Gig review: Panchiko at Rock City

The story of Panchiko is one repeated time and time again, and it shall be repeated here once more. Originally formed in Nottingham in 1997 by friends Owain, Andy, Shaun, they flew relatively under the radar for the four years they existed, releasing just one EP in 2001 before breaking up the following year. Over the next 25 years, there was not a mention of the group’s existence... Then, in 2016 an anonymous 4chan user found one of the ~30 copies of the EP in the Oxfam in Sherwood, in a state of severe disk rot. Following this, there was a four-year long internet search for whoever was behind the band, and it seemed to be hopeless. This was until a Discord user with the name ‘Toad’ messaged an educator on Facebook with the now infamous sentence:

“Hello, you'll probably never read this, but are you the lead singer of Panchiko?"

“Yeah,” replied 38-year old Owain Davies, and from there led, perhaps, the luckiest musical career of all time. Andy, Owain, and Shaun regrouped with guitarist Rob Harris and drummer John Scofield (the original John had long since disappeared from the three’s lives and allegedly joined the army) and Panchiko made their triumphant return at The Metronome on December 5th 2021, which was later released as “Live In Nottingham”. Now, five years and two released records on from the reunion. Panchiko played their biggest show in their hometown - at Rock City.

When I arrived at the venue, I was genuinely astonished by the sheer amount of people who were there. I have a general rule of thumb, to get to a venue around one hour before doors open, but I had unexpectedly walked past Rock City earlier than planned. I am so glad I did. Two hours before the show was supposed to start, there were already more people in the queue than I have seen in quite some time. This unexpected worry ended up being a blessing in disguise, as I got to speak to some fellow fans for a large amount of time before entering, and it really opened my eyes to the sort of impact this band has had. Last time I saw Panchiko, back in 2023, the crowd was mostly locals, but this queue was populated with people who had travelled as far as Birmingham just to see Panchiko perform at home plate.

After waiting for some time, we were all let in, and this may have been the busiest show I have ever been to. To say it was packed would be an understatement; a pack of sardines would call it excessive. Despite this, I did not care about how cramped the show was. It was actually a lovely sight to see. The overall feeling for me in this show was a feeling of love for the band, that they had come this far based on their talent mixed with the most impossible of odds. It gave me a sense of pride and joy just to see how much support they had gained, to the point that they filled one of the biggest venues in their hometown.

Alison’s Halo, the opening act, were absolutely amazing. Their brand of dreamy shoegaze gelled really well with the entire audience. They might have been, however, the loudest band I have seen thus far (which is not to their detriment at all). Alison’s Halo’s songs have a very grand and cosmic feel to them, especially Dozen and Jetpacks for Julian which were both done astonishingly well live. Lead singer Cathrine Cooper seemed to absolutely adore the crowd and seemed incredibly happy to be in Nottingham, and I got a real sense of Mudita from seeing them all enjoy themselves so thoroughly.

When Panchiko walked on to the sounds of Paul McCartney’s Temporary Secretary, the crowd went absolutely ballistic. Almost immediately after coming on, they blasted into Stabilisers For Big Boys, a brilliant song to get the room pumping for the rest of the show. The cutest thing, that I noticed from the start, was how much my side of the crowd seemed to adore bassist Shaun Ferreday. Between songs, a member of the crowd successfully played (and beat) him in rock paper scissors twice, and he seemed to have a lot of crowd interaction.

Through the first section of Panchiko's set, they played awesome renditions of Gingko, Stuck and CUT, and this showed how varied the setlist was. Despite the fact that they have, for all intents and purposes, five albums worth of material, they made sure every record had somewhat equal representation. 

Speaking on the topics of albums, the tracks they played from their forthcoming album Chimera were all absolutely amazing. Giorgia is an uptempo banger on the same lines as tracks such as Until I Know, with a really great lead guitar part by Andy Wright and the aching lyrics “Will you know my name?”

Overwrite really showed off Owain’s vocal chops, and One Car Hits Another is a certified hit with its plucky synths and pristine vibes.

Ferric Oxide is an album whose tracks were translated perfectly live due to their original state. For the uninitiated, this record is a collection of demos from 1997 to 2001, and are rough in arrangement. However, in a live setting the band expanded them with amazing arrangements, really evolving the tracks from rough sketches to beautiful paintings. Specifically, Untitled Demo 1997 is given a full, extended band version which makes the track feel so much fuller, and gives the heartache within it that bit more devastation.

A year ago, I made a playlist of what I believe to be the greatest songs ever recorded - and on that playlist was the live version of Deathmetal. This song introduced me to Panchiko, and the perfection of the song has not changed in all those years since I first heard it. The way they adapted this song from a three minute classic to a seven minute testament to the band’s existence gives chills. The whirring, loud, atmospheric outro is such a great addition to the track that it eclipses the studio version. In my opinion, Deathmetal is the greatest song to ever come out of Nottinghamshire (and it should be treated as such) - and every time I see them perform it live it further cements it into my brain. 

Panchiko finished the show with Andy Wright calling the crowd “little chickens”, before proceeding with three of their best tracks, Laputa, All They Wanted, and Kicking Cars. It is with these that I need to mention the visual aspect of the show: every song had these amazing visualisers that just fitted the vibes perfectly. Whether it was chlorophyll, an anime 3D model dancing to Overwrite, or swirling patterns, it fit the music so well. 

Kicking Cars, the final track of the night, had a collage of anime scenes in the background, and the crowd screamed louder and louder every time a famous scene from Berserk, Speed Racer, or others came on. This culminated with a clip of Shinji from Neon Genesis: Evangelion (while Owain screamed the outro) which sent the crowd into a frenzy like I have never seen for a visualiser. As the song fizzled out, cheers erupted like an atomic bomb.

Through my long travels home, my sleep, and my subsequent day of walking around- there was one thing that I kept thinking about, technology. However I or you feel about aspects of technology, it is the community that international connection can bring that leads to moments like this. Panchiko were never on the radio, they never had a record deal, they never had a smidge of a brand, and yet the internet allowed them to go from absolute obscurity to the upper echelons of their scene based purely on talent and love. Statistically, Panchiko was never meant to get here; the pieces that had to fall into place in order to make anything like this possible were one in a million - but it happened. In terms of international recognition, Panchiko is the biggest musical export Nottinghamshire has had. 

All of this, every tour, stream, and fan is a direct result of the internet allowing people to find community and music; and that is beautiful. I was one of those kids, who saw the white album cover of a character from Mint na Bokura and thought it was cool and fell in love. Panchiko represents everything that is good about Nottingham: community, discovery, and love. This show was full of all three of those points, and it guarantees this show and this band will not leave my mind for a long, long time.

Panchiko performed at Rock City on 22 October 2026. Photos are from the band's 2025 gig at a different venue.