Bring Me The Horizon Live at the O2 20th January 2024

The metalcore-turned-arena rock band returned to the UK in top form despite adversaries

My first gig of the year could not be a bigger way to kick off the new year. Bring Me The Horizon has managed to once again some of the biggest arenas in