Saturday night saw Melbourne-based Ecca Vandal return to Glasgow for the second time in 2025, on her final UK date in a non-stop year performing as a headliner and guest at venues and festivals across the globe.

Ecca Vandal was easily the standout amongst the acts opening for Limp Bizkit on the Loserville tour at the Ovo Hydro in March this year, bringing a much-needed dose of energy and talent to what was otherwise, frankly, a sonically-challenging start to Fred Durst and co.’s arena show.

Audio accommodates for a fraction of the Hydro’s capacity, but Ecca Vandal, flanked on-stage by her drummer to her left and multi-instrumentalist on the right, delivered all the energy you’d trio proved themselves as adept performers on any size of stage. Ecca’s presence on-stage is hypnotic, perhaps even more entrancing in a sold-out, 150-capacity club.

Ecca Vandal was joined by special guest Master Peace, a London-based artist who delivered the kind of late 2000’s indie sleaze that easily would have earned him and his energetic guitarist and drummer a fan-run, GIF-filled tribute blog during the first peak of Tumblr’s popularity.

Master Peace served shades of Arctic Monkeys and Bloc Party, but refreshed for 2025 and with real authenticity. With songs ranging from the high energy, self-proclaimed slut pop of Veronica to the softness of a solo rendition of his vocals for AJ Tracey’s track Red Wine, Master Peace’s set culminated in leading a sing-along to final track Home. Master Peace got the whole room moving and ultimately left the crowd eager to hear more.

After Master Peace’s set I was left feeling nostalgic and wondering if and when we’ll ever see a reboot of Skins, but any distractions were swept away the moment Ecca took the stage at 9pm. Launching straight into a hard-hitting performance of Eyes Shut (which appears to be unreleased but has been teased on socials in 2024), she brought a heavy and punk-forward start to a genre-bending set.

The trio played an engaging 13-song set studded with new and unreleased tracks, alongside singles like Bleed But Never Die and Cruising to Self Soothe that had the whole crowd jumping and singing along. Ecca’s voice reminds me of an early to mid-90’s Gwen Stefani, but backed by heavier riffs and with more eclectic influences. She boasts the ability to bend it at her will from the kind of melodic singing you’d expect to hear on a trip-hop album to more gravel-y vocalizations typical of post-hardcore and grunge.

Ecca Vandal will be rejoining Limp Bizkit for the South American leg of their tour in November, and in the same month will be playing Dia De Los Deftones, the 6th annual event in San Diego hosted by the eponymous baddiecore band. Between the upcoming dates with some of our nu metal favourites and the photos Ecca posted of a jam with legendary pop-punk drummer and producer Travis Barker, I can’t wait to see what the next year holds for Ecca Vandal. It might be cold at the top but this is a performer who is only going to keep moving up.

It’s not too late to catch Ecca Vandal in Europe in 2025, with shows scheduled on 04/09/25 in Berlin and 08/09/25 in Paris. For more information and dates, check out: https://eccavandal.com/