The Molotovs shut down Oasis Street in Soho with a Christmas guerrilla gig supporting Big Issue ‘Stop, Talk & Support’
The band, siblings Matt and Issey Cartlidge, 17 and 19, played songs from their forthcoming debut album.
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Credit: The Molotovs 📸
On Saturday, 16th December 2025, The Molotovs and the Big Issue put on a spectacular show for hundreds of shoppers in London in support of the charity’s ‘Stop, Talk and Support’ Christmas campaign.
The band, siblings Matt and Issey Cartlidge, 17 and 19, played songs from forthcoming debut album Wasted On Youth as they encouraged passersby in Soho to meet Big Issue vendors Paul and Terry, who can often be found near Oxford Circus and St Paul’s Cathedral.
The set included a singalong of Slade’s ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ and the setting was Berwick Street, a UK rock landmark famous for its depiction on the record sleeve for Oasis’s (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?.
The band have been championed by the likes of Sex Pistols and Green Day, and dancing and pogoing broke out as crowds of onlookers celebrated the music on the final weekend before Christmas.
Matt said: “One of the tragedies of the struggles facing society today is that so many people get left behind. The Big Issue does an amazing job at helping people but it’s down to the rest of us to make sure vendors, just like everyone else, are true parts of the community. It takes so little time to stop and have a chat with someone but too often we all just walk past with our eyes fixed on our phone or the street ahead. We all need, more often, to ‘stop, talk and support’.”
The Big Issue addresses poverty by enabling homeless and vulnerable people to earn money selling its weekly magazine. Its Christmas campaign highlights the decline in casual social interaction, with fewer people stopping for a chat with vendors. The campaign was launched with the single-shot video ‘Issues We Face’ in which vendors in nearby Oxford Street shared their personal and relatable stories.
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