FEVER DREAM LIVE AT THE LEOPARD, READ ALL ABOUT WHAT WENT ON HERE

I’ll be absolutely honest, my dirty little secret is I quite like a trip to Donny, home to one of my favourite kebab places, which is there near the entrance to Lazarus Court, Hot Stuff – my beer angel always manages to guide me there like I’m on autopilot, no matter where I’m heading from after a gig. The Hallcross is a fav bar as is where the night’s gig took place, The Leopard, mainly because it’s one of the very few places that still has Carling Premier on draft!

We arrived nice and early at The Leopard so I could start sampling said Premier and we watched as the crowds began to enter and queue to head upstairs. The gig sold out in a matter of hours, and it was clear by the numbers arriving early that there was a lot of hype and excitement for what was about to come…

Anya Goel

Keeping things local, young Anya kicks the night off and bar a slightly dodgy taste in song choices to cover amongst her own originals she impressed from the off. She possesses exotic looks, a positive personality and a sweet, effortless voice that is incredibly easy to listen to when you just want to kick back and chill, a stark contrast to what was to follow later. Ayna is basically a labels dream, If she is the future of female singer-songwriters then the future is bright because from this introduction to her music, she could very well be right up there with the very best currently breaking through.

The Velvet Echoes

Another young band given the opportunity to play a packed room was this 4 piece, the sunglasses were dodgy, but thankfully, the performance was spot on and a refreshing treat for a South Yorkshire band not to be another Arctic Monkeys clone. They’re very much in their infancy, but the signs are good, and a young bluesy rock band will always get my vote if they can deliver.

Fever Dream

Anastasia Walker or simply Stars to everyone who knows her has always been a girl we’ve loved here at RGM, an absolute tour de force of a woman with an unmistakable voice with an incredible amount of power and backed by a personality thats even bigger, oh how gutted we all were when the Bang Bang Romeo dream fell apart but she’s back and this time, has brought with her some new band members who are as loud as she is.

Stars admitted to me after the gig that she was shitting herself that it all could fall flat but none of that showed on stage as the band had the crowd from the off with screaming coming from the audience during the 28 Days Later main theme based intro telling everyone to “Awake” and that “Fever Dream is here” and boy were they.

Over the following 40 or so minutes of a debut showcase, it was a relentless performance that was nothing short of a full frontal assault with Matt and Noah well up for taking the vocal performance of Stars on and not allowing it to dominate all of the night’s set.

Noah is probably one of the best young bassists I’ve seen in a long while whilst Matt was unable to hide his metal roots with his foot constantly on the monitor and head nodding back and forth, and together this was a band that by the 4th song, Gone By Sunrise, which unfortunately was interrupted by an audience member, who the nights events were possibly got that overwhelming they passed out (or it might have been the drink..) were finally comfortable that the gig was a dream start and with that, the band and audience were all as one.

Once the band started up again after checking the person who passed out was ok they hit it for all their worth and the crowds arms were in the air clapping along as Stars, Noah and Matt worked them like their lives depended on it and in turn it was like everyone in the crowd had been following them for years, singing and clapping to and old favourite and not the fact that tonight was the 1st time 99% of the audience had heard the song, incredible stuff!

Debut Single, A Woman Is A Weapon Of Sass Destruction followed and took on a different energy live, sounding angrier than it does on the single as everyone rocked out on stage and finished it with a Gangsta’s Paradise cover reprise. Main set finisher which I’ll go with the title Let Me Turn The Lights Out One Last Time, was probably the nearest the set got to the anthemic ballads of Stars’ previous band and it was fucking glorious in its build up, Radiohead’ed in its delivery and set to be a firm favourite crowd pleaser in the years to come, honestly it is actually exhausting just watching the footage back again I took of the track, a genuine “fuck me” moment that we all dream off happening at a gig that stays in your mind forever.

Sass got a second airing for the encore and just before the start a red thong was thrown on stage and hit Matt, I caught the culprit in action and have actual footage of the event so get in touch Matt if you “wish to return it to the guilty party”… and then that was that, those 40 or so mins were gone in a whirlwind and the 200+ sell out crowd ecstatic and wanting more of what they just witnessed.

I’ve attended some incredible gigs in my time, I’ve seen new bands come and sadly, go, but this one felt different; it genuinely felt like something happened in that room. The Leopard was where I 1st saw BBR headline a gig and that was a great night but Saturday the 21st of Feb 2026 felt like the beginning of something very special, something very special indeed and if you missed out then I urge you to get yourself down to RGM Tramlines Fringe gig at the Frog And Parrot or catch Fever Dream on their April tour because trust me, you really don’t want to miss out again, Stars is back everyone, and this time she is ready to take on the world!

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