Thornhill, fresh off the back of supporting Sleep Token in the states, return to the UK,so we made our way down to see this all Aussie lineup at The O2 Academy, Islington, London.
Opening the night, Bloom took to the stage, in what was a masterclass in the art of warming up a crowd. It took a mere two songs before the first circle pit of the night and the energy was electric from there. Navigating raw emotion from a very varied setlist of riff laden tracks to full on atmospheric singalongs, Bloom set up the night perfectly for the chaos that was set to come.
A short intimation later we have the arrival of Ocean Grove, a slight change of pace from Bloom which can only be described as Nu-Metal but make it a party. We are set for the first of many insane surprises of the night as Thornhill arrives on stage to perform a cover of Ocean Groves, ‘Stratosphere Love’ truly signalling what is to come. Navigating their last three records we get the pleasure of an instrument swap as bassist Twiggy Hunter takes lead vocal leaving vocalist Dale Tanner to take up bass duties in ‘Raindrop’. Followed by an incredible drum solo during ‘Guys From The Gord’.
From the constant jumping, insane pits and a surprise stage storm of Thornhill, Ocean Grove truly put on an incredible set.
The stage is now truly warm for Thornhill. Expectations are high and we waste no time as we jump straight into ‘DIESEL’ and ‘Revolver’, setting a true precedent of a band who have just come off of tour with Sleep Token. At this point, the crowd may as well be a liquid as there was no escaping the energy, pits and insane number of crowd surfers.
We slow down ever so slightly with their new single ‘Mercia’, giving us a taste of the varied setlist, jumping straight into Dark Pool deep cuts ‘Lily And The Moon’ and ‘Where We Go When We Die’. The crowd keeps no secrets for the love that Dark Pool still holds within the fanbase.
As if it couldn’t be done twice in one night, Ocean Grove storm the stage, swap instruments and cover Thornhill’s, ‘Under The Knife’ (I could have only hoped to be a fly on the wall for the discussion around this).
We take a small detour as we dip into their album Heroine with Arkangel, a song that could easily hold its own and appeared to be the blueprint to the Bodies album, barrelling back into a flurry of BODIES tracks including their fan favourite (and my personal favourite track) Obsession. I honestly didn’t think it could get more intense but even down to their last tracks Thornhill’s energy is unmatched.
“One More Song” echoes through the night as Thornhill returns to the stage with ‘Cassonova ‘and in typical end of tour fashion, the supporting bands arrive on stage diving into the crowd, causing absolute havoc.
As we close the night, it’s evident that rooms of this size, quite simply put, aren’t big enough for Thornhill moving into 2026. The sky is truly the limit for these guys as they move from strength to strength taking the world scene by storm. As Jacob (vocalist) thanks the crowd for an incredible night, he lets slip that he’s been sick the last day or so and if this was his performance whilst unwell, then Thornhill are an unstoppable force of nature.