Bring Me The Horizon kicked off their UK-arena tour in London with a special Halloween show to a packed O2-arena. Here is what went down!
Although the headliners did not grace us with their usual fancy dress attire of previous spooky-gigs, it was delightful to watch Don Broco make their debut at this venue, dressed as zombie-cowboy versions of their “Everybody” music video characters. Having the band support as part of any line-up is a wise decision. Whether they are the headliner or the support act, they are masters of highly energetic live performances.
Very few drum & bass artists have blown my mind before, but Enter Shikari certainly have last night and in the past as well. Their one-off performance on the tour ended an era for the band before they start working on new material and it was top notch. As much as I was in awe with everything from stage production to performance, it popped in mind mid-show how much I loved their “Call Me Baby” cover back in the day – Enjoy!
Following the visually, rather stripped off performance with the symphonic orchestra in April, I really did not expect Bring Me The Horizon to go the length they did with the production. When you get blasted with something giant as that fully-lit visual wall right in your face, is when you realize how far an artist has come in their career. Considering BMTH’s roots, it’s not every day a band like them gets to play arenas and that’s admirable.
Yet based on the set-list, I still got the impression BMTH, as a touring band, are trying to avoid their past from two albums ago. Personally, I love Sempiternal and That’s The Spirit, and they can thank their current following to those but seeing how excited the crowd got during “Crucify Me,” I’m sure most of the hard-core people would’ve loved to hear a wider range of their discography (me too, I expected to be squished to death by constant circle pits to be honest) – or if not for nostalgic, just for the sake of blowing the roof off the O2.
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As for the highlights, “Can You Feel My Heart” was made to be performed live – that’s where the electronic side of the song really comes to life. It always reminds me of when I first saw them live. They opened with this track and I went nuts. The peaceful, Gothic church choir intro and the actual song “Shadow Moses” is another favourite of mine – both songs’ contrast builds a kind of suspense and energy up (you know which track is coming, you just have to wait it out) then Oli bursts into the chorus, the heavy guitar breakdown joins in and all hell breaks loose. “Throne” live is like a mixture of the two above and the crowd also singing along really adds a plus to what it has to offer. The mellower songs like “Follow You” and “Oh No” are proof that BMTH wants to conquer wider audiences and more arenas in the future. As the night came to an end, we all drowned in confetti to “Drown” during the grand finale.
Round Two on Saturday, anyone?
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