Ahead of their Wembley Arena date this coming Friday, Bring Me The Horizon decided to treat five hundred or so lucky fans to an intimate warm up gig at Camden’s Underworld. But after a fairly lengthy interval since their last UK show, do the Sheffield hailing fivesome still have what it takes to pull off something so up-close and personal?
The crowd tonight are particularly rowdy, and for good reason, as Bring Me The Horizon’s sporadic decision to play The Underworld caused an unruly online ticket scuffle earlier this week, which considering the size of The Underworld, meant most people were left empty handed.
So tonight, if you’ve managed to get here, you know you’re pretty damn lucky indeed. The band step onto the modest sized stage, opening with ‘Shadow Moses,’ whilst people frantically reach for their phones to record the moment. Lead singer Oli Sykes is particularly revved up, thrashing his arms into tight fists, then as the song dives into a quieter section during the third verse the crowd participate by singing back the lyrics in unison. Staying united for ‘Go To Hell, For Heaven’s Sake’ the band ask the Underworld to form a circle pit.
The audience, of course, kindly oblige and turn the already crammed venue into a sweaty mess of flying limbs and dripping emo fringes. It’s clear from tonight’s reaction that the songs taken from album Sempiternal are the most loved, with everyone hanging and singing along to every word.
- Watch our video interview with Oli Sykes discussing what to expect from Wembley here
These are the tracks of course that have cemented Bring Me The Horizon’s status as an entry level rock band, moving them away from their ridiculously heavy metal roots and allowing them to open up their genre into more radio friendly territories – which, have essentially made them big bucks and built them up to arena status. Having said that, it’s old tracks like ‘Chelsea Smile’ and ‘Pray For Plagues’ that give the audience a piece of BMTH nostalgia, reminding us just how far they’ve come since the days when Sykes’ urinating on a girl rumors were the top talking point surrounding the band. Tonight, Bring Me The Horizon have managed to pull off something special, leaving them well and truly warmed up for their first ever UK headline arena show.
They’ve also proved that an intimate gig is now a walk in the park for a band that’ve toured and grown in lyrical and performance maturity over the years. But will they manage to slay Wembley just as easily? I guess we’ll have to report that one back on Friday.
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