Words – Clare
Photos – Mitch
Due to a completely sold-out show at Rod Laver Arena, the Bring Me the Horizon Down Under Tour decided to add another night at the smaller John Cain Arena which was the first stop on the tour. Joining them were Daine, Make Them Suffer and Sleep Token.
The delightful Daine used her sickly sweet autotuned vocals to entertain the first concertgoers through the doors. The Gelfling-like girl performed a few singles including Doom, Cut My Heart Out and what I’m sure the crowd was hanging out for, Salt, which featured the Bring Me the Horizon frontman Oli Sykes who joined Daine on stage for the duet.
Make Them Suffer energised the room with a tight set including Ghost of Me, the super heavy Hollowed Heart, Ether, where the crowd with outstretched arms swayed side to side, the live debut of Epitaph and Doomswitch which properly woke up the mosh pit.
Sleep Token graced the stage in Melbourne for their first live offering of 2024 adorned with their newest iteration of masks. The vessels moved with fluidity, like spirits haunting the stage. Their devoted following cheered through the set, euphoric over the first tracks The Offering and The Summoning where Vessel bowed down in worship to II during the drum solo. Vore ignited the crowd to peak veneration but before completion, the sleepy boys played Take Me Back To Eden which only recently had been added to their setlist.
Bring Me the Horizon set out to give their fans one of the best nights of their lives, and you have to hand it to them, they put on a phenomenal show that would entertain anyone, fan or not. Intricate stage effects exhilarated the audience incorporating fire machines, confetti cannons and CO2 jets that harmonised with the slew of hits throughout the monstrous set. We were welcomed into the performance by the animated avatar E.V.E that appeared on the massive digital displays to the sides of the stage. The comical video game graphics followed a narrative that led us through singles mainly from the 2020 album release Post Human: Survival Horror and their newly released album POST HUMAN: NeX GEn.
Stained glass church windows lit up the backdrop and platforms while confetti rained down on the arena as Bring Me the Horizon launched into DArkSide. We watched the progression of the church windows as they transformed from stormy weather to fiery flames during Empire (Let Them Sing), MANTRA, Teardrops and AmEn! until the winged and blood-splattered Project Angeldust from Kool-Aid smashed through the church walls before disintegrating, leaving the stage empty and cold. Snowflakes fell from the sky and smoke billowed from the platform, Oli stood alone, holding up a flare. The entire crowd fist-pumped along to Shadow Moses.
The whole night Oli sauntered back and forth working the stage hard, but he worked the crowd even harder, ‘I wanna see every single cunt here jumping. Off ya feet!’. Not that his adoring fans needed much instigation, all throughout the set crowd members could be heard shouting ‘I LOVE YOU OLI’ and the pit rarely rested as the moshers circled, jumped and surfed while singing along to every single track.
As the night progressed the performance became inexplicably more entertaining. Green strobes blanketed the darkness during Kingslayer, and for the acoustic track sTraNgeRs, members of the mosh were invited to find a set of shoulders to climb up on as the arena sparkled with the twinkling of fans torches. Before Parasite Eve, BMTH took it back a few years to their golden oldies with 2008’s Diamonds Aren’t Forever from Suicide Season to which Oli quipped ‘Thank god that’s over’. A lucky fan named Charlie from the front row was selected to join Oli on stage to sing Antivist with him, and to the delight of the crowd, Charlie killed it, giving Oli’s growls a run for their money. The crowd involvement continued with Drown where Oli stepped down into the pit with a selfie camera, filming himself hugging and singing alongside his ecstatic fans.
Can You Feel My Heart was dedicated to all the support bands on the tour ‘If you don’t jump you’re a certified knobhead’ hollered Oli and the room electrified as canons exploded multicoloured confetti over the tops of head-banging fans. The band encored with the tracks Doomed, LosT and Throne as everyone got up out of their seats and pushed up against the barriers. The night was a feast of visual effects and audible joy, I can’t even imagine what they have planned for lucky ticket holders of the main event at Rod Laver Arena. Enjoy!
Huge thank the the John Cain Arena crew fro having us and a special thanks to Dallas Does PR for arranging media access.
EVERYDAY METAL – SUPPORT LOCAL HEAVY METAL
