Better Than The Book - Ten Years On (Debut LIVE show 5/2/2026 @ The Hope & Ruin, Brighton) (Sam-CAM)

Hi everyone! What an amazing month it's been so far, there's SO much to tell you all about! This'll just be a quick post before we get back to the usual monthly post soon, but I just couldn't wait to share this with you!

On Thursday 5th February 2026 after 14 years being purely a studio project, my ska punk project Better Than The Book finally made its LIVE show debut at The Hope & Ruin in Brighton in celebration of Ten Years On from the debut full-length album Two Years On! It was an unforgettable night of ska, pop-punk and alt-rock supported by Brighton's very own Look What Happened and LUVD and included an amazing cameo (and LIVE debut) from long time friend of BTTB/Jabun, Swedish Rapper, Bob Axell AKA Cyberdevil!

For those who couldn't make it or want to relive the moment, we managed to capture the FULL Better Than The Book LIVE set on Sam's Phone (The Sam-CAM)! This video is a single camera with raw camera audio, BUT we've been collecting various clips from people at the show and also managed to get the FULL MULTITRACK RECORDING from the sound desk so there will be a Hi-Fi LIVE album and more LIVE videos coming later this year!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq1xvfEewDA
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Special thanks to: Ben Bonham who did the live sound and lighting on the night (and for THIS completely improvised and mindblowing moment of lighting magic: 43:30), to Jack from LUVD for hitting that first pad on the MPC to start the show, to Bob Axell for his amazing cameo and sharing his first time on stage with us, and to everyone who came to the show for an amazing night and celebrating with us including the rest of LUVD and Look What Happened who were FANTASTIC and a pleasure to share the stage with!

The Better Than The Book LIVE band is:
Nick Standing: Lead Vocals, Guitar & Sampler
Dr. Eamon D. Standing: Backing vocals, guitar & Harmonica Horns
Sam Brown: Backing Vocals & Bass
Andy Forman: Drums

Stay tuned for more gig videos to come, and I'll be back in a few weeks for an even more packed monthly update! There's is SO MUCH TO SHARE! Thanks as always for supporting my projects however you can and I open enjoy the (very first Better Than The Book LIVE) show!