By Emeli Meagher
Friday night at CloseUp Fest brought in the weekend with guitar-driven chaos and quick-witted charm. The room at Colours Hoxton buzzed with anticipation, and Day Two delivered a lineup that balanced raw energy with razor-sharp personality.
Leeds outfit Eades, a five-piece post-punk band, opened the evening with sharp energy, smoothly navigating early technical hiccups. Their punchy, straightforward set balanced polished confidence with moments of playful experimentation, including a performance of their alt-country single, Backwards. Slacker vocals and jagged riffs gave the performance a unique edge. They also announced their second album, due out on the 18th September – a promising start to the night that made a strong case for the band.
The Hubbards followed with an effortlessly likeable set that mixed tight indie-pop with comical crowd work. Noticing the early-evening spacing in the audience, their frontman declared the area in front of the stage “no man’s land” – a moment of perfectly timed dry humour that set the tone for the rest of their performance. Add polished playing and a stage presence like no other, and you get gems like: “We live in a society where cash is king, card is queen… we’ll be at the merch stand if you want to come by,” he joked later, somehow making capitalism charming. Their songs landed clean, and by the end, the gap was gone.
Headliners Indoor Pets closed the night with a bang… and a personal touch. Though this was their only live show of the summer, the band has stayed busy, with last year’s tour and recent album Pathetic Apathetic still fresh in fans’ minds. For CloseUp, they turned to Instagram ahead of the show, asking fans what they wanted to hear, and built their setlist accordingly. The result was loud, loose, and fan-focused, with a signature blend of crunchy guitars, anxious energy, and crowd-first spirit, with a distinctly Weezer-esque edge that made it feel less like a festival booking and more like a celebration. Indoor Pets might only be doing one show this summer, but they made it count.
Two days down, and the spirit of Close Up – intimate, chaotic, and tuned in to its audience – keeps getting sharper.
Unless otherwise stated, Photography & Text Copyright 2025 © Emeli Meagher/ADRENALINE Magazine.
Grace Elizabeth 
Kyle Horne