Pendulum + Normandie @ Scarborough Open Air – Friday 20th June 2025

23 June 2025

On Friday 20 June, Pendulum and support act Normandie performed at Scarborough’s Open Air Theatre and what a thrilling, unforgettable night it was. As the gates opened, hundreds of rock-loving fans in all kinds of metal merch waltzed their way in, beaming with smiles all excited for the main band, Pendulum. The weather was perfect, beer was flowing, and adrenaline was pumping. People in standing were bouncing, singing along to the ungodly amounts of Bring Me The Horizon songs that were played – no complaints from me!

At around 7:30pm, the Swedish rock band Normandie entered the stage with nothing but high-spirits and crazy energy that blew people away. The lights that Normandie had for their set matched their energy so well. Bright and colourful, just like their logo of a big yellow smiley face. Lead singer, Philip Strand, introduced the band and the vocals he performed were absolutely outstanding. The notes Philip carried were never broken. That guy has one of the best voices I have heard from a live band in a while. The emotions in the songs were raw. I was absolutely loving every second of it. Drummer Anton Franzon showcased his immense talents by hitting every single beat with perfection, there was never a beat out of time from him.

The crowd were certainly jumping around by the second song. I do not think I saw anyone standing still whilst Normandie performed their set. The guitarist Hakan Almbladh was incredible when it came to involving the crowd. From walking to one side of the stage to another, he did not fail to make his presence known to the rock fans. Normandie were not well known to the Scarborough crowd but they certainly made a great first impression, their name will not go unmentioned when people talk about this gig. I soon realised who the band was when one of their songs Hostage was performed as it is one of their songs I thoroughly enjoy. However, having heard these guys live they have been on repeat since I heard them at Scarborough!

Normandie were the perfect warm up band for Pendulum. Their melodic sound infused with rock left the gig goers wanting more. So, if the name Normandie is unknown to you, get to know them! They are a MUST SEE and a MUST CHECK OUT band. You don’t realise what you’re missing out on until you’ve heard them!

At this point, people were hot and sweaty all ready for Pendulum to enter the stage. As it approached 9pm, the 8,000 capacity venue started to fill, but to my surprise the arena was not sold-out for this legendary band, maybe people were still recovering from the 5 days of mayhem at Download. The stage was being set up for Pendulum to come on and 10 minutes later their introduction started. This is where the carnage happened, it was a good job the theatre did not have a roof as it would have been blown off from the shear amount of moshing and energy the fans had.

Before the band walked on stage there was a segment being played that was sinister but nevertheless something Pendulum would do. Rob Swire, Peredur Ap Gwynedd, KJ Sawka, and Gareth McGrillen entered the stage with Rob asking the crowd ‘Scarborough, how’re you feeling?’, which got a reception of loud chanting and erupted the crowd into madness. The band opened with Napalm, one of their new songs off of the upcoming album Inertia. Napalm was a great opener as it got people more excited for what was to come. After a couple of songs, the band encouraged people to sing along, to which all was heard were ‘dun-dun-dun’s’ throughout the set. Magnificent work from the crowd, if I do say so myself. The stage presence these guys hold is phenomenal, anyone who has seen Pendulum will tell you how great this electronic-metal band are live!

The visuals that Pendulum had for their show suited them very much. There were a few that made me question why they chose nature-inspired scenery for some of their visuals, but then again, it worked. The flashing lights throughout their set really set the mood for the hard beats and drum and bass drops Pendulum are famous for. The whole place was constantly dancing although I did see a few people sat down during their entire set – each to their own I guess!

One of the things that let them down were the technical difficulties that the band were facing. You could visibly see Rob getting aggravated by it, but in no way did this flaunt their ability to carry on playing. No matter how many challenges they were faced with, the band knew how to cope under the pressure and still made sure their timings were right and put on the best show possible for the fans.

Bassist Gareth encouraged the fans to ‘open the pit’ when they played Self vs Self which allowed the crowd to open the biggest pit Scarborough had seen since Korn played in 2024 (it was huge I am not exaggerating). Before this, Rob announced the band have a new song coming out in August and having heard this live I can already tell it is going to be a hit that all fans of electronic-metal are going to love. Their new stuff has already taken off but this whole new album is going to be everything Pendulum fans crave!

The band walked off stage after playing Watercolour, which got people shouting ‘one more song’ continuously, and sure enough that was not the last time we were going to see Pendulum for the evening, oh no. Not only did they walk back on stage, but after not playing Tarantula for a year due to them ‘retiring’ the song they surprised everyone there with the encore being Tarantula. Screams and chants of ‘Woo’s’ broke out from the crowd. The night ended on such a high, chatters of how incredible the set was echoed throughout. I overheard one couple say it wouldn’t be the last time they would see Pendulum, and to be honest I think a lot of people were thinking the same thing.

It sure was a gig to remember, and an honour to be there. Pendulum will always be one of the best electronic-metal bands out there.

FULL SETLIST BELOW: