February 2026 News Post: Better Than The Book will be playing its debut live show THIS THURSDAY @ The Hope & Ruin in Brighton + WIN A HAT, a merch table sneak peek for $10 patrons, lots of band videos (+ an extra special one) and more!

Hi everyone and hope you're having a great start to 2026! It's been an ULTRA intense month of preparation for what's sure to be the biggest moment of my musical journey so far, Better Than The Book's debut live show! Let's get started with the news post!

It's less than a week to go now and on Thursday 5th February at 7pm at The Hope & Ruin in Brighton, doors will open for a pop-punk, ska and alt-rock party like no other: Better Than The Book's debut live concert! The main theme of the gig is celebrating TEN YEARS ON since Better Than The Book's debut full-length album "Two Years On" and we thought what better way to celebrate than to play our very first live show! It's been a lot of hard work putting this together, but we've pulled out all the stops to make this the best possible show we can!

We'll be playing for about 1 hour, handpicking 14 tracks journeying through the 14 years of BTTB's discography + some extra surprises! Not only that, but you can't have a party without some friends so we've invited 2 of my favourite fantastic Brighton bands to open for us: Look What Happened and LUVD who will each be playing 30 minutes sets before we hit the stage! It's sure to be a great night of Brighton alternative music!

Tickets are available in advance on Fatsoma and you can use the code "TENYEARSON" (ALL CAPS, no spaces) for £1 off your ticket! We will also be doing tickets on the door for £8 each until we reach the venue capacity of 150 peeps! Music starts at 7:30pm sharp so get there as soon as you can to not miss a thing! Grab your tickets below to secure your spot and I'll see you there!

https://www.fatsoma.com/e/q2ub5sxo/better-than-the-book-presents-ten-years-on-with-special-guests-look-what-happened-luvd

And as an extra incentive, for those who do book in advance though the Fatsoma though you'll be entered into a raffle to win a super limited and exclusive to the gig hat from the merch table to be announced and awarded at the show! Check it out below and good luck!

​In other news (sort of), to help with the promo we've been pumping out a tonne of videos over the last few weeks to help properly introduce you to the live band and get you excited for the big night! We have group practice videos, solo practice videos, extra little performances AND live rig rundowns for each band member too (>18 videos over the last month + more to come leading up to the show on Thursday)! Check out the playlist below and I hope you enjoy them!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWEmqIhrNPvQTBoOjZdKLgL4ecTvLz6sm

And along with those, Sam, one of my closest friends and live bassist for the band made this incredible video which honestly puts into words how much this live show means to us waaay better than (the book) I could ever express myself. Check it out below. This really is the culmination of so much more than just playing our first show!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRV_mvpcvTU

For those of you who are $10 patrons too, you have a sneak peek at the merch table goodies in your reward post today! Check that out over here:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/149418277/

One final thing for this month, a huge thanks to Aalasteir for nominating me for supporter status again on Newgrounds! This place has been my creative home for DECADES now so I reaaaally need to sort out my subscription! Thanks for the hard work all these years Tom creating and maintaining this amazing community!

And that about wraps things up for today! It's gonna be a huge and busy week and after that I have no idea! Probably get some good rest before getting back to some Jabun? We'll see! In any case I hope you're able to make it to the show, looking forward to seeing you there if so, and thanks as always for supporting Better Than The Book, Jabun and my various projects! Much love, and see you from the stage on Thursday!
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$1 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/149407127
$10 Rewards: https://www.patreon.com/posts/149418277
Reward Archives: https://www.patreon.com/posts/50344842
Find out more: https://www.patreon.com/NickStanding