Docile and Liebniz at The Birds Nest review 25/09/26

I see Liebniz walk through the doors shortly after, both bands lounging in the pub and later sitting together on the benches outside before doors are officially open, the setting and mood feels very community driven. There were greetings between the audience with hugs and chatting before the show began, recognising each other from frequenting the Birds Nest and other nights put on by the collective South London Scum in well you guessed it, South London. They've been around for a while with punks and the likes travelling from far and wide to play for them or go to their shows and yearly punks picnic.

By the time Docile came to the stage the audience had taken their position orbiting the band, situated in a small nook of the pub between the bar and the pool table area. They were ready to proceed to some headbanging, slamming, pushing and shoving to the sound of some very angry punks. Vocalist Moo Harvey gives it her all with deep, angry growls and intense and intimidating stares at the audience, her orange hair matching her fiery stage presence. They describe themselves as "blackened crust from Bristol" and it's easy not to acknowledge that when not in performance mode all members of Docile have very warm personalities and exhibit a sense of family and togetherness as a band, sharing hugs at the end of their set with one another, a paradox to how people can sometimes view punks because of their hardened appearances. Two members of the audience jumped in on the microphone for some additional screaming and lyrical freestyling during their set and they sang Black is the Colour, Bridescold and Two Dead Birds from their EP and demo released in 2025 which is on their bandcamp stating it was "recorded on a smart fridge in Bristol" you get the idea.

A short interval to grab another pint, merch and to find the band to tell them how much you enjoyed their set then a quick line check and thus enters the mighty Liebniz. They're stage attire has the essence of Clueless mixed with The Craft with a little bit of Christina Aguilera in her dirty era. They charmed the audience with their raging high energy, fast riffs, screams and hair swooshing. They sang their new song Self Congratulatory where an online presence of a music video exists to go with it, something I noticed we don't see enough of...oh the long gone days of MTV. A product of the pandemic and inspired by Nirvana, they have running themes of unity in their lyrics. You can hear the grunge influence mixed with the intense aggression of hardcore punk and they were clearly having alot of fun on stage despite their fury.

The Birds Nest is a pub close to Depftord Bridge Station on London's rollercoater train line, the DLR. It's in south east London and also has national rail links at New Cross and Deptford Stations. They host frequent live music with a bar and serve Sunday roasts and I would consider it during the day time a pub for locals but one welcoming of new faces. I've even witnessed some of the surprised punters expecting a quiet night at the bar jumping into the moshpits during South London Scumshows, the more the merrier! You can buy merch there but as it's quite informal bands won't always have a visible table with records and tapes to sell and you may need to personally hunt them down in the smoking area and ask for a crumpled t-shirt, a home made patch or zine for a quid that's been shoved at the bottom of a guitar case.

The informal community atmosphere is what makes these types of shows really special. It's very easy to stumble upon your new favourite band and sit and have a pint with them before they may or may not decide to graduate to bigger venues or become rock stars and thus being less accessible to have a chat with and get to know them. These are parts of music and live shows that shouldn't be taken for granted and I encourage you if you get the opportunity to say "hello" to your new favourite band, play some pool, ask some questions and have a drink or two with them.