Live Review: Red Rum Club – Docks Academy, Grimsby
27/01/2026
Red Rum Club | Docks Academy – Grimsby | Photo by: Ola Jakubus – @ajakubus
It’s Independent Venue Week and there’s a storm brewing, figuratively and very much literally. Outside, Storm Chandra has been battering Grimsby all day, rain driven sideways and travel thrown into chaos, only easing off an hour or so before doors. Inside Docks Academy, Red Rum Club are about to blow the roof off the place for the third time.
Honestly, there couldn’t be a more fitting setting, Docks Academy is exactly the kind of venue Independent Venue Week exists to protect, small, fiercely passionate and properly intimate. This is a room where the crowd feels like part of the show, where sweat drips, voices strain and the energy bounces straight back from stage to the floor. It’s a reminder that the heartbeat of live music isn’t always found in arenas or festival fields, it lives in rooms like this, packed with a few hundred people who really care.
By the time we squeeze our way through the crowd which was unfortunately at the tail end of the support set, you’d be forgiven for thinking this is the height of summer rather than a wet, wild Tuesday night in January. The venue was rammed, the air is thick with anticipation and there’s absolutely nothing dry about this gig, inside or out.
Cherryholt | Docks Academy – Grimsby | Photo by: Ola Jakubus – @ajakubus
We’re no strangers to Docks Academy but this is without question the fullest we’ve ever seen it for not only a support band but for anybody, tonight was going to be a big night. Cherryholt were the support on the night and despite only getting settled in for the start of their last tune ‘Irresistible‘, they looked and sounded very good! Confident, tight and clearly winning over a crowd already in full party mode.
With the support finished and the crowd evacuating en masse to the bar, we seize the moment to move forward, me armed with a pint of wine (it is a Tuesday, after all). Down the front we find friends Nick and Katie, along with Jaz White from local band Healer. The smiles said it all, we all knew we were in for a treat.
Red Rum Club | Docks Academy – Grimsby | Photo by: Ola Jakubus – @ajakubus
To our right, a sea of blow-up trumpets is raised in homage to the fabulous Joe the Blow. If you know, you know.
The lights drop, Mariachi sounds roll through the room and the reaction is instant. Red Rum Club waste no time bursting straight into ‘Buck’ and Docks Academy goes up in one. It’s a flawless opening salvo, loud, loose and immediately life-affirming. As the chaos settles just enough to draw breath, ‘American Nights & English Mornings’ follows, stretching the moment out and locking the room fully into Red Rum Club’s world. Any lingering January fatigue is instantly obliterated.
Early on, it’s clear this isn’t going to be a slow burner. ‘Eleanor’ lands to a wall of voices, instantly turning the front half of the room into a mass sing-along, while the 80s-tinged shimmer of ‘Nightcalling’ follows soon after to set off the dancing shoes. Both tracks feel tailor-made for rooms like this, arms round shoulders, lyrics shouted rather than sung and that shared sense that everyone’s completely locked into the moment already.
‘Wild’, ‘Animal’, ‘Call Me On Your Comedown’ and ‘Crush TX’ came in quick succession from the latest album ‘Buck‘, an album I’ve been completely hooked on. With each release, Red Rum Club just seem to sound bigger and bolder and these tracks proved it. ‘Animal’ in particular was a standout, I’ve loved the tune for a while but hearing it live was an unexpected treat, a genuine surprise for the crowd.
The album carries a distinctly American vibe, which makes sense, as frontman Fran Doran told the crowd that they’ve recently signed a US record deal. Once their current UK dates wrap, they’ll be taking this sound across to the States, bringing their explosive live energy to new shores. Exciting times, i’m sure they will fit right in.
Red Rum Club | Docks Academy – Grimsby | Photo by: Ola Jakubus – @ajakubus
‘Kids Addicted’ and ‘Vibrate’ fully unite the room, pulling in even those who might not yet be as familiar with the newer material. Not that the energy ever dips elsewhere but there’s a noticeable lift here. The vibes ramped up another notch with the whole crowd locking in together. Fran almost makes you feel sorry for him as he winds through ‘Vibrate‘, a breakup song like no other, infidelity has rarely sounded so good.
The encore lands hard with a strong four-song run of ‘Eighteen’, ‘Would You Rather Be Lonely?’, ‘Angeline’ and ‘Vanilla’. ‘Would You Rather Be Lonely?‘ is stretched out for its now-trademark finish, the band stepping back as the crowd belts it back at them for a solid minute or so, a goosebump-inducing, roof-raising moment. By the time ‘Vanilla‘ closes the night, Red Rum Club have absolutely everyone in the room in the palm of their hands for one final, euphoric sing-along.
We last saw Red Rum Club in the middle of a field in Derbyshire, at Y Not Festival 2025 basking in 25 degrees and 20,000 people soaking it all in too. It was incredible but this is exactly why Independent Venue Week matters, the weather may be bleak, we may all be knackered, yet Red Rum Club turn up in Grimsby on a Tuesday night and make everyone in the room feel properly warm and alive.
We need to keep supporting venues like this so they can keep giving us nights like these. They bring big festival summer vibes to the darkest part of the year, in not always the most glamorous Towns. If we don’t use them, we lose them and missing out on moments like this would be a right bloody shame.
All photographs were taken by Ola Jakubus. Follow @ajakubus on Instagram. For higher-resolution images or further usage, please contact Ola directly. See more below…
