When waiting in the line for Bring Me The Horizon’s second post-pandemic show, hot off the heels of Hull’s Post Human: Survival Horror tour opening show, there were two things I noticed.
The first, was the excitement among the Bring Me The Horizon faithful. From what I gathered in conversations with fans in the line, this was many of their first concerts post-pandemic, just as it was for Bring Me The Horizon. The sense of unity and togetherness among this crowd was unmistakeable.
The second thing I noticed, was the vast variety of people attending the show. From emo teens to hardcore metal-heads, the headcount could be divided into millions of different category’s. However, were all cast under the same umbrella as one fanbase. This caused concern on my part, given Bring Me The Horizon fans’ controversial track record of not accepting all genres of their music. The band has jumped back and forth from metal to pop-punk, and back to metal again in the last few years, creating a divide among their fanbase in the process.
Following the release of last year’s EP Post-Human: Survival Horror, which leaned heavily into Bring Me The Horizon’s heavy roots, they also released the pop-punk/alternative single ‘Die4U’ days ago, something far more reminiscent on their post-Sempiternal work in 2013. It seemed both sets of fans were there for different things, and the contrast of how these sets of fans would interact on the night was intriguing to me.
Once the doors finally opened, the lights dimmed and the music began, we had our openers. Nova Twins (would feature later during 1×1 on Bring Me’s set) took awhile to get the fans properly invested, but had the audience unfamiliar to them completely in raptures by the end of their set. The same could be said for You Me At Six who followed them, producing bangers after bangers as the noise and reaction grew among this rabid crowd.
You could tell in each performance the excitement shared between the band and the audience, the energy was palpable. And it was only going to get better.
Finally after a long wait, Bring Me The Horizon walked on stage and burst into their opening track ‘Teardrops’. While it took a second for the pit to open during the openers, it took little to no time at all for Teardrops to send fans into an instant frenzy. Let me tell you, I’ve missed the pit. My concern over the varying audience was soon put to bed by the next three tracks, as the audience came together to celebrate through MANTRA, House of Wolves, Medicine, and Happy Song, all tracks from different generations of Bring Me The Horizon. It was absolutely heartwarming to see this sense of community among the fanbase, as cliché as it sounds.
You couldn’t have guessed this from the next four tracks though, as Oli announced they’d be kicking into high gear, and they delivered on that promise. Ludens, Dear Diary, Parasite Eve, and Shadow Moses all followed.
You’ve never seen so many people so happy to just mess each other up to great music, but be kind enough to help the each other up immediately as they fall. It’s hilariously ironic. In the same breath, these tracks were right out of Bring Me’s heavy metal wheelhouse, and was another case of a divided crowd uniting for all kinds of music in one set.
From here the show eased back to closing, as I stood dehydrated from the return of the pit. Wonderful Life, 1×1 featuring Nova Twins, the aforementioned Die4U, Kingslayer, a wonderful acoustic shift for Follow You, and finally Drown ended the (initial) 15 track set this with a calm euphoria coming over the fans, settled in the knowledge that Bring Me The Horizon had just rocked their world (as was so wonderfully adorned on the big screen’s post show).
They still wanted more, and of course they got it. Obey, Throne, and the appropriately communal Can You Feel My Heart brought an end to a wonderfully brutal night of music, that remained us all of how great live gigs can be.
Written by Brandon Bethune