Tokyo Taboo on tour return to Brighton

Tokyo Taboo – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Tokyo Taboo, Healthy Junkies, Playing Alice and Joanna and the Dropouts

Daltons, Brighton, 20 April 2026.

Tokyo Taboo made their long awaited return to Brighton. We were going to be assaulted on all senses tonight! They are a total riot! Daltons in Brighton with guests: Healthy Junkies, Playing Alice and Joanna and The Dropouts. This was gonna be a night to remember!!

Scroll down for two exclusive videos of Tokyo Taboo and Healthy Junkies. The smaller photos – well, click to enlarge!

Tokyo Taboo

Trying to take a few photos whilst, trying to avoid a high flying kick or a push from Dolly, or a dangerous charge from Mickey, whilst singing along to the tunes I knew was quite a task, but yay! I managed it. I loved it.

Tokyo Taboo – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Riotous rockers Tokyo Taboo have built quite a reputation for their spectacular, character driven, and often shocking vibrant live performances. I last saw these guys when they visited Brighton on the successful Lips Can Kill 2. Originally composed of the feisty and ferocious pair Dolly Daggerz and Mickey Danger, the Londoner’s debut album, 6th Street Psychosis, brought them acclaim from the likes of Radio X’s John Kennedy, BBC Radio 1, Clash and Punktastic. After grabbing the first vinyl release, I can confirm 6th Street Psychosis is still really a rather good listen, and played pretty frequently. The duo now back with their band with them were ready to raise hell and then some at Daltons in Brighton.

Tokyo Taboo are officially back and louder than ever with the announcement of their new album, “FVCK YOUR OPINION,” now available for pre-order here! https://tokyotaboo.bandcamp.com/merch

“This album is about taking back power, shutting out the noise, and choosing yourself — loudly, repeatedly, and without apology,” says Dolly.

Tokyo Taboo – The Band

The force of nature that is…
Dolly Daggerz – vocals, crowd interaction and pole

Tokyo Taboo – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Mickey Danger – guitars, vocals and running about – a lot!

Tokyo Taboo – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

On Bass… Jools

Tokyo Taboo – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

On drums… George

Tokyo Taboo – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

The Set

The drums thumped hard, guitar fired up, the bass thumped and then the venue was introduced to the vocals from Dolly. MIOA and Emotional were the first songs of the set. Oh yes! That’ll do nicely! It meant we were well and truly underway.  This is a real punk / rock tune with some dangerous guitars from Mickey. Next up was the fab Papercut, and that song just jumped joyfully along with its rousing chorus line. It became clear that Tokyo Taboo are serious about what they do and their performance. The charged lyrics to their material feed you with maybe a shot of sentiment, outrage or anger and will give you something to think about after the set. That saying these guys are fun and are a joy to watch.  And although only a couple of songs into the set, we were transfixed by this punk infused, joyous, and riotous slice of rock and roll in its purest form. The sound-mix at Daltons was pretty much on point giving the band a healthy sound mix. Every instrument and word could be heard.

Tokyo Taboo – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Now if you like your music in your face, loud, hectic and backed by a great band then this song Self Sabotage will leave you satiated. A Taboo favourite for me is Whiskey, Dolly asked if anyone fancied a glass before launching into this one! Damn, this was good, real good! Those punchy guitar licks and riffs from Mickey rattling our ears, and dressed in his now almost trademark baseball cap and a cracking T Shirt satisfying the crowd!

The Pole!

Now, we have to mention the pole. This has a major role in the set as Dolly performs some superb gymnastic manoeuvres, spins, slides and all the while powering out those gorgeous vocals. I have tried it once with a group on a night out, and let me tell you it is hard, damn hard. The physical strength required, even to lift yourself off the floor is a trial in itself. I am always filled with admiration for anyone who can do this. Dolly does it to a really high professional standard, just make sure you stand well clear! Sadly the lighting for the pole area was pretty much non-existent, hopefully this can be rectified when Tokyo Taboo return.

We were being assaulted on all senses tonight! We had the hammering beats, riffs and performance from the band and throw into the mix the sweeping majestic power of Dolly’s vocals and her pole performances. Not forgetting the enjoyable on and off stage antics. Dolly at one point went walkabout outside as the band powered on, she mingles with her audience, at one point playfully singing at me from about 2 inches away almost knocking me off my feet!

The pink microphone was certainly stress tested tonight, as it was regularly thrown onto the stage area, or used while Dolly sang as she continued with her pole dancing routines.

The set continued with N.A.R.C.I.S.M, Leech and NPop. Dolly once again hit the pole and Mickey propelled her with a nudge when required for the spins. Dolly displays this almost as an art form as she sings, twists and turns matching the song perfectly. Closing the set tonight was the brilliant Bubbilicious.

Through this short set we saw the different sides of Tokyo Taboo, from the almost power ballad style to the up-tempo slap in the face of punk rock and roll. Mickey nails his guitar and fret work to perfection, all backed by a lively bass and drum section. I enjoyed every second!

They are both electric performers! They feed off each other, put them with a top bass and drumming combo and they pull it all together to generate and hold a special atmosphere shared with the crowd.

Thanks so much for letting me grab some pics and chat. Phew! What a performance.

A VIDEO – TOKYO TABOO LIVE

Keep in touch with Tokyo Taboo on the WWW – Tokyo Taboo on the WWW

Keep In Touch With Tokyo Taboo on Facebook – Tokyo Taboo on Facebook

TOKYO TABOO? They are a total riot!

