What Is It Like to See Radio Free Alice Live?

The Bassist Puts Down the Bass

The saxophone is what separates this band from every other angular guitar band in the room. Michael Phillips plays bass most of the night, then picks up the sax, and Epigram said at the Exchange in Bristol in November 2025 that it "really transforms the band." That night they opened on an unfamiliar sax-led instrumental that left the student crowd "stunned with an open-mouthed anticipation" before crashing into "Empty Words." At the Windmill launch for the Empty Words EP on 20 August 2025, the sax "slices through the pre-show static" before the first song (Hard of Hearing). It was already part of the show in June 2024 at Sneaky Petes in Edinburgh, when the swap happened midway through.

Short Sets, Then "Waste of Space," Then Out

Sets are short and they don't stop moving: 10 to 14 songs, with "Waste of Space" closing almost every one from Edinburgh in 2024 to Amsterdam in November 2026. setlist.fm's 2026 average runs Empty Words, Paris Is Gone, On the Ground, Spain, Lunch Money, Look What You've Done, Kick in the Shins, Rule 31, Johnny, Crying With You, Waste of Space. Only 2 of the 18 sets it analysed for 2026 had an encore. The reviewer at the 150-capacity Garage Attic Bar in Glasgow on 31 July 2025 said the gig "whizzed by," and ended the review with "And just like that it was over" (God Is In The TV). At the Exchange in Bristol they had 14 songs to their name and played all of them. Their most played live songs on setlist.fm are "Paris Is Gone" (63), "Johnny" (62) and "Look What You've Done" (61).

Noah Learmonth Will End Up on Something

Learmonth sings leaning into the mic stand, "gripping the mic like it is a lifeline," and at the Windmill he scrambled onto a speaker during "Johnny" to lean into the crowd. He notices who isn't moving. At Shaky Knees in 2025, with the VIP section at the barricade standing still while general admission went off behind them, he muttered "It's stupid" into the mic and the GA crowd cheered (We Write About Music). The look can be the opposite of the chaos: at Schubas in Chicago in September 2025 the four of them played under deep red light in dark button-ups, close to stoic (WLUW). The band's own description, to The Note: "A healthy dose of chaos and fun," and "We don't rehearse performing."

Small Rooms, Big Shove

In a small room this crowd goes forward, not sideways. At the Windmill, during "Look What You've Done," Hard of Hearing watched "150 bodies melt into one." When Learmonth announced the unreleased "Rule 31," someone yelled "Someone write down the lyrics!" At King Tut's in Glasgow on 20 November 2025 the floor "was near to caving in," and Learmonth called the room "these crazy Glaswegians" (Discovery Music Scotland). Support slots are calmer. Opening for Geese at the Metro Theatre in Sydney in February 2026, their 40-minute set drew an appreciative but somewhat restrained crowd (The Music).

Two Covers Keep Coming Back

Gang of Four's "Damaged Goods" is the cover they keep coming back to, with 11 plays on setlist.fm going back to a February 2024 support slot at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne. Radiohead's "No Surprises" has 7 plays, including the 2025 Shaky Knees set. At King Tut's they walked on to a snippet of Juice Newton's "Angel Of The Morning" before "Empty Words." Not everyone hears the chaos: City Hub, at the Oxford Art Factory in May 2025, found the show "poppy, polished" and "very true to the sound of their recorded output," while The Other Side Reviews at the Corner Hotel thought the live songs were edgier and better than the first EP.