August 15, 2026 at Pleasance Courtyard, Forth
This show was a release party for part 1 of Nick Helm’s triple album, Down ‘N’ Dirty, which was released on Bandcamp this week. The initial release is for the part called Down, with songs about being emotionally down. Part 2, which will be released later, is called Dirty, with songs about exactly what you’d assume from that title. Part 3 will be released even later, and called ‘N’, apparently on the theme of “all bangers”.
The live release party was also in three parts, with performances on August 13, 14, and 15. I saw the show on the 15th, and we had an immediate warning about how intense this was going to get, by the fact that from the first moment of the show, Helm’s voice sounded like he’s spent the last two nights pouring gravel down his throat. In actuality, he’s spent them screaming at the top of his lungs about how “Everyone is a cunt including me”, and sucking the devil’s dick for a spot on Taskmaster, among other (generally similar) topics. He comes out wearing only his underwear and a loose tank top, which initially seem like a stylistic choice, but by the end, it seems like he chose the outfit because if he tried to physically push himself that hard in regular clothes, he’d collapse from exhaustion.
There was a fair bit of collapsing anyway – this show was similar in tone to his previous album release party, for Hot ‘N’ Heavy from 2016, in that by the end of nearly every song, he’s escalated the pace so hard that he’s thrown himself all over the room and eventually to the ground. He makes sure the audience can feel how hard each every note is ripping his throat apart, and he lets us know that he resents us all for making him do that but resents himself even more.
He complained repeatedly about the audience being too quiet and insufficiently enthusiastic compared to the previous night, and I had to remind myself that he’s said that in every performance I’ve seen him do, in person or recorded; his love for playing audiences against each other is the only thing in the world that he has in common with Stewart Lee. On this night, he badgered audience members in a way that sometimes felt uncomfortable, but that is what the late-night Nick Helm audience had signed up for, and largely wanted. He’s confrontational and bitter, and his aggressive attitude is made easier to take by the fact that the person he comes down on hardest is himself.
This was a flashy production, sometimes literally with dramatic lighting changes, a sometimes comical amount of haze from the smoke machine, soap bubbles getting sprayed all over the room, getting the audience involved by bringing them on stage and one time having them light the room with their phones, and a seven-person band making it sound like a powerful rock concert. Highlights of the band were David Trent, of course, who’s found a way to make playing the guitar deadpan; and Sooz Kempner, hitting truly impressive high notes on backing vocals.
It was enormous fun, and, despite Helm’s complaints to the contrary, the room was full of chaotic energy. The new album itself is more of Nick Helm’s usual style, furious and filthy rantings from low-status narrators, often with genuinely catchy tunes. Nick Helm is a great entertainer, and every year he gets closer to being old enough to actually fit the “exhausted and rough-voiced old man” persona that he’s had going since he was in his twenties.
Dave Baillie