GoGo Penguin

GoGo Penguin bring Necessary Fictions to KOKO, London, on 16 November 2026. The Manchester trio—pianist Chris Illingworth, bassist Nick Blacka and drummer Jon Scott—push their hybrid language further, folding modular synths, a Moog Grandmother and electric bass into their piano–bass–drums core. On stage, they move from acoustic resonance to electronic pulses without breaking the flow, with drums pushed upfront and patterns that tighten, fracture and recombine. Illingworth’s percussive piano motifs meet Blacka’s melodic low end, while Scott drives the set with crisp, propulsive grooves that nod to breakbeat and club culture as much as to contemporary jazz.

The new material looks inward, trimming the excess to focus on textures, pulse and the grain of each instrument. Themes surface as repeating figures, then open into spacious sections, letting synth colors blur with upright warmth. Expect a live show built on contrasts—minimal lines that bloom into dense rhythmic lattices, ambient shimmer cut with sharp edits, acoustic overtones sliding into electronica—carried by a trio whose interplay is direct, physical and finely tuned to the moment.