RATBOYS SET LONDON ALIGHT WITH FOOTSTEPS FESTIVAL HEADLINE

LIVE REVIEW | RATBOYS w/ SUNDAY MOURNERS and FORMER CHAMP | THE GARAGE, LONDON | 21st May 2026 by Morris Shamah

Ratboys, the indie rock quartet from Chicago, IL, brought their When The Sun Explodes Tour to headline The Garage last week as part of Footsteps Festival, which celebrates the independent artists and music scenes of London. It was a delightful showcase of Ratboys’ range and ferocity, and an excellent springboard for the opener bands, Sunday Mourners and Former Champ.

Former Champ are a garage rock band from Glasgow and Ratboys’ primary support for the UK & IE dates on this tour. Short on chatter, they blazed through a tight, packed setlist of melodic garage punk, and by the end of their set the 600-capacity room was almost full and starting to steam up.

Sunday Mourners joined in as a special guest support act, this their second performance at Footsteps following a free show at Shacklewell Arms 3 days earlier. The Los Angeles based post-punk group brought a vintage swagger and propulsive post-surf-punk sensibility to the evening. They played driving art-rock tunes, including a faithful cover of Television’s See No Evil, which made complete sense as soon as they started it. Sunday Mourners deviated a bit from the heartland-styled garage rock of Former Champ and Ratboys, but as Julia Steiner of Ratboys said in our interview a few weeks back, a diverse bill makes for an enjoyable gig.

Ratboys took the stage to a fully packed room, which was already sweaty and steamy from the incoming London heatwave, and they took charge from the very first note. They commanded the stage with the confidence and fierceness that instantly screamed this, is our show now.  Maybe it comes from 15 years of being a band, maybe it comes from being at the halfway point of a tour that contains festival dates and headline shows, but Ratboys were tight, explosive, and infectiously thrilling.

Their set was heavy on their new album, Singin’ to An Empty Chair, including four in a row to start things off –  Open Up is an obvious and effective opener, and Anywhere kept the energy flowing in the second slot, segueing neatly into Penny In the Lake before Julia introduced themselves and continued with Empty Chair tune with Know You Then. The opening salvo of Empty Chair songs is electric with the obvious joy and excitement the band has playing them. Marcus Nuccio’s drums are like thunder in the small room, booming and crashing with the hugeness of an arena. Sean Neumann is exhilarating on bass, playing with every inch of his body, like he’s being transformed with each note. Julia Steiner stands center stage playing guitar and singing, alternating between beaming smiles and fully wide screaming passion, and Dave Sagan is stage left, thoughtfully vibing away on lead guitar. 

The set opens up – pun intended – with some back catalog, mostly from 2023’s The Window, and a few tracks to please the long-term fans dating back to the beginning of their career. The highlights are mostly Empty Chair songs, though, particularly the trojan horse of Strange Love’s whimsy segueing directly into Light Night Mountains All That which concludes with a groovy outro, and the intense honesty of Just Want You To Know The Truth, which slowly builds and builds into a palpable crescendo that ignites the crowd. Older tunes like It’s Alive! and The Stanza certainly make themselves known, particularly the latter which stands out as an almost slow dance number, but it’s hard not to miss the few tracks from Empty Chair which weren’t played. Notably the 7 minute blue rock behemoth that is Burn It Down, which was immortalised at the merch table, adorning packs of custom Ratboys rolling papers.  

The set ends with Black Earth, WI – another long, slow build journey that works beautifully live. It flows and breathes as it should, untethered, and when Julia sings the mid-song bliss riff the Dave is playing on guitar, it’s not hidden in the background like on the record. It’s full volume lead vocals, an expression of freedom and catharsis that only a good rock show in a small, sweaty, steamy club can give you.

Ratboys Setlist – 21 May 2026

1. Open Up
2. Anywhere
3. Penny in the Lake
4. Know You Then
5. Morning Zoo
6. It’s Alive!
7. Strange Love
8. Light Night Mountains All That
9. The Stanza
10. The Window
11. I Go Out at Night
12. Just Want You to Know the Truth
13. What’s Right?
14. Go Outside
15. Black Earth, WI

Encore:

16. Alien with a Sleep Mask On
17. Look To