Every year, when festival season rolls around, the one that I get most excited for is the one on my own doorstep here in Norwich – Wildpaths – a multi day, multi venue in door festival that showcases some of the best new music and artists from all over the UK. With one of the best teams in the business running it (check out our interview with festival director Ben Street here), this is a top tier event that I’m proud to be a part of and in Alternations home city of Norwich.
The event usually kicks off with a few pre-parties and shows to ease you into the week leading up before the shows really kick in when the main festival begins on the Thursday.
That’s where I headed to Space Studios, my very first visit to the former art studios, and I was impressed. The lighting, sound and layout, despite small, are somewhere you can feel comfortable and with a lounge style bar on the top floor to enjoy some chilled beats.
We kicked off our Wildpaths 2025 with Bayou’s Indie sounds – Local lads making the right noises on the scene and playing to an enthusiastic crowd who also enjoyed DH Temple immediately after.
One of my favorite venue’s in Norwich is the home of Wildpaths for me – Voodoo Daddy’s, now in its new home on London Street after outgrowing its previous location and moving in late 2023 – Upstairs its retro video games, guitar hero and the coolest counter culture, downstairs it’s a proper music venue! And it’s here we see The Pill – I saw them on a bigger stage at Y-not festival in the summer and was not at all surprised that the can smash it just as well on a smaller one too.
A frenetic 40 minute set from the punk act, Lottie and Lilly with Rufus on Drums are certainly worth checking out, and I’ll call it here that 2026 is going to be massive for them!
Earlier I mentioned the multiple venue’s and one of them being the Octagon Chapel, built in the 17th century. I was pleasantly surprised by the layout and how the team had put everything together at this venue. I would be here a few more times over the weekend and was genuinely excited for every set as a result. Quinn Oulton had some technical and set up issues which caused a lengthy delay so I was not able to see more than one song, There was a very technical set up involved and possibly Quinn had slightly underestimated how much time he’d need.
The hub for the festival was at the Maids Head hotel which had a few easy listening, light jazz acts. Yuuf (another interview you can read here!) were enjoyable, my inability to follow directions meant I got lost somewhere in the hotel trying to leave – signage pointing towards the exit could be something for feedback if there are future shows there.
Bringing day 1 for me to a close, looking forwards to day 2…
Which see’s us back at the Octagon again (I really hope they use this again at future Wildpaths!) for Len Blake, A soulful voice and really well put together set list, most of the acts play for around 40 minutes, Len could easily fill any venue for a solid hour and a half, perhaps we’ll see her do that in the future.
Next up is Norwich’s own Alice-Lily, an exciting talent and someone’s who’s worked hard for the glowing reviews her music is receiving all over the country right now. I can remember a few years ago photographing Olivia Dean at Wildpaths as she was still new and embarking on her career, I can see Alice certainly following a similar trajectory – something we’ll be asking her about in a forthcoming interview.
Sadly Eat Your Own Head weren’t able to perform this year, so Norwich Metal act Oi Nah stepped in, I’m not really a metal fan so always judge these things by fan reaction as I feel it unfair to base my review on a band on a genre of music I don’t really listen to, a solid showing by all accounts however, with the enthusiastic crowd really giving the band the energy they deserve.
Shoegaze act Lime Garden however, are a band I like! The headliners at St Laurence’s Church have been making waves in the indie scene for a while now, Album “one more thing” being a highlight of 2024, there’s some strong female acts in the UK right now, Lime Garden are certainly one of them.
Day 3 and the longest day, being Saturday, the music starts at lunch time. I was intrigued by Amourette, A band not yet on the bigger streaming services like Spotify and Tidal but who are building up a strong repertoire through their energetic and high powered sets, the 4 piece act from Norwich reminded me a little bit of The Pill from Thursday but also nods to Avril Lavigne, Lambrini Girls and definitely Riot Grrl sounds. I’ve always been a big fan of the riot genre and very much enjoyed this.
The Reverse Cowboys (yet another Interview we’ve done) show their unique and irreverent take on life with some tongue in cheek antics at Voodoos at one of the most fun and enjoyable sets of the weekend, I turned up early enough for the sound check and had a song dedicated to my camera to the tune of Sweet Home Alabama – I’ll start turning up early more often for such a welcome!
A return to the skate Park at St Peter Parmentergate, a really unique and cool use of a converted church and the same place we saw Oi Nah last night, for our friends Birdwitch. I mentioned above that Metal isn’t really what I listen to, However Birdwitch offer a stunning visual presence on stage (and everywhere else in the venue, even on the skate ramp!) that you cannot help but be taken in.
The venue was full for this set and I’m so very glad to have photographed it. Under the radar music from all genres is what we’re here to support at Alternation and Birdwitch are a big part of the local scene who work hard for the plaudits they receive. We’re really lucky to have them in Norwich and even luckier to have them as friends and supporters of this very blog too. You all rock!
However only Wildpaths could take you to the exact opposite! And from this big loud set I was then (via a quick food break at Moorish Falafel, one of the festivals partners) Catching Billy Lubach at a Creperie for an acoustic set, a unique and quirky place to shoot a gig and probably the most unusual I’ve been in so far. It was good to briefly catch up with Ben, the main man behind Wildpaths and the reason all these fab acts get to play, ahead of Billy’s set.
An interesting experiment for sure, although being honest perhaps better somewhere slightly bigger or just outside.
Comic Sans are another young act making their way and had an enjoyable 40 minutes at Voodoo's
Nina Arya is a wonderful Human and her ability to hold the crowd with her presence was really captivating, although I could only stay for a couple of songs.
I had some time to kill and thought it best to rest – Olive Jones was on at the Octagon so gave some time for some refreshment and reflection – I had photographed Olive at the Wallow on her last visit to Norwich for Wildpaths as a solo set in 2022 – this was with a band, some good technical set up and polished vocals – the drummer certainly showing some great style.
Sebukku told us to let Hip hop into our hearts – Rap and Hip Hop acts are always great fun to photograph as they can often carry a crowd and move a lot on stage, The local lad doing just this!
The technical and electronic overlays of Nix Northwest added some real intrigue to a set – I wasn’t familiar with his music, and haven’t seen him live before.
We end Wildpaths 2025 with Jgrrey, another artist on the rise, A great style in her look on stage, I felt there was just something slightly missing from her set that whilst enjoyable, just perhaps needed that little bit more to it.
As ever, Wildpaths remains the best show in the city every year. We’re really lucky to have so many great bands from Norfolk and coming here across all of the venues, and the amazing Access to Music which gives so much young talent an opportunity to showcase through the festival too. We’ll be back again next year if they’ll have us! Thanks to all the team, stay safe and keep bringing us the beats!
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