Westside Cowboy Matinee at Rough Trade 3rd September 2026

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*Westside Cowboy at Rough Trade in Nottingham – Photo by Carrie-Anne Pollard*

Who doesn’t enjoy a mid afternoon, back home by six boogie? Well, just our luck, Westside Cowboy’s intimate show at Nottingham’s Rough Trade is so sought after they’ve added a matinee performance. Celebrating the release of debut album It Goes On, our earlier time slot is treated to the album played in full.

Kicking off with single Kick Stones (The Boys), the band ooze charm, weaving friendly banter and jokey jibes throughout. Paperchains is an uptempo treat while Well Done Kid, You Did It starts slow but builds into a crescendo of sound. Bassist Aoife Anson O’Connell does a beautiful job layering vocals on songs such as Worried Age and Pin Up Boys but it’s not until Coyote that O’Connell gets to take centre stage and really show off her vocals.

One of the stand outs of the set is Big Wheels, with a dreamy nostalgic vibe and a catchy as hell chorus, it burrows deep into your mind and will stay there. We are treated to Patchwork one and a half times, as guitarist and vocalist Jimmy Bradbury starts from the top after forgetting the lyrics. During Take My Leaving As I Love You, the whole crowd is still, captivated by Reuben Haycocks near a cappella performance. After two beautiful songs, the album ends on a high with You Could Have Died There On The Dancefloor, but Westside Cowboy are not quite done.

Strange Taxidermy – a song about an old horse – is absolutely gorgeous, and would have been a travesty if left out of the set. They end on the massive I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You), making sure both previous eps are included, if only a little. After a few hours in the dark, sweltering venue, it’s easy to forget it’s barely 5pm, as the blinding sun greets us on exit. But for Westside Cowboy this is just the beginning, in a few more hours they’ll do it all over again, this time with a longer more eclectic set list. Hopefully this matinee show has blown off the cobwebs and everything will go swimmingly!