Inclusive, explosive, and unforgettable… Don Valley at full tilt.
Once a landscape dominated by dark, satanic steel mills and the thunder of industry, Sheffield’s Don Valley has reinvented itself as a stage for something altogether different. Where smoke once rose from grimy chimneys, the air now reverberates with drumbeats, guitars, and the roar of festival crowds. The Rock N Roll Circus has made its home in this reclaimed ground, the grass amphitheatre offering a natural arena where the city’s industrial ghosts mingle with a new kind of fire and energy.
Across the weekend, three stages, one being the Big Top, hosted over 60 bands who filled the valley with noise and colour, the music matched by the carnival of spectacle: tightrope walkers teetering in the sky, jugglers and acrobats defying gravity, a circus school daring the brave to join in. Around the amphitheatre, stalls brimmed with food and drink, and the whole event pulsed with a sense of tremendous organisation, inclusivity, and celebration. Once a symbol of hard graft and steel, the Don Valley Bowl now carries its rhythm in a different way, one that Sheffield has fully claimed as its own.
Rock N Roll Circus opened its two-night prequel on Wednesday 27th September with a line-up stacked to bursting with Queens Of The Stone Age headlining both nights. I was there for most of the first night and it was relentless from the off.
Jehnny Beth, the French post-punk powerhouse and former Savages frontwoman, hit with a performance that was sharp, fearless and magnetic. Straight after, Fat Dog, a post-punk band formed in SE London in 2020, finally tore into Sheffield, I’d been trying to catch them for a while. Fronted by Joe Love, they were everything I’d hoped for: raw, chaotic, and seething with unfiltered energy. They didn’t just play, they attacked the place. Brilliant, well worth looking out for.
The Bug Club, the Welsh indie duo, stripped it back but still hooked in the crowd with their off-kilter charm. Then came So Good, throwing out spiky, high-energy pop punk with hooks that stuck like glue.
One of the surprises of the night for me was Freak Slug. Also known as Xenya Genovais, she brought moody, grunge-tinged indie rock with a depth in her voice that pulled you in. First time seeing her and I’ll be chasing another show for sure.
Then it was time for the headliners. Queens of the Stone Age, formed in California back in 1996, showed why they’re still rock royalty. Josh Homme led the charge, weaving heavy riffs with moments that pulled between electric crunch and acoustic weight. The crowd was theirs from the start, losing it completely for ‘No One Knows’. A flawless finish to a day stacked with talent and grit.
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