Massive Wagons Firevolt Festival Review

12 August 2026 Neil@RockNews

Massive Wagons Firevolt Festival Review

There are some bands you review because you’re a journalist, and then there are bands where you have to admit that objectivity went out of the window years ago. Massive Wagons are firmly in the second category. We make absolutely no apology for loving this band. We’ve followed them for many years now, watched them put in the graft, played the smaller venues, worked their way up the bill and, quite simply, watched them get better and better.

So, when Massive Wagons stepped onto the Firevolt main stage on Saturday night to headline, there was a real sense of finally. They’ve earned this.

This isn’t a band that has been handed a headline slot because someone thought it would be a good idea. They have put the hours in, played the gigs, built the fanbase and earned every bit of their place at the top of the bill. And judging by the reaction at Whitebottom Farm, we weren’t the only ones who thought so.

No Gentle Warm-Up Required

Massive Wagons don’t really do subtle. From the opening chords of Everywhere We Go, they hit the stage at full speed, immediately turning the festival field into one enormous, slightly out-of-control rock party.

And then there is Baz.

Honestly, the man appears to have discovered some sort of secret energy supply that the rest of us haven’t been told about. He spends the entire set bouncing, running, leaping and generally throwing himself around the stage with the sort of energy most people would struggle to maintain for approximately four minutes.

Baz doesn’t just front Massive Wagons; he is their human pinball.

The rest of the band aren’t exactly standing around looking bored either. The whole performance has that wonderfully loose, energetic feel that makes Massive Wagons so much fun to watch live. There is musicianship aplenty, but never at the expense of having a bloody good time.

Fun While It Lasted kept the momentum soaring before Missing On TV and Please Stay Calm sent the crowd into full-on festival mode.

The Setlist: Hits, Chaos and a Whole Lot of Fun

The setlist was packed with the songs that have helped Massive Wagons build their reputation, mixing newer material with the tracks fans have been screaming back at them for years.

Cool Like A Fox and Fuck The Haters brought the swagger, while Story Of My Demise demonstrated just how well the band’s songs connect with their audience. Night Skies provided a brief change of pace before Good Die Young and Generation Prime cranked everything back up.

There is something particularly enjoyable about watching a band who clearly enjoy playing together. Nothing feels overly polished or choreographed. It feels like five people who have been given a stage, a huge audience and several very loud amplifiers and have decided to see just how much fun they can have with them.

And the answer, apparently, is a lot.

The Great Firevolt Rubber Dinghy Incident That Never Happened

One of the great traditions of a Massive Wagons show is the infamous crowd surfing in an inflatable boat.

Sadly, this time around, the good ship—or perhaps more accurately, the rubber dinghy—never set sail.

With the pit layout at Firevolt making its usual voyage somewhat difficult, there was to be no inflatable nautical adventure tonight. Somewhere, a perfectly good rubber dinghy was probably sitting backstage wondering what it had done wrong.

Still, the absence of the boat didn’t dampen the atmosphere. If anything, the crowd simply found other ways of creating chaos.

When Pressure hit, the field was bouncing, and Curry Song turned the place into one enormous celebration. This is where Massive Wagons really excel: they can hit you with a huge rock song one minute and have you laughing the next.

Baz also took time to congratulate the Firevolt organisers for putting on such an incredible festival in what is an increasingly difficult climate for independent festivals. Then, in typically Baz fashion, he got the entire crowd to wave at the sound man while gleefully announcing that the sound man would absolutely hate it.

It was stupid. It was brilliant. And it was very, very Massive Wagons.

Fire, Noise and One Hell of a Saturday Night

By the time House Of Noise arrived, there was absolutely no question that this was a headline performance. The riffs were enormous, the crowd was fully invested and the energy coming from the stage showed no sign of dropping.

Banging In Your Stereo proved once again why Massive Wagons are so good at writing songs that sound even better when several thousand people are shouting them back at you.

Then came Back To The Stack and, because apparently the music wasn’t quite enough, literal flames erupted from the stage.

At this point, Massive Wagons had pretty much ticked every box.

Big songs? Check.

Huge crowd? Check.

Baz bouncing around like he’d been plugged directly into the National Grid? Check.

Fire? Obviously.

Rubber dinghy? Sadly, no. We can’t have everything.

They’ve Earned This

For those of us who have followed Massive Wagons for years, there was something genuinely satisfying about watching them headline Firevolt.

They still look hungry. They still look like they’re having fun. Most importantly, they still look like they absolutely love being on that stage.

That’s what makes Massive Wagons so easy to love. They don’t take themselves too seriously, but they do take the music seriously. They know how to write a great rock song, they know how to put on a massive live show, and they know that sometimes the best thing you can do with thousands of people in front of you is make them jump around, sing loudly and forget about everything else for a couple of hours.

As the final flames disappeared and the ringing in our ears began, there was little doubt that Massive Wagons had delivered exactly what a Firevolt headline set should be.

And frankly, we can’t wait to see what they do next.