Bulletproof 2026: Maruja, Sprints & Pussy Riot: Riot Days

The inaugural Bulletproof festival took place in Dalston over the weekend, showcasing some of the very best alternative acts currently on the rise as well as established headliners Maruja, Sprints and Pussy Riot. Organised by the Peace and Justice Project alongside its founder Jeremy Corbyn MP to defend grassroots venues and raise funds for aid in Gaza, the festival’s three days were an act of musical protest.

Dead Air opened the first set of the festival in EartH Hall. The band’s guitar lines straddled smooth and distorted in a Royal Blood-esque fashion, but drummer Richard Greenbury masterfully stole the show. A solo that built into a bass-filled breakdown before the final chorus of ‘I.D.T.F’ packed a punch. Electropunk group Yard followed, showcasing a sound similar to contemporaries such as Scaler and Chalk. Shrouded in fog and dim lighting, they melded club techno with post-punk. Emmet White’s incensed vocals were spoken through a vocal distorter alongside dark, blaring synth bass and live guitar. This discordant clamour was dark and full of eldritch sounds, ending with the noisy beast that is ‘Lawmaker’. Shouty Scottish punk rockers Soapbox were raucous. Vocalist Tom Rowan wasted no time as he jumped into the crowd during the band’s first song, starting what was perhaps the world’s smallest mosh pit. He regularly moved between the stage and the floor, singing up close and personal with his audience. Songs like ‘Private Public Transport’ were as filled with political wit as they were loud and boisterous. 

Punchy opener ‘Catherine Wheels’ announced CQ Wrestling’s arrival onstage. After rebranding from Chappaqua Wrestling for the release of sophomore album Resistance, they’ve headed in a direction which is both a callback to the sounds of the Britpop era as well as embracing the current indie scene. The set predominantly consisted of new album material including lead single ‘Pacifico’ which was uptempo and lively. The lights dimmed, though, for ‘Finish Line’, an evocative track that had a more sorrowful tone than their faster rock songs. Things picked up again quickly as CQ Wrestling rounded out their performance with hit ‘The Rift.’

Before Bulletproof’s first headline performance, Jordan Devlin of the Filton 25 led an impassioned speech about the injustice of the case that befalls his fellow activists, in which the judge seeks to sentence them as terrorists despite them never being charged with terror offences. This was followed by an appearance by Jeremy Corbyn (who took to the stage to chants of “Oh, Jeremy Corbyn” from below), who spoke on peace in Gaza, fundraising for medical aid and the importance of music and arts education. Riled up and quite rightfully angry, the crowd were ready to witness Maruja, who could be seen at the rear of the stage draping a Palestinian flag over an amp.

Manchester’s musical powerhouse walked onstage to an epic string arrangement of their first track, a pit opening immediately to ‘Bloodsport’. Saxophonist Joe Carroll performed incredible hooks and solos alongside vocalist Harry Wilkinson’s laments. These saxophone parts served as interludes between shouty verses which culminated in choruses featuring both parts. Moving from melancholic to moody and eerie, growling bass and thunderous drums underpinned a dark performance. Carroll began ‘Thunder’ from the crowd, leaping back over the barrier in the nick of time as the closing mosh pit threatened to consume him. The way in which he held eye contact with his spectators as he played was uncanny and menacing, widening his eyes to leer from above. Despite the bedlam, there were beautiful, gentle tracks among the chaos. ‘Saoirse’ was a long poignant track that evoked deep emotions and tugged on heartstrings. Finally, Wilkinson asked the crowd to raise a fist in the air in solidarity with oppressed peoples before atmospheric closing track ‘Resisting Resistance’.

The next day’s programme began with ELLiS܁D’s psychedelic art rock. Glimmering, light-as-air guitars shone over speedy drum rhythms as ELLiS performed high-pitched vocals to fast-paced tracks like ‘Humdrum’ which wouldn’t have felt out of place in a Tom & Jerry chase scene in their quirkiness and driving sound. Pop-metal group paradise fell. were fun and charismatic. The group’s disorderly performance was a joining of outgoing performers. During an unreleased song, the band’s bassist leapt backwards off of his monitor, falling hard onto his back as he continued to play. Completely unfazed, he jumped back up to continue playing. Though a little less intense, bouncy and whimsical indie/jazz band Alien Chicks performed a saxophone-led set energetically. This light-hearted controlled chaos featured tempo shifts within tracks, refusing to conform to ‘normal’ song structures. Silly moments like the interpolation of nursery rhyme ‘Teddy Bear’s Picnic’ into a song before a manic breakdown made for a bizarre but brilliant display. CLT DRP’s heavy female-fronted indie was led by grungy electronic sounds created by guitarist Scott Reynolds, who used a vast pedalboard in order to transform his instrument into a range of industrial noises which accompanied booming bass on tracks like ‘Until You Showed Me’. Vocalist Annie Dorrett showed relentless energy for the full duration, complementing the synth-like noises of her bandmate with passionate vocal delivery.

