Bring Me The Horizon. Take a bow. Less than two weeks in and it is done. 2024 is yours. Insert the gif of Leo clapping and maybe one where everyone stands up and applauds enthusiastically and let’s go home.
Temperatures may have been teetering around zero but on approaching the Birmingham city-centre venue, tootling along the canal past bars overflowing with band attire-clad gig-goers ranging in age from kids barely even in high school through to the veterans (whom gatekeepers probably think shouldn’t even like this kind of music) there is a serious buzz. By the time tonight’s headliners enter the stage it’s pretty clear that there is no chance of this evening disappointing anyone.
‘DArkSide’ kicked off a setlist given a complete makeover since June 2023. Not an obvious choice to get things going, but one that certainly did its job opening the floodgates for a crowd acting as one. Singing every word, at times the crowd felt as much a fluid as it did a room full of thousands of people. Sempiternal alumni ‘Empire (Let Them Sing)’ delights some of what must now be considered ‘old school’ BMTH fans, with one heard declaring their disbelief that it is over a decade since the most important album in the band’s catalogue was released. Whilst this pair had the crowd belting out lyrics and pitting, ‘MANTRA’ dialled everything up further. The pure energy that was echoed from the band to the crowd and back was euphoric.
The current tour was most likely supposed to occur following the release of the eagerly anticipated new album, POST HUMAN: NeX GEN, so a few of the VTs used were chopped and changed from their 2023 exploits, though updated to include a lovely bit of patter about the album being so delayed. Regular interchanges between E.V.E and frontman Ollie Sykes kept things fresh throughout, particularly impressive given a delay of at least 15 minutes following ‘AmEN!’ due to someone collapsing in the pit. Something dealt with incredibly by both the Sykes moving the band off stage and the venue staff reacting quickly.
What followed shows the true character of the band. After such a big gap and a situation that no one wanted to be in, they launched straight back into the exact same level of energy even with it being the newly released ‘Kool-Aid’ up next. Just a week since release, the track slides into the set so perfectly it feels as if it has been around for years. The perfect mix of what BMTH used to be, back in their deathcore days, and singalong choruses that highlight just how far Sykes as come with his singing.
Evidence that proves the band have truly stepped up to being arena headliners is little touches like the ‘Shadow Moses’ intro being accompanied by snow falling from the rafters and the imagery that has been put together on the huge screens that surround the stage. Drawing from horror and gaming, they provide layers to songs that may be missing them otherwise like ‘Kingslayer’. Here missing the live input of Babymetal, the use of videos portraying their signature dance style done by lion-headed beasts works wonderfully. Some bands get to this position and waste it by half-heartedly doing their production. No worries about that here though, this is what headlining an arena is supposed to look like.
As the end appears in their sights, the band slow things down for an acoustic version of ‘sTrangeRs’, something that works on the big stage far better than it has any right to, and launches into an unlikely trio of ‘Diamonds Aren’t Forever’, ‘Parasite Eve’ and ‘Antivist’. ‘Parasite Eve’ gets the best reaction of them but it’s what comes up next that defines just what this band are about.
Closing quintuple ‘Drown’, through ‘Can You Feel My Heart’ into an encore of ‘Doomed’, ‘LosT’ and ‘Throne’ is an incredible way to end a show and it is twenty minutes of purely euphoric live music. Fire, confetti cannons, more fire, dancers, there’s no reason to want this gig to end.
On a night where a large portion of the crowd lost their BMTH virginity, legendary songs from Sempiternal and That’s The Spirit were shuffled amongst the newer tracks that have allowed the band to take that final step up. Hell even Suicide Season and amo got looks in (not you Count Your Blessings, or you There Is A Hell). The bar has been set unreasonably high by the Sheffield outfit on a night where it was proved that that Download set was no fluke. You’re in the midst of music royalty and this year’s new album is going to put that so far beyond doubt.
Bad Omens
Bad Omens are a monumental support band in 2024. In the past couple of years, they have shot up festival lineups and have exploded pretty much worldwide. Not that that will be a surprise to anyone who has seen them live. Opening with the heaviest track of their set, ‘ARTIFICIAL SUICIDE’, the band enter the stage masked and all shit is let loose. A crowd that was suitably warmed by Cassyette approached fever pitch.
The 2022 album THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND features heavily throughout their live shows, with this one being no different. Eight of the eleven songs played come from the album and it’s easy to see why. Older tracks like ‘Glass Houses’ and ‘Limits’ go hard but their latest full-length release is just such a leap forward they stick out a little. One thing that did hold their set back slightly (and it was slightly) was the insistence on darkness and leaving the stage between each track in the first half of their set. While removing the masks between the opening and ‘Like A Villain’ makes sense, doing it between the next few tracks too just allowed the atmosphere to die down a little. Not ideal, sure, but not catastrophic by any means and frontman Noah Sebastian has enough talent and showmanship to raise the dead, let alone bring thousands of adoring fans up a level. His stunning ability to move from beautiful highs, through deep growls and screams highlights that Sebastian is approaching the conversation for best frontman in the business right now. Closing out the set with the trio of ‘THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND’, ‘Just Pretend’ and ‘Dethrone’ brings a strong set to a close with a run of songs that are as good as anything that will be heard in 2024.
If you’ve not had the pleasure of attending a Bad Omens show yet, you need to get to one of the festival sets this summer. This is a band that probably aren’t even at the top of their game yet.
Cassyette
Entering the stage to a strong crowd of probably 60% of the arena, Cassyette kicked straight into one of her most popular tracks, ‘Petrichor’, immediately going about proving any lingering doubters wrong. Reeling off absolute bangers from start to finish, Cassyette’s huge cleans and powerful screams do a lot to fill such a massive room, but the limitations of just having a drummer and guitarist on stage, along with a backing track, show that there is some way to go in terms of bulking out. There were times where it just felt like too big an ask for even some of the big hitters, ‘September Rain’ for example, to generate the power required.
That being said, the announcement of a debut album is exciting for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it’s a full album of Cassyette. Something that we’ve been waiting years for by now. Secondly, because one of the tracks from the album, ‘Ipecac’, was absolutely huge. If it wasn’t for closing with ‘Dear Goth’ it would have been the highlight of the set and these two tracks closing showed that these rooms aren’t too big. Roll on summer 2024 and This World Fucking Sucks. The gothic-nu-metal re-revolution continues.