Florence Road makes their mark on King Tut’s

★★★★

By Iain McLean

Irish Rising stars, Florence Road, made their debut in the historic King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, on Tuesday night.

The all-female band comprised of Lily Aron (vocals), Emma Brandon (guitar), Ailbhe Barry (bass) and Hannah Kelly (drums), hail from Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland.

The band soared to fame with their TikTok covers of famous songs, with a fun camera angle that became a staple for their covers going forward.

This gradually built up as they became more viral with their most popular cover being Paramore’s ‘Hard Times’ which gained 7.3m likes on the platform.

This led them to being able to release and produce more music which, paired with their viral covers, aided them establish a fan base quickly.

Their virality lead to them opening for Olivia Rodrigo at Marlay Park in Dublin and BST Hyde Park in London. This was just the start as soon after they announced their own 2025 UK tour.

The performance was short, starting just after 9pm and finishing at 10pm. This was more than enough time for the band to show off their chops as they had the crowd hooked as soon as they stepped on stage.

They performed some of their biggest hits such as ‘Figure it out’, ‘Storm Warnings’, ‘Caterpillar’, ‘Break the Girl’ with the encore being their most popular song ‘Goodnight’.

The only downside, however, was their choice of opening act, Irish contemporary singer, Sarah Crean.

While she wasn’t a bad performer, her songs were slow and melancholy which, for me, didn’t set up or build enough energy for Florence Road.

Florence Road is an “indie rock” band with “elements of pop and grunge”, which needed a higher energy act to properly set the tone.

Going from an artist such as Crean, whose music is more personal and calmer, to a full-on rock band threw off the tone of the show once the headliners took to the stage.

But Florence Road quickly got the crowd on their side after this musical whiplash which was evident by the crowd singing and dancing to almost every song.

Florence Road, by themselves, are a band to watch as they’re just getting started. My only hope is when they return to Glasgow May 12, 2026 at the Queen Margaret Union, is that they pick opening acts that better suit their genre as this was a missed opportunity to solidify their status of playing in King Tut’s.

With that in mind, I would still recommend readers go and see the band when they return next year as their stage presence and talent by itself, is still something to behold.

Florence Road’s music can be found on all music streaming platforms.