Off the back of supporting Geese on the European leg of their tour earlier this year, Westside Cowboy are rapidly becoming known as one of the hottest breakout indie bands in the country and were billed as a secret set and only announced hours before. The shout of “WESTSIDE COWBOY” by drummer Paddy Murphy segued into the band’s biggest song to date ‘I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You)’. With a touching, hopeful sound, they performed in a punchy and energetic yet laid-back manner, drawing the audience into a peaceful stupor. It’s always lovely to see a band truly enjoying their craft; each member could not wipe a look of bliss off of their face as they played. To finish, Murphy brought a tom to the front of the stage as the whole band gathered around one microphone to sing ‘In the Morning’ as a collective.

A minute-long countdown appeared on the screen to the rear of the stage, Dublin’s Sprints taking to the stage once it hit zero. The band – fronted by Karla Chubb – opened with ‘Heavy’ before powering straight into ‘Descartes’ for a hit-saturated start to a fantastic performance. Boasting by far the largest crowd at Bulletproof, the crowd was full of movement and mosh pits. At one point a circle pit opened but quickly became too convoluted, resulting in a circular flow slower than a kebab rotisserie. There was no doubt that the crowd was absolutely incredible, however. Chubb hopped into the centre of the pit for a call-and-response, at which point the entire throng’s bellows grew until chaos ensued once more, this time with the band’s singer entering the fray. A cover of Le Tigre’s ‘Deceptacon’ went down very well, as did Chubb’s oration on the core issues the festival is centred around.

The festival’s main stage was EartH Hall, but each day a small independent local venue operated as a second stage. Saturday’s host was The Jago, a quaint, cozy room filled with the smell of fresh incense burning. As the rain hammered down outside the venue’s windows, Frances Mistry’s slow, peaceful indie folk provided a relaxing start to the day. In a short but sweet set, soft vocals and dreamy guitars took centre stage. Six-piece Room Service waltzed onstage next, opening with a bouncy summery tune featuring sparkling guitars and tambourine, the complete antithesis of the weather outside. Alongside these tracks they performed an array of skits, a charming short interlude in Portuguese and, of course, a song about a hot dog. Room Service’s live show is nothing short of hectic. They’re a very silly live band, but easily manage to match all silliness in talent.

Back at EartH, Jools took to the stage with the same strong energy exhibited by their fellow post-punk artists over the weekend. Singer Mitch Gordon didn’t let a knee injury stop him performing to his fullest, jumping around on crutches with his leg in a brace. Vocals were shared between Gordon and Kate Price, who compelled the crowd to “feel rage” over injustices against women. Jools were unapologetically noisy, but weren’t scared to dip into their vulnerable, emotive side- both in talking to the audience, and in songs like closer ‘Limerence’. Leeds pop-rock group King No-One entered the stage to shimmering lights and an ambient intro before launching straight into a feel-good series of songs focused on Zach Lount’s melodic vocals. Spinning his mic stand over his shoulder and carrying it with him to each end of the stage, Lount demonstrated his natural showmanship. He walked over to the bar to perform a couple of tracks from the counter in a performance that had a positive and friendly feel. Though yet another energetic and rowdy band, Snayx do it differently to everyone else. There’s no guitar in the live setup: only drums, vocals and bass.

Pussy Riot: Riot Days is a punk rock play from Russia’s most notorious protest band. Activist Alexander Cheparukhin set the scene, describing Riot Days frontwoman Masha Alyokhina’s escape from Russia when she was due to be imprisoned for her public anti-war stance. The performance is based on Alyokhina’s books Riot Days and Political Girl, and their story of fighting authoritarianism. Not billed on the lineup but instead performing as an opening act for Pussy Riot, Eric Breitenbach’s New Age Doom was a short set from the show’s drummer, who performed thrashing drum solos over atmospheric, gloomy drone rock instrumentals played from a laptop. Breitenbach’s chest read “military support for Ukraine”, written in sharpie.

Violinist Alina Rov began with sorrowful throws as the rest of Riot Days took to the stage in colourful balaclavas, vocalist Taso Pletner also donning a mock kevlar vest decorated with fun and colourful patches. The show is in Russian, so English subtitles were shown on the screen alongside imagery of Russian politicians and scenery. The narrative started with the story of oppression under Putin’s regime and the desire for freedom and a new system. Their own stories of resistance were told, including their famous guerrilla concert in an Orthodox church which propelled the group to international fame. The set then moved onto segments surrounding current injustices including criticising the war in Ukraine and displaying the names and photos of political prisoners in Russia. Musically, the show’s sound moved between fiery, noisy moments to more contemplative instances of storytelling. The noisy parts were dark and filled with moments of madness. At one point, Pletner acted as a pied piper, playing the flute as she led the band around the stage in a trance, all whilst Breitenbach slipped into the crowd unnoticed to deliver low, doomful backing vocals whilst surrounded by an oblivious audience. Elsewhere, Pletner sloshed water bottle after water bottle into the crowd until they were drenched. Despite these stunts, the audience remained contemplative and still, moved by the performance of Alyokhina and her fearless band of women. Pussy Riot: Riot Days is completely unlike any other live set, and it breaks all the conventions of a typical concert. There could be no more powerful way to round off Bulletproof’s first year.

Though a music festival on the surface, there was so much more to Bulletproof than just the bands on the stage. The messages to unite, repel authoritarianism and accept each other’s differences that were delivered by bands and speakers over the weekend are core to the festival’s ethos. Bulletproof proves that through togetherness in music, real change is possible.