Sub Focus, Dimension, and Culture Shock London Tickets, Finsbury Park, 02 Aug 2026

On sale for 4 months

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Venue

Finsbury Park

Haringey, N4 2LX, London, UK

Capacity: 49,000

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Doors open: 13:30

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Sub Focus biography

Nick Douwma better known by his stage name Sub Focus, is an English electronic music producer originally from Guildford in Surrey.

Despite being active as a producer since 2003, Nick began to receive attention in the industry when his early release 'X Ray' topped the UK Dance charts and charted at #60 on the single charts in 2005. He continued to produce and record after this music and his 2007 singles 'Time Warp' and 'Rock It' topped the dance charts once again with the latter managing to break into the UK top 40 at #38. Before the release of his debut album he continued to build his reputation by remixing songs from dance heavyweights such as The Prodigy, Deadmau5, Empire of the Sun and Dizzee Rascal.

His debut self titled album was released in October 2009 through RAM Records and included a number of early singles along with new material. The following two singles 'Could This Be Real' and 'Splash' both peaked just outside the top 40 singles chart at #41. In 2010, Sub Focus was a support act for Australian drum & bass band Pendulum on their UK tour to promote their third album Immersion which gained him a greater exposure. The follow up album 'Torus' charted a lot better, peaking at #1 on the UK Dance chart and #11 on the UK album charts. It featured an impressive five top forty singles including his highest chart place to date at #10 with 'Endorphins' featuring Alex Clare.

Sub Focus became a massive name on the UK festival circuit, following the success of 'Torus' he headlined the Radio 1 Dance stage at the Reading and Leeds Festivals 2013. He also put in performances at Glastonbury, Bestival, Isle Of Wight and Global Gathering that summer. The continued support of Radio 1 amassed in him headlining the first Radio 1 Xtra Live event in Bournemouth in October 2013 before embarking on his largest headline tour to date.

NERO biography

Nero are a dubstep trio hailing from London, England who formed in 2004. After making their debut in 2011, they became one of the most succesful dubstep artists around, hitting number one on the UK Album Charts with their first record “Welcome Reality”.

The trio is composed of producers Daniel Stephens and Joe Ray, who formed the group back in 2004, and singer Alana Watson, who joined them after featuring on some of their early songs in 2008. Ray and Stephens met when they were 17 years old, at the specialist music school in Pimlico that they both attended. Both of them were pretty much musical prodigies, Ray playing classical guitar and Stephens the cello, but both of them composed electronic music on their laptops in their own time. By the age of 17 they had decided to create music together, setting up their studio in Stephens’ bedroom, and a year later, the duo met their future bandmate Watson.

By 2004, the band had signed to Formation Records and over the course of the next four years, they released a critically acclaimed series of 12 inches that started out as straight drum ’n’ bass but over time developed into their signature sound of pop-inflected dubstep. Watson guested on a couple of their 2008 releases, most notably their first attempt at straight dubstep “This Way”, released on the Audio Freaks label. By the end of the year was a fully-fledged member of the group, however, it was 2009 that saw them truly gain momentum.

Their single “Act Like You Know” started getting some genuine radio play, and their remix of The Streets’ “Blinded By The Light” was played in high profile sets by everyone from Skream to Diplo. Late 2010 saw the band listed on the BBC’s Sound Of 2011 list, one of the most on-point choices the list has ever made, as it turned out. Their debut album “Welcome Reality”, released in the same year, hit number one with a bullet in the U.K and reached the top ten of the US Dance albums chart and ever since then they’ve been one of the biggest names in EDM.

They’ve won a Grammy for a collaboration with Skillex and worked with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra to bring the world “The Dubstep Symphony”, and have built up a reputation as one of the best live acts in electronic music. The best part is that they’re just getting started, and in their prime, they’ll be practically unbeatable. Highly recommended.

Live reviews

Although Sub Focus has been releasing records since 2003, he only really achieved well deserved but semi-mainstream success after his 2009 self-titled debut album was released. The English electronic music producer, known separately from his stage name as Nick Douwma, exploded on to the dance, electronic and drum and bass scene with tracks such as “Rock It / Follow the Light,” (which found its way onto the Top 40 UK singles chart) “Splash” and “Could This Be Real.” All of which are high energy, fast-paced thudding bass-ridden songs perfect for a night full of dancing.
I first saw Sub Focus at Reading Festival in 2010 in the NME tent; the perfect enclosed location to set a night-time atmosphere and to sufficiently squash the crowd into a sea of swaying and jumping dancers. Even on such a big stage at a relatively early time to perform, the entire audience never faltered in response to Sub Focus’s massive tunes. With every track, there was barely time to rest before heavy and fast beats dropped and everyone went wild. That was especially with the help of the MC constantly reminding us to “bounce, bounce, bounce” with every track – not that we needed his instructions!
More recently Sub Focus seems to have upped his game in terms of his own stage presence; relying more on his circular, sub speaker-esque lighting to create hype and ambience rather than his MCs. Plus, with his second album being named ‘Torus,’ this shape seems to be a pivotal element of Sub Focus’s independent identity or brand. This sense of identity is certainly more evident in his recent shows, one of which was a headline slot at Reading and Leeds Festival 2013, which demonstrated how his sound and Sub Focus as an artist, rather than just a producer, has developed.

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hbrownn02

amazing mix, all of the tracks were too good.
weak performance though, no MC and when the set was over he just left without saying anything.
i expected more from him

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noethh

I wasn’t sure what to expect listening to 1991 live. This was the first time I would have seen him and it was nothing short of incredible. The transition from liquid to just filthy. This dude got the crowd going! He’s also a total sweetheart and down to earth. Was such a pleasure hanging out with him after his set. A must see if you get the chance!

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b0obieee

Nero exploded onto the electronic scene back in 2010; although they’d officially formed as long ago as 2004, they timed their entry perfectly, arriving at right around the time that dubstep was genuinely crossing over into the mainstream consciousness. Their appearance on the BBC’S Sound of 2011 list served as a precursor to a string of radio hits; first ‘Me & You’, in at fifteen on the UK singles chart, ‘Guilt’, which went one better at eight, and then their first number one, ‘Promises’, in August of that year; it managed the impressive feat of making the corresponding position in the States, too. A sell-out headline tour of the UK would follow, and saw the London trio reinterpret their debut record, Welcome Reality, for the live stage. With beatmakers Daniel Stephens and Joe Ray perched atop a wall of speakers and screens - like their own take of Daft Punk’s pyramid - vocalist Alana Watson stalked the front of the stage, delivering stirring vocal turns on all of the group’s hits to date, as well as delivering covers as diverse as Friendly Fires and Sub Focus. Elsewhere, they genuinely pushed the envelope by delivering a ‘dubstep symphony’ with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra; they’re now busying themselves with work on their second record, so expect a slew of new dates to follow once it’s ready.

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