Live Review: Urne at Camden Assembly (13/09/2025)

Urne are back in London for a headline, and sold out, hometown show at the Camden Assembly on Saturday 13th of September.

It’s always a special night, when watching Urne, such is the power and passion of their music, but we also get to see the band play as a four piece for the first time as they announced the arrival of guitarist Kurtis Bagley into the fold recently. On top of that, we have a new album on the way, and new singles out so are looking forward to getting an early glimpse of some of that live. That new album, Setting Fire To The Sky, is due out on the 30th of January 2026 (preorder it here) and it’s going to be exceptional, based on the two singles out so far (Be Not Dismayed and Harken The Waves).

After journeying up to Camden on some seriously packed trains due to protests and Saturday football fans in London, it was nice to get away from the chaos for a bit and settle in for a few beers before heading down to the pretty intimate Camden Assembly. It’s quite a small venue, and based on the band’s trajectory over the last couple years, who knows if we will ever get to see them in such a venue again but for tonight, in a sweaty room, packed wall to wall, everyone here was a fan already and that created a real buzz in the room.

Maybe partly down to their being no support. This is Urne’s night. Maybe just because it was sold out, but it didn’t feel like you had casual listeners and watchers in the crowd. It felt like a room full of already convinced die hard fans who all had come together to support and enjoy a band they loved. That made for a wonderful atmosphere. The venue is good, sound wise, though you do get a bit of extra static/fuzz if you end up to near a speaker. Drinks were fine, with some decent offerings though trying to get to the bar, once the band had started was a challenge.

Urne take to the stage, nicely backlit with subtle lights, and get straight to business hitting us with a setlist of old favourites and new songs played live for the first time. Starting straight off, we got Be Not Dismayed followed by Becoming the Ocean in a double hitter that had the small room drenched in sweat through some good spirited moshing. The Flood Comes Rushing In, and The Burden preceded The Palace of Devils & Wolves and the band sounded immense.

Music that was played exactly as it is on the album, but with that extra kick and spark you get from the live sound, and having the additional guitarist definitely added more depth to their already deep sounds. Even just seeing them on stage as four, with the frontman front and centre now, rather than that 3 person set up where they are in a triangle shape, just seems right.

The energy, excitement and atmosphere is generally amazing. That feeling of being in a room with a few hundred people who are all there for one reason only. That coming together, it was really special. Led by some good humoured crowd interactions, and plenty of gratitude from the band towards the fans and vice versa, everything just fitted. The music was powerful, impassioned and heavy with both riffs and emotions and the crowd lapped it up. If you ever need to see a sign of how admired Urne are, being there for the stunning melodic intro of Serpent & Spirit and seeing every voice in the place deliver a vocal rendition of the guitar melody was something else. As Urne conducted the audience through the mesmerising harmonies, the crowd, with hands in the air became part of the song, we became the ocean.

It was an amazing moment, but there was plenty more to come as the quality just poured off of the stage into a crowd. To Die Twice was brilliant and ignited the pit, and it was really cool to hear the new song Harken The Waves (featuring Troy Sanders) before the band squeezed every last remaining ounce of energy with the absolute banger, Desolate Heart to close things out.

It was a really special event. It felt almost hive mind like at times. A few hundred people, coming together led by a band who deliver time and time again to all become one, and just let the stress and dread fall away through the powerful music of these talented artists. With protests marching through the streets of London, there was something quite cathartic about the night. A coming together of people from different ages, genders, races and creeds as a single voice to celebrate with Urne. Camden Assembly became a small island of hope and light in a darkening world. I am grateful to have been part of it and thankful to Urne for putting on a really great show full of energy, enthusiasm, quality and music that washes over you and brings your emotions to the forefront. That was a truly wonderful night of music.