World News performed a sold-out show at Scala, North London, 03.11.26 . Image credit: TOPNOTE
Everything is coming up roses for World News, who performed a stomping live show and announced their biggest headline to date whilst doing it.
Suited and trenchcoated, World News performed a sold-out Scala in King’s Cross last night, encompassing the venue in room-sweeping sound with many of the tracks from recently released debut album, ‘In Purgatory’.
Listed as ‘ones to watch’ in TOPNOTE’s emerging artist list for 2026 which predicted a year to see them ‘break out of dim-lit venues’, World News have done just that. The four-piece have steadily grown a fanbase with their jangle-pop, indie rock crossover across a string of singles and EPs, and just last month, their first studio album was welcomed into the world.
Currently bouncing between Europe and the UK on tour, London’s date marked the hometown show, with family members and friends popping up across the packed-out audience with tales of the band’s journey and memories shared with new and returning fans.
Support came from Classic Trucks and Spanish Horses, the latter particularly memorable for the extended pause in the middle of ‘Some People’, that brought the band to almost total silence beyond their frontman’s whisper.
Read the full review of World News’ performance below.
World News’ Alex Evans performing in London. Image credit: TOPNOTE
A red neon line traces fragments of the band’s name in anticipation of World News’ arrival to the stage, kicking things off with ‘In Purgatory’s opener: ‘Frog’. It’s the first of many extended instrumentals to come, trading immediate impact for an interesting slow-build, with vocalist Alex Evans not singing a note until halfway into the song. Across the set, it seems that Evans’ voice shares the microphone just as much as the three guitars so central to the identity of the World News sound.
That’s not to say that a World News gig doesn’t provide plenty of opportunity for sing-alongs, with hands raised for the belted chorus of second track ‘Everything Is Coming up Roses’ onwards. Beyond the structured formality of blazers and ties, the band look like they’re enjoying themselves, though more visibly so performing than during the mandatory chatter between songs. As they move through the set, the musicians loosen into their movements, and now and then — most often during the crowd’s loudest moments — an irrepressible grin pops up.
‘Vinegar Swimming Pool’ carries an urgency that’s far more pronounced live, with the two brothers’ harmonies effective at conveying the frustration at life’s dissatisfaction floated in its themes. It follows ‘Classical Music’, an album standout that carries the listener through a tale of deadpan storytelling, delivered with theatrical inflection from its opening lines, ‘it’s 8:02… I’m late, for the thing I have!’
“It seems inevitable that World News will not have long to wait before they look back on last night as a small gig by their own standards – and indeed took the opportunity to announce that they’re playing KOKO in Camden next year, a capacity jump of around 50%.”
World News are formed of four individually fantastic musicians, who each seem an organic extension of their instrument. Particular credit must be given to Malte Henning, whose drums provide the grounding heartbeat for each jangling riff, vocal harmony or thudding bassline to dance off. As an ensemble, they perform with the confidence of a band who’ve been on larger stages for years, so it’s strange to hear their frontman’s expression of disbelief at being on the Scala stage, having watched so many artists there ‘as a punter’. It seems inevitable that World News will not have long to wait before they look back on last night as a small gig by their own standards – and indeed took the opportunity to announce that they’re playing KOKO in Camden next year, a capacity jump of around 50%.
Their stage presence has improved since January’s gig in Portsmouth, reviewed on TOPNOTE during Independent Venue Week. This time round, the performance is slick and strong from the get-go, with a touch more storytelling to go alongside the songs, and 'The Tinman’ saved for the end of the set.
It’s introduced in dedication to the Evans brothers’ late father, before an expanded live rendition of the track that first brought the band to many of their fans’ attention. It receives the longest and loudest applause of the night, heavy with admiration and respect, and seems to take the band by surprise, whose multiple attempts to continue are interrupted with more rounds of cheering.
‘Flying A Drone’ is one of the band’s least streamed songs, an unfurling eight-and-a-half-minute Odyssey of tension built and released. It’s a mark of the band’s self-assurance to perform it straight after their most popular, just before leaving the stage. It’s one that pays off — becoming the smartest choice of the setlist.
World News turn three guitars into something that sounds between a spell and a nightmare, made more dramatic with red and black streaks of light that flash over the suits on stage, like three businessmen who’ve found themselves quite literally in purgatory, and have to play their way out of it. The trance-like undulations falter and rise into a truly transportive experience, rising to a crashing finale that folds in a wave of cymbals, ethereal shoegaze and a wall of electric guitars, and is even vaguely euphoric.
For once, perhaps, this was a show which may have fared better without an encore, the lasting impact already delivered. But World News have more to give. ‘Mindsnap’, their first song back to a stomping crowd, sounds vaguely Labryinth-era Bowie, with an appearance of the papier-mâché ‘brainhead’; an eerily commanding visual sported by bassist Rory Evans.
“As they move through the set, the musicians loosen into their movements, and now and then — most often during the crowd’s loudest moments — an irrepressible grin pops up.”
There was a noticeable absence of ‘Look Inside My Mind’ — the closing statement of a confident debut album that seemed a surefire pick as one of the record’s best. Instead, World News opt for the festival-ready 2023 single ‘Wrapped In Gold’ to see out the night, with a riff so good the crowd sings it as a chant.
From conversations overheard, the audience seemed evenly split between those who’d seen the band once or twice before, and those new to the music of World News. It seems accurate to suggest, however, that plenty of last night’s crowd will be reunited at KOKO.
World News’ Rory Evans ‘brainhead’ at Scala, London. Image credit: TOPNOTE