Half Blind’s Horrible Halloween

Daltons on Brighton Beach, just east of the Palace Pier, plays host tonight to ‘Half Blind’s Horrible Halloween’ a seafront celebration of Brighton’s loudest and strangest. The event, staged by local DIY promoter Half Blind Promotions, promises an unruly mix of metal, punk and alternative energy, all spiked with Halloween atmosphere. Doors open at seven, costumes are encouraged, and anyone wandering down to the arches should expect noise, sweat and spectacle until late.

Headlining are Primal Damnation, a five-piece thrash band forged in Brighton’s metal underground. Their sound, built on classic speed-metal riffs and relentless rhythm, nods to the old school while staying raw enough to rattle the room. The band have built a loyal following on the local circuit, playing with the kind of grit that the sea air seems to sharpen.

Sharing the bill are Dunce, a fast-rising punk outfit with a sly experimental edge. Their recent material veers between furious guitar work and sudden bursts of absurd humour, a collision that keeps audiences off-balance. Creeping Embers, also Brighton-based, brings a newer spark to the scene, their music thick with distortion and youthful intent. Bats in the Belfry add a touch of gothic theatre, fusing punk drive with macabre imagery perfectly suited to Halloween night.

Rounding off the line-up is Puppet Midnight, an angular indie-punk solo act built around bass, loop, and spoken-word fragments. The songs mix myth, madness and dark wit - tales of puppets, animals and burning mattresses delivered with a kind of melodic menace. It’s an artist who seems tailor-made for Daltons’ close-packed stage, where nothing ever feels quite contained.

Half Blind Promotions, the outfit behind the night, has spent recent years cultivating Brighton’s underground from the ground up, offering stages to acts too strange or too noisy for the mainstream. The name ‘Half Blind’ may sound like a throwaway joke, but it carries a streak of irony - a nod to seeing things differently, to championing bands the rest of the city might overlook.

As the tide rises along the beach, Daltons will glow with orange light, fake cobwebs, and the echo of guitars bouncing off the arches. ‘Half Blind’s Horrible Halloween’ promises to be another small, glorious act of local defiance - proof if you like that Brighton’s musical heart still beats hardest in its basement bars and beachfront haunts. (See also King of the Slot Machines.)