War Child’s BRITs week together with O2 started in February – and now comes to an end on 29 May, 2019. Originally booked to play a show at The Dome in February, Bring Me The Horizon were forced to reschedule to tonight due to front man Oli Sykes requiring vocal chord surgery. This decision proves to be a master stroke after tonight’s performance.Â
Opening on ‘MANTRA’, Bring Me The Horizon explode out of the gates. A festival worthy light show, video screen and CO2 from the floor set the tone for an eventful night. Being able to play older material so early in the set in the form of fan favourite ‘Pray For Plagues’ shows how loved this band is; Sykes can still nail the death core growl that made his band famous, sounding more ferocious than ever. ‘House Of Wolves’ follows, eliciting mosh pits galore all around the tiny Dome.Â
Bring Me The Horizon have evolved into a band who can deliver the heavier songs from their past before going straight into softer new material, while still keeping their own identity. ‘Medicine’ has one of the biggest choruses that British rock has seen in a long time, proving its worth as an arena filling anthem. The first technical issue arises during ‘wonderful life’ where Dani Filth’s vocals aren’t timed in with the screen, but the crowd more than makes up for it.Â
A three song run of ‘Diamonds Aren’t Forever’ into ‘Shadow Moses’ and a thunderous ‘Happy Song’ shows that Horizon can still riff with the best bands around. The choruses are screamed back by the crowd and Sykes roams the stage like the ringleader at a circus, holding the whole room in his hand with ease. An acoustic version of ‘Sleepwalking’ brings the energy down, but shows off every member of the band. Lee Malia’s delicate plucking of his acoustic guitar shines through with Jordan Fish’s backing vocals and percussion.Â
Horizon’s latest album ‘amo’ debuted at number one in the UK album charts on its release in January. ‘Sugar, Honey, Ice & Tea’ is the latest cut to be in the live set and instantly proves to be a great choice. The high harmonies on the chorus from Jordan Fish, as well as the driving guitar riff, garner a huge reaction from the crowd. ‘Follow You’ continues to be one of the best ballads in recent memory, whilst an acoustic rendition of ‘Sleepwalking’ once again shows off Sykes’ vocals and the surgery has improved his voice to a completely different level.
An electronic intro to old favourite ‘Chelsea Smile’ before the full song kicks in starts off the encore, before Fish’s computer completely dies. After a few awkward moments, Horizon cut two songs from their set and finish on an acoustic version of ‘Drown’ with Sykes & Malia stripping it back to the bare bones. It’s an unexpected end to an unexpected issue, but Horizon deal with it and don’t let the issue rattle them.
This show was for War Child but served as a warm up show before their debut festival headline set at All Points East. Based on this performance, they’re a band who are constantly on the up, and should see them destroy All Points East on their way to the biggest festivals in the country. If they’re not headlining Reading and Leeds in the next two years, it will be a travesty. This is one of the most interesting bands in the UK in 2019, one who can reinvent themselves however they want, on the hottest live form of their lives. The future is bright for Bring Me The Horizon – they’ve paid their dues through the years to become a leader of the UK rock scene, and they should be treasured.
ADAM ROSARIO