LIVE REVIEW: Hacktivist at The Craufurd Arms, 2025

After a long wait, “Hacktivist” return to Milton Keynes for a hometown show at the Craufurd Arms. After time away and an almost complete lineup change, we go and see how these changes have affected the aura Hacktivist are known for bringing to the stage.

Opening with the fierce “Crooks and Criminals” gets the crowd off to a solid start moving around the room with mosh pits pretty much from the get-go. New members Alex and Ste feel immediately at home. Next up is my personal favourite song “Cold Shoulders” and I can confirm it was the best time I have seen it live. Alex brings back the softer melodic vocals at the end of the track which has been missed by fans for some time now, but JJ bring the Metalcore-esque screams to a song that I never knew needed it. It just works so well and live is a great time to add a new flavour to older songs. 

The setlist has a perfect mix of the OG Hacktivist with tracks such as “Unlike Us”, “Elevate” and the band title track “Hacktivist”, paired with the more recent era tracks such as “Reprogram”, “Armoured Core” and “Lifeform” showing that the band really appreciate the journey they have gone through so far, and the crowd respond in the same way.

Of course, as soon as “Ni**as in Paris” opens, it’s chaos in the best kind of way - as the crowd erupt into mosh pits, jumping and dancing. Always a highlight of the live show but today that award goes to new track “BONES”. Absolutely guttural and you can see right away that this new track has resonated with fans and seeing it live just gives you the natural instinct to want to fuck shit up. That song, and more importantly this show as a whole, prove to naysayers that Hacktivist are not dead, this is a rebirth.