Live Review + Gallery | English Teacher @ Roundhouse, London

English Teacher | The Orielles

Roundhouse, London

25th November 2025

Photography by Izzy Reeve

Izzy Reeve

I’m a London-based music photographer and occasional writer and I love documenting gigs and people enjoying them. Having just moved back to London from Scotland, where I first started shooting concerts, I’m looking forward to exploring what the scene down south has to offer with CLUNK! From new acts to festivals, I love what clunk champions and I can’t wait to get started.

English Teacher close out their 2025 tour at London’s Roundhouse for a performance which summed up everything that makes the band so special

‘This Could Be Texas’, English Teacher’s Mercury Prize-winning debut album, closed out its live tour at London’s epic Roundhouse, where we headed down for the first of two sold-out nights. English Teacher have garnered a dedicated following through their epic live performances, where they rip through genres with lyrical cynicism and a musical dexterity. Taking to the stage with nonchalance, the band are unassuming until they begin to play.

Fellow Yorkshire natives The Orielles opened up the evening, delving into a maelstrom of lights, driving distorted guitar and drums alongside haunting vocals. Similar in their genre-melding styles, English Teacher refuse to be boxed into one space. The standout first single ‘R&B’ illustrates a defiance that fuels the band and sets them apart from their post-punk and indie contemporaries. There’s nothing typical about English Teacher, and that’s what makes them so brilliant to watch.

To simply say that Lewis Whiting is on lead guitar, Nicholas Eden on bass, Douglas Frost on drums and Blossom Calderone on cello would be understating their musicianship as a whole. The band work as a well-oiled machine, hopping on different instruments throughout the gig to make their way through both intricate and incisive melodies, from slower numbers to propelling the audience into emotion and chaos.

Frontwoman Lily Fontaine masterfully weaves between piano, guitar and tambourine, jumping from a punchy and conversational tone in ‘Broken Biscuits’ and ‘Mastermind Specialism’ to stunning us with soaring vocals in tracks such as ‘Albert Road’. ‘The World’s Biggest Paving Slab’ is a galvanising standout as it has the crowd roaring back to Fontaine, “I am the world’s biggest paving slab. So watch your fucking feet.”

In between songs the band keep up amiable chit-chat, commenting on the journey they’ve had and shouting out their 2022 gig at the 400-cap Camden Assembly across the road. Though they say goodbye to the ‘This Could Be Texas’ album run with 3,000 people at the Roundhouse, they wonder aloud if it’ll be Ally Pally or The O2 Arena next. Debuting two exciting new tracks, ‘Toothpick’ and ‘Billboards’, they left us with a tantalising taste of what’s to come.