Photos – Mitch
On April 30th we gathered in worship for Sleep Token‘s Melbourne offering. This was only the second time that Sleep Token has performed in Melbourne but it was their first Australian headline tour. Sleep Token has always had a loyal fan base, yet in the last few months, their popularity has skyrocketed with over two million monthly listeners on Spotify and their track ‘The Summoning‘ amassing over thirty million streams alone.
The first release of tickets for this tour sold out in record time with each show being upgraded to larger venues across the country. For Melbourne, this meant that the Northcote Theatre would play host to the evening’s Ritual.
A line formed around the block and as doors opened the herd quickly moved inside to secure their vantage points. As there were no supports, people waited eagerly for over an hour for Sleep Token to play.
At the stroke of 9 pm, the lights went down and a deafening roar from the crowd engulfed the venue. The intro to ‘Chokehold‘ commenced and lead vocalist Vessel entered the stage in moody low light and a cloud of otherwordly pink smoke.
When the chorus dropped the audience screamed ‘You’ve got me in a chokehold‘ and proceeded to break out in a heavy mosh pit in the center of the venue floor. As the first track came to a close, the intro to ‘The Summoning‘ began, bringing the excitement to a fever pitch. Things then calmed with the song ‘Hypnosis‘, providing an opportunity for their drummer simply known as ii to truly shine.
The chill vibe continued with tracks ‘Like That‘ and ‘Nazareth‘, a deep cut from Sleep Token’s 2017 EP – TWO. Two new tracks followed from their upcoming record ‘Granite‘ and ‘Aqua Rega‘.
There was a brief interlude, the lights went down and the intro for ‘Atlantic‘ began, a fan-favorite. Atlantic was accompanied by ‘Alkanine‘ and ‘The Love You Want‘ all taken from their critically acclaimed 2nd studio album – This Place Will Become Your Tomb. Closing out this run of songs was ‘Higher‘ where Vessel treated us to a deathcore style ‘BLEGH‘ something that later became a talking point of the evening.
Closing out the evening was ‘The Night Does Not Belong To God‘ and of course ‘The Offering‘ from the debut record – Sundowning.
Concluding their set, Sleep Token left the stage leaving the crowd hungering for more ‘ONE MORE SONG! ONE MORE SONG!’ bellowed through the venue. Vessel unexpectantly returned to the stage and treated us to a solo performance of their latest single ‘DYWTYLM‘ making it a world-first live premiere.
Performances like this make you appreciate the impact the band has on it’s followers. All throughout the showing, arms raised up from the crowd with hands grasping the atmosphere around the band to form a connection, and when the evening truly completed, faces were flushed with tears.
Sleep Token will head to Adelaide next and wrap up their sold-out tour in Perth.
A huge thanks to the crew at the Northcote Theatre and Destry All Lines for having us and special thanks to Dallas Does PR for arranging media access.
You can see our previous coverage of Sleep Token when they Supported Northlane at The Forum Melbourne. Also, check out a selection of bonus images below.
EVERYDAY METAL – SUPPORT LOCAL HEAVY METAL
