Nothing Special #1 - Ruckus Festival

Every blog has to start somewhere.

Nothing Special starts with Ruckus Festival in Plymouth.

On Friday, I was there to shoot photos and video for Ten Years Too Late. Their first hometown show since November 2025 (which was also at Brickfields).

Armed with a nostalgic, interactive video intro, a brand-new song in the set, and some questionable summer shirts that hadn't seen the light of day since their summer show at The Junction back in 2023, the band looked more than ready to be back on home turf.

Sandwiched between Foo Fighterz and Stiff Bizkit, Ten Years Too Late caught the attention of everybody in attendance at Ruckus from the moment their set started - the laid-back summer atmosphere quickly turned into a packed-out crowd singing along to every word, with plenty of nostalgia for emos-in-the-making and elder emos alike.

Amongst the jam-packed set of emo anthems was "Wake Me Up When September Ends" by Green Day - one I'd never heard them play before. It was a real treat for the hometown crowd, who turned out in huge numbers.

I've travelled all over the UK with Ten Years Too Late and worked shows of all sizes with them, but Ruckus might just be the biggest crowd I've seen them play to. I believe there were close to 1,500 people there, which could make it their second-biggest audience to date. That's only overshadowed by their most recent show, playing to around 4,000-5,000 people on the District X Stage at Download Festival.

I'm incredibly lucky to be able to regularly work in the music industry, both for and alongside some amazing artists, but it always feels that bit more special working big shows when it's with Ten Years Too Late because the band and crew are some of my closest friends.

This show included a performance from another dear friend, Gordon MacKenzie of Black & Brass Tattoo Collective, who got on stage to perform "King For A Day" while Kradams took to the microphone alongside Cuddy. For me, this was a highlight from the set - even if there was a mishap with Kradams' guitar pedal resulting in Gordon's guitar being doubly drop-tuned for half of the song.

After the show, a few of the band headed off for an interview with FCR Radio, while I called it a night not long after packing the camera away.

I managed to catch parts of Foo Fighterz before Ten Years Too Late took to the stage, and parts of Stiff Bizkit before heading home. Both were absolutely killing it from what I saw.

Unfortunately, I missed L1NKN P4RK's set, but I've photographed them a couple of times before - once for Live Sound Promotions at THÊ DEPØ and again when Carrier supported them at Falmouth Princess Pavilion back in February. Based on those shows alone, I'm pretty confident the Ruckus crowd won't have left disappointed by Friday's headliners.

As for Ten Years Too Late, they won't have to wait long before they're back on another big stage. On 19th December, International Emo Day, they'll be playing Torquay Arena alongside Bring Me The Horizon tribute act MANTRA. If Friday was anything to go by, it's one that'll be well worth checking out.

Tickets available here.

On Saturday, I left the camera at home and attended Ruckus in the capacity of artist liaison. Jamie from Live Sound Promotions did all the hard work in the morning, and I tagged him out at around 5:30, shortly after the festival kicked off for the day.

Jamie had to leave as Carrier, a band he manages, was performing in Metal 2 The Masses for a chance to win a slot at Bloodstock Festival. Usually, he'd lean on Jonah, but as the bass player of Carrier, Jonah was otherwise engaged. It was a good call in the end, as not only were the artists liaised with in a world-class fashion, but Carrier won the competition and will be playing Bloodstock in August. Not that I was there, but it was well deserved in my opinion. I've had the pleasure of working quite closely with Carrier since their revival and they are a very good band.

Saturday's line-up consisted of The Busketeers, Vince Lee & Sophie Lord, Andy Quick, The Captain’s Beard, Slady, rePunk'd, Liam C and The Hoosiers.

By the time I'd arrived and done a handover with Jamie, The Captain's Beard were preparing to go on stage. Someone from Slady was sharing out their rider, so I accepted a Corona before getting some food. There was plenty of options, but I opted for a ham & mushroom pizza with hot honey drizzle from Pilgrim's Pizza and "Fry Me Up Chicken" from the Authentic Thai Food stall. Both were great, but those chicken skewers were seriously amazing.

After a bit of food, Jamie left, and there I was - all alone with Thai chicken sauce unknowingly stuck in my moustache, pondering - do I wait to be liaised with, or do I proactively liaise? Well, Beau from rePunk'ds entourage made that easy for me. Introduces himself to me as rePunk'ds manager. I ask him if he's had his food vouchers, he said he hasn't and tries to blag some before the real manager of rePunkd makes her way out of their green room informing me she's the manager, and not to give him any food vouchers. He was seriously convincing - turns out he's the singer's boyfriend.

Next, the guy in charge of the social media for Ruckus Festival comes up to me, asks the whereabouts of The Hoosiers as he's hoping to film an interview and get it uploaded before their set. Turns out, The Hoosiers were on their way from playing the Sausage & Cider Festival in Worcester earlier that day. I couldn't believe it! Two festivals in one day, with a 3-hour drive in between. Crazy.

The stage manager, Ross, who I'd met Friday comes up to me and asks "Have you seen Liam C?". I had seen him earlier, but now he was out and wandering around the festival grounds giving away merch and dapsing up his fans for social media content. This was my moment - finally, a legitimate reason to liaise with one of the artists. I walk around the grounds and I see Liam C's manager. I let him know Ross is looking for Liam C. I'm earning my money now.

After this, I kind of entered a sort of artist-liaising flow-state. I charged the rePunk'd singers vape while they were on stage, got some questionable but perfectly functional towels for The Hoosiers, hung out with my new mate Beau, chatted with the lovely people from FCP Radio, and it all went great.

Once The Hoosiers were on stage, the artists that hadn't left already were all enjoying the festival, hanging out together and I get invited to watch The Hoosier's set with people from rePunk'd, FCP Radio and the sole remaining member of The Captain's Beard.

Looking back, it was impressive how smoothly everything ran. Ross and the stage crew kept everything moving, artists were looked after and change-overs happened without drama even after being cut from 30 minutes on Friday to just 15 on Saturday.

Once the festival wrapped up, I gave Ian Carroll a lift home before calling Jamie to let him know what a top-tier artist liaison I am. He was at Caffeine Club celebrating with Carrier, so I popped in to congratulate them properly before finally calling it a night.

Not a bad weekend, really.

I‘ve spent my time since Ruckus Festival editing photos for Ten Years Too Late and editing a video from their set which will be dropping very soon.

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