Live Review : Massive Wagons + IDestroy @ The Tivoli, Buckley on August 1st 2026

Tonight’s gig is the culmination of a rather splendid week at the iconic Tivoli venue in Buckley. Perennial favourites Massive Wagons are performing to an almost-capacity crowd, following four totally sold-out nights from the iconic grandfather of industrial/electronica Gary Numan. In the space of just 9 days the Tiv has opened its doors to over 6000 people, not bad for a totally independent grassroots venue! This is touched upon by Wagons vocalist Barry Mills towards the end of their energetic and exciting set, when he reminds us that the live music scene relies on venues like this to bring up the next wave of potential superstars as well as host the occasional actual legend! 

Tonight we start with less of a legend and more of a cacophony though, in the form of Bristol-based 3-piece outfit IDestroy. These girls are angry, and they don’t care who knows about it. The uptempo, spiky punk sound that they produce belies the messages in the lyrics, where they cover subjects such as women’s safety and sexuality. It’s raw and spiky, and full of fuck-you attitude, but somehow it’s also inviting and warm and you can’t help bobbing along. They get a crowd singalong going during ‘I Don’t Want To Talk To You’ – mildly ironic! There is plenty of appreciation in the room for them though, and despite their somewhat tough exterior they go down well and are worth a watch.  

Massive Wagons come on to an intro of the Sex Pistol’s ‘Pretty Vacant’, and as soon as they hit the stage the room erupts. This crowd is rabid! Wagons are probably one of our most-covered artists here at ROCKFLESH Towers, we have all seen them many many times but the intensity of the love for them can still hit like a punch in the face when they play what is only an hour or so away from being a “home” gig. The night commences with ‘Everywhere We Go’ and from the off the energy in the room is palpable. The setlist is culled from their post-covid releases, with only encore song and tribute to Rick Parfitt ‘Back To The Stack’ making an appearance from the earlier years. Some of the diehards at the bar can be heard muttering about that, but the songs they do play are so solid and so well-presented that they are soon drowned out by the roars of appreciation!  

Personal favourite ‘Please Stay Calm’ makes an early appearance in the set, with its arm-waving singalong chorus proving to be the first of many crowd participation events. I also note the plethora of Massive Wagons’ own t-shirts of various vintages in the crowd – well over 75% of attendees seem to be sporting one which is a pretty good ratio for them. Our middle fingers go up high for ‘Fuck The Haters’ and it’s good to feel that sense of togetherness, of tribe. There’s a new song aired, ‘The Story of My Demise’, which Baz declares to be “a solid 6/10, maybe a 7” and the crowd prove him wrong by giving it some of the loudest cheers of the night.  

These days the Wagons have evolved into something of a slick music machine when playing live, with every note timed to perfection and every kick received with glee by the inspired audience. They still have passion though, and there’s still a reggae mashup interlude of Peter Andre’s ‘Mysterious Girl’ and Bob Marley’s ‘No Woman No Cry’ just to make sure that they retain a different edge occasionally. An older song, the title track from 2020’s ‘House of Noise’ is flung out, with its nod towards rap metal, and the main set finally finishes in a eruption of sound with ‘Banging On Your Stereo’. The whole room is jumping now, and it’s at this point that Baz makes his impassioned plea for us to keep supporting grass roots venues like the Tivoli, and thanks the venue for having them. After the first encore song where we get to raise a glass to Rick, they end the night with the anthemic ‘In It Together’ because we are. If venues like this are the heartbeat of live music then bands like Massive Wagons are the blood pumping through its veins and crowds like this are the air that it breathes.  

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Massive Wagons + IDestroy