REAL GONE GOES OUT: Bowling For Soup – Dreamland, Margate, Kent 25/6/2026

When Bowling For Soup played in Brighton on their ‘Together Again! You’re Welcome’ tour, the show became notable for three reasons: the tour marked the last time guitarist Chris Burney would visit the UK as a touring musician; the band managed to hit the Sussex coast just as Storm Dennis hit and it was interesting to see fans of all ages and sizes struggling to navigate the seafront and actually get into the venue (at one point, it wasn’t even a guarantee it would be safe to leave once the gig was over), but most importantly – although nobody knew this at the time – this would be the last big night “out out” for many, since everything went into a lengthy pandemic lockdown just a few weeks later.

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REAL GONE GOES OUT: Skunk Anansie – Dreamland, Margate, Kent 19/6/2026

It’s a few days away from the Summer Solstice, and thankfully, after days of torrential rain, the sun appears high in the sky over Dreamland, despite it being rather late in the day. Du Blonde has not long finished a rather sprited but ragged set, and Skunk Anansie have arrived on stage at the huge outdoor venue.

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debdepan – Lovers & Others EP

debdepan (always lower case) are a Margate based duo who’ve been pitched as making “genre-blurring” music that’s “influenced by dance, art pop and grunge”. Sometimes, labels don’t work. Sometimes they’re so wide of the mark, they’re laughable. Sometimes, though, they can be pretty useful, and in this case, that short description is about as accurate as you’ll find. It certainly gives the listener a fair idea of what to expect when heading into debdepan’s excellent debut ‘Lovers & Others’, which presents five slabs of dark, danceable alt-rock which casts its net as far back as the 90s for influence, with a pinch of Curve and Garbage, but also has an ear on the contemporary.

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Watch: Margate duo debdepan share new video for ‘Ghost’

Margate’s debdepan shared a superb sound on their previous single ‘Habit’. By blending dance beats, light goth pop and a world of synth-based ingredients, the track sounded like the ultimate alternative club banger. It had the potential to make the listener want to hear more, almost immediately, and to be given the opportunity to lose themselves even further into the duo’s dark and electronica infused world.

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REAL GONE GOES OUT: Sleeper – Dreamland Ballroom, Margate, Kent 20/9/2025

When Sleeper reunited in 2017 to appear as special guests on the brief Star Shaped Festival tour, it was billed as being for four shows only. Eight years, two new albums and several dozen live shows later, they’re still with us, and tonight, Louise Wener and her band kick off their thirtieth anniversary tour in Margate.

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