Tokyo Taboo – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Healthy Junkies

Nina Courson

Healthy Junkies – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Phil Honey-Jones

Healthy Junkies – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Healthy Junkies

The Healthy Junkies are one of those bands you can’t help liking and have to admire. Their own unique sound is brimming with influences from punk through to rock, they have carved out their own niche, and are on my “must go see” list. Love The Junkies!

Healthy Junkies – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Up front are Nina Courson and the enigmatic Phil Honey-Jones. I have loved the output from these guys for quite some time, after grabbing a copy of the album Box Of Frogs a few years ago. This time of seeing them proved to be, once again, a rock solid set of material. New material and a selection from their extensive back catalogue fired at us from the get-go! Two newer faces for me on a thumping bass guitar and a drummer who mercilessly beat the hell out of the kit, both brilliant!

Opening up with Copycat, Nina is her usual self as she struts and writhes around all over the stage. She sings, she twists around the stage. Her face can totally change through the performance as she delivers her wonderful vocals. She will sit astride the drum kit, she will wrap herself with the mic cord or drop to the floor. The Junkies are truly special. She is totally mesmerising.

On guitar is Phil, charismatic as ever! He pulls out that whiplash smile as he powers out riff after riff. Never a note out of place. On stage lead singer Nina Courson interacts with the other band members and she grabs the audience and pulls them in – close.

She almost entices the audience in Daltons to get up on the stage and get involved! And this has almost become a trade mark of their live shows. The Healthy Junkies are here to entertain us, they play what they feel like playing, finalising the set list before going onto the stage to include Self Conscious, Jules Got A Job and Oh La La, and Suicide. It’s balls to the wall punk rock n roll as the crowd jostled for space to dance along. Dolly Daggerz was seen entering the fray to dance along with everyone.

The set ended with Theft. Phil then took off his guitar towards the end of the track  and placed it around Ninas neck. She hammered the strings and as the song finished she placed it on the ground, screaming with feedback.

Healthy Junkies – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

The Healthy Junkies never fail to deliver the goods. The Heathy Junkies do not miss a beat. Ever.

A VIDEO: Healthy Junkies – LIVE!

Keep in touch with the Healthy Junkies here! https://www.healthyjunkies.co.uk/

Playing Alice

Playing Alice – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Playing Alice

A new outfit for me, not sure how that happened, as Playing Alice took to the stage. They describe themselves as “All Queer and all female, Disco-Punk band, from Brighton/Horsham”.

Playing Alice – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Playing Alice is a unique, highly praised local outfit who set about to deliver a 30-minute, at times, frantic engaging set of good tunes.

In the short set they did create an emotional impact on the crowd, it was an immersive atmosphere, and effective as the lead vocalist, as I had seen her before with Shallow Honey, set about engaging with the crowd as she performed.

I have to say its not easy to take your eyes of Rachel as she builds into the set. Her full on energy and passion was a joy to watch.

They had pulled in quite a few local fans which is a joy to see as they sang and danced through the set. We were treated to Boy, The US, and Eve all filled with some heavy drums and some dirty fuzz driving delights from the guitar and power from the bass guitar topped off with those lavish vocals. The closed the set with Monogomy.

The lead singer Rachel Conway is amazing, a real star, and the whole band have that cutting edge quality that a band like this needs. Keep Playing Alice!

See Playing Alice play and keep up here on Facebook

Joanna and the Dropouts

Joanna and The Dropouts – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Joanna and the Dropouts

Joanna and The Dropouts – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Not an easy slot to fill, being first on the bill! I have to say they put on a good, professional performance. Joanna And The Dropouts are fairly regular on the music scene in and around Brighton.

They describe themselves as “Catchy Rock n Roll wrapped in a leopard print bow!”. Nice! And, an accurate description. I think they said they were down a person for this gig, so they carried it on as a three piece. I would like to see these guys at full strength.

Joanna and The Dropouts – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex

Joanna And The Dropouts seemed to be enjoying their performance, especially Ross on his bass who didn’t stop smiling or bouncing around the stage for their slot. They clearly had a few fans in who appreciated the set, they clearly liked the band and so did I.

They put down a short set and included Bad News and Bad at Being Good. The drummer at the back worked hard to provide the fills, a great job done there! The bass was full and provided the full sound for the rather catchy songs that were played. They delivered an energetic pop/punk and joyous set. If you think of say The B52’s and a pop mix vibe with late 70’s/80’s punk combined and you are getting there.

Catch up with Joanna and the Dropouts on Facebook here

And Finally:

Words, Videos and Photos for Scene Sussex by Ian Bourn.
No AI or filters used, its pure and straight down “the lens”!

Thanks to Tokyo Taboo, The Healthy Junkies, Playing Alice and Joanna and The Dropouts.
Thanks to the Daltons team.

We work hard with the artists, the venues and the crowd to bring you the best photos and reviews across the area. Keep Music LIVE! Follow us on Twitter and on Facebook.

Please note all original images / video are copyright, please do not copy. If any of the featured artists/promoters/venues want copies of the images – or more if available – please just get in touch.

All original pictures / video – NO AI/Filters used! Copyright to IANB/MEDIA WORKS/ SCENE SUSSEX – Ian “The Lens” Bourn 2026.

Got an event coming up? Need some gig photography, promo shots, previews or reviews? – please get in touch! See you down the front – come and say “hi!”