Trailblazer Live Showcase Finals - Day Two at Bradford Nightrain 15-03-2025
- Samantha Potts
- Mar 22
- 5 min read
Day Two of the Upstaged Trailblazer Live Showcase Finals Weekend and eight of the UK's up-and-coming talent from around the UK are getting ready to perform at The Nightrain in Bradford. The bands will be performing to win the crowd's votes and have the chance to open up the main stage at Call Of The Wild Festival 2025! with 4 more lucky bands who impress the Upstaged! team enough to get the amazing chance to take the remaining spots on the Trailblazer stage.
Votes for the weekend performances consist of the following categories;
Overall Performance
Songwriting
Musicianship
Connection With The Audience
Votes are scored out of 5 for each of the above categories and added together for an overall score out of 20! Each band will be given 25 minutes for their set with tonight's line-up featuring Eld Varg, Yaki Dah, The Breathing Method, Sydney Fate, Not Now Norman, Silk Spinster, Rockabye Reaper, and To Nowhere. With a special guest headline appearance Moskito!
At the end of this post, we will tell you the winner of Trailblazer 2025!
Eld Varg
Coming in from the Northern shores of Scotland Three-piece Eld Varg kicks off Saturday's live showcase. Their captivating sound and showmanship fully capture the crowd and keep them the entire set. Their heavy sound is incredible and so filling across the large stage. I highly enjoyed watching them interact with each other on stage and with the growing audience. Have a listen to 'The Thunders Of Mount Doom'
Yaki Dah
Shuffling over to Welsh Yaki Dah. The four-piece is also debuting a brand-new lead singer which is an interesting gamble to do in a showcase. Yaki Dah had a very unique and interesting sound considering the change in the line-up they did fit rather well together. Hopefully, with time and many more shows, they will be hitting their top marks once again. Yaki Dah released an EP called "16 Miles To Merthyr" Check it out!
The Breathing Method
Up to showcase next is the alternative rock band The Breathing Method. The five-piece plays a powerful set, their progressive on point vocals fit perfectly alongside guitar solos drawing the audience in, and the band hooks in the audience. With a sing-along with the audience they prove why they have beat many other bands for this fantastic chance! Check Out The Breathing Method's song 'Unbearable'
Sydney Fate
Sydney Fate another one of our showcases from Wales takes to the stage. The six-piece spreads out across the Nightrain stage. From the moment they kicked off their performance knew it was gonna be an extremely heavy, loud, and the most alternative metal band on the line-up. Jumping, Kicking, and being so active throughout their entire show. They were different from who else we had seen during the Friday and throughout the Saturday lineup. I highly enjoyed their set and could so easily go back out to see them again on their next live show! Have a listen to Sydney Fate via their song 'Karma'.
Not Now Norman
We are arriving at the the half way mark of saturday at trailbalzer and we are joined by Not Now Norman. With her high energy peformance and she captures the crowd with her powerful vocals which are backed up by the the tallent of the rest of Not Now Norman. They all just have fun and are always doing something on stage weather thats to each other or the crowd. Not Now Norman gives such strong and important messages throughout their set they put a spell over you from the start to finish of their set! Check out Not Now Norman's Single 'Why Don't Ya Like Me'
Silk Spinster
Silk Spinster burst on to the stage full of energy and at times the stage can't contain them with them bursting off the stage and around in to the crowd. They brough a side of comedy and within there heavy set and at times gave me a slight Iron Maiden crossed with their wasteland wariors set. Performing a heavy version of 'Living La Vida Loca' which really captured the crowd and got everyone singing along. From getting into the crowd to stage props being used throughout their set. They captured the crowds intrest for sure! Have a listen to crowd single along song 'Rockstar'
Rockabye Reaper
We arrive with out thrid welsh band of the evening Rockabye Reaper! Like Jeanicelee from the night before unfortunately Rockabye Reaper had mic issues which lead to lead singer Keeley vocals to be extreamly quiet which isn't their fault. Looking at the other sections of their performance you can see the passion that Rockabye Reaper have to perform on stage with each other. The small interactions they all have with each other makes them such a fun and calming band to watch and I hope I will get another oppotunity soon to see them again soon! Have a listen to their song 'Betrayal'
And we arrive to our final showcase artist of the evening
To Nowhere
To Nowhere take there place on stage there mixture sounds giving notes of Bring Me The Horizon and Don Broco flow through there set really capturing the audiences attention and giving a completely diffrent sound to the previous artist who had performed before them. Being the final showcase artist of the evening didnt stop them from bouncing around the stage and showing their raw talent that they brought with them! To Nowhere will be making a swift entry to my daily playlist! Have a listen to To Nowhere single 'Medusa'
And with that Trailblazer 2025 Final Showcase comes to a end. The judges at Upstaged have collected all of the voting cards from all eight of the amazing bands we have seen tonight and will be counting them up to find out who has won the amazing opportunity to perform on the main stage Friday Opening slot at Call Of The Wild 2025!
While Upstaged are busy counting up the vote we are treated to extra special headline guest Moskito! Having just gotten off staged In Manchester they have jumped in there van and flown up the motorway to give a fun headline show.
Moskito
Moskito play a really fun set having seen them earlier in the year for the first time at Rockmantic Carlisle on the Saturday night! They smashed there set again keeping the crowd entertained and bouncing up and down. With each of there songs being so unique no matter how many times you will see them you will always spot a little something diffrent at there shows. If you wanna catch Moskito live yourself then make sure you get your ticket for Call Of The Wild Festival 2025 where they will be performing at the VIP Party on thursday night!
The Winner taken from both friday and saturdays votes was a very close call between all of the bands with second and third place acts both being given one of the spots on the Trailblazer stage at Call Of The Wild Festival 2025 are;
In 3rd place... is The Soul Revival
In 2nd place is... Silk Spinster
And Coming in 1st place and who will be opening the main stage at Call Of The Wild Festival is... Greyfox Conspiracy
Massive congratulations to each and every band who took part in this years Trailblazer Live Final Showcase! If you havn't already seen this years Call Of The Wild Festival 2025 take a look at all the amazing bands bellow!
If You havn't already Read Trailblazer Live Showcase Finals - Day One at Bradford Nightrain 14-03-2025 Have a check back for the five increable artist who preformed! Massive thanks to the Upstaged team for having me come down to photograph and review the amazing artist who preformed this weekend! Stay tuned for more Call Of The Wild News!
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