![\"Oisin](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_Keyside-on-the-street-rock-my-love-release-party-at-Liverpool-One-Sugar-House-StepsPic-Andrew.jpg\")
Oisin McAvoy, Max Gibson, Daniel Parker and Ben Cassidy from Keyside playing a gig in Liverpool One(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\nKeyside sat down with Charles Halligan ahead of their Liverpool 02 Academy gigOisin McAvoy, Max Gibson, Daniel Parker and Ben Cassidy from Keyside playing a gig in Liverpool One(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n
With their UK tour now on the road and a sold out show at the 02 Academy on the horizon, Keyside are stepping into a new chapter of their journey. In true Liverpool style, they kicked things off with a moment that took everyone by surprise.<\/p>\n
As a <\/strong>warm up to their UK tour, which began in Glasgow on November 13, Quayside treated fans to a surprise performance in the centre of Liverpool One, setting up near the Sugar House Steps. Even through the bitter cold, a large and hopeful crowd gathered to watch, something the band did not expect but were thrilled to see.<\/a><\/p>\n Asking for an immediate reaction, guitarist Ben Cassidy told the ECHO<\/a>: \u201cWe did not know what to expect really but for me that could not have gone any better, thankfully the PA system worked and everyone seemed to love us. I was so cold but had to play through it and it was a success.\u201d<\/p>\n With the “secret” gig behind them, the band are now fully focused on the tour. Keyside play thirteen dates across the country, including an already sold out show at the 02 Academy in Liverpool tomorrow night, November 21.<\/p>\n I sat down with Keyside in an exclusive interview about why they chose to release new single, Rock My Love, in the centre of Liverpool One to a live and raw audience and what they are looking forward to playing in their home city.<\/p>\n Asking about how they first got together, the band was full of nostalgia as they told me about their first meeting at a party back in 2018, \u201cjamming upstairs until the sun came up\u201d.<\/p>\n The band, through being at university as well as parties, all ended up being in the right place at the right time, with each member falling into place. Their bond was cemented thanks to a shared love of the Beatles and The La’s.<\/p>\n Frontman Dan Parker said: \u201cIt’s a scouse classic that, and half of the conversation that me and Ben had that first night was about The La’s. I don’t think we would have connected as well as we did if we hadn’t had such a love for The La’s.\u201d<\/p>\n Dan told the ECHO<\/a> he wanted to convey more of a message to his listeners and fans, rather than the band\u2019s \u2018signature sound\u2019, after hitting a run of big hits including Runaway, Paris to Marseille, and the newly released, Rock My Love, which is out now.<\/p>\n Dan continued: “The whole concept we want to paint is a social narrative when we play these songs.\u201d<\/p>\n Inspired by bands of the 90s, Keyside want listeners to be able to reflect on how each of their songs could be relatable, whether it is through the characters or the story being told.<\/p>\n Tomorrow’s 02 Academy gig isn’t Keyside’s first big show in Liverpool this year. On May 25 they joined artists playing the BBC<\/a> Radio 1 Big Weekend in Sefton<\/a> Park.<\/p>\n Asked about how they are preparing for the tour, Dan said: \u201cIt has been quite easy-going, the sessions we have had so far to practise went well, and we had a few hundred people on our social media say they would be at the gig last week to enjoy watching us play, we even had someone say they will book off work! So I hope they kept to that.<\/p>\n \u201cPreparing for the tour has been easier than I thought. I just hope that the reaction at the 02 will be the same as it will be for the other gigs around the country, as there is more pressure at home, you know, being where the lads are from\u201d and if it is then it is bound to be a success.<\/p>\n Looking into the future the band expressed their high hopes of \u201cfilling out the bowls\u201d in the city, of course referring to the homes of Liverpool and Everton Football Clubs. Five years may be just a dream but they are more focused than ever on taking one year at a time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Keyside sat down with Charles Halligan ahead of their Liverpool 02 Academy gigOisin McAvoy, Max Gibson, Daniel Parker…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,4884,378,179,30214,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-582869","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-in-the-news","12":"tag-liverpool","13":"tag-o2-academy","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115582974079524396","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Keyside](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763656094_547_0_Keyside-on-the-street-rock-my-love-release-party-at-Liverpool-One-Sugar-House-StepsPic-Andrew.jpg\")
Keyside were delighted by the number of fans who turned out to watch them play(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n![\"Oisin](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_Keyside-band-pics.jpg\")
Oisin McAvoy, Max Gibson, Daniel Parker and Ben Cassidy from Keyside(Image: Supplied)<\/p>\n