this size!
Dead Pony
Supporting Kids In Glass Houses’ UK tour, ending in Cardiff on 19 Dec – find tickets here
Joining Kids In Glass Houses’s UK tour celebrating 15 years of Dirt are Glasgow’s Dead Pony, a band formerly known as Crystal and who had a rename in rebrand in 2020 – didn’t we all. The verses are punchy and the choruses are huge, sewed together with a snarl and contrasted with vocalist Anna Shield’s catchy melodies.
Finn Forster
You may have seen him impress at this year’s Reading & Leeds festivals, but if not then expect to his Finn Forster’s name a lot more in 2026. The Teeside artist’s soaring vocals carry that classic soul sound, and you can expect extra heart behind his shows with the Welsh greats Stereophonics as they’re band that were integral in his making as an artist. “If you went back five to ten years, you’d probably find me in the corner of a bar in Middlesbrough, belting out ‘Dakota’ as the last song of my set,” he wrote for Clash magazine.
Burr Island
Though they’re also partial to a peppy, warm and nostalgic bop, it’s all about goosebump-inducing harmonies and wistful, wintery atmospherics from East London’s indie-folk duo Burr Island – perfect for a cozy, Christmassy evening before Robert Plant’s sprawling folk landscapes unfold.
Storm Mollison
Best believe Storm Mollison will bring the bangers early as the London via Florida DJ spins groove-laden Chicago house with some techy drops and hypnotic build ups – though her own productions span dreamy breakbeats (‘U KNEW’) and pumping deep-house (‘DELIRIOUS GIRL’). Be there for the whole journey.
Nizlopi
Supporting Ed Sheeran at Co-op Live, Manchester on 7 Dec – find tickets here
Millennial readers will most likely remember the twee and rustic classic ‘JCB’, a gorgeously nostalgic song that contrasts struggling at school with the simple joy working out in the fields with your dad. If you don’t, listen to it and it’s not hard to imagine a young Ed Sheeran falling in love with it; the global star was once their guitar technician and has often cited them as a major influence. How lovely for it all to come full circle, then, as Luke Concannon and John Parker join him for the Bird tour, where they’ve even begun playing a new song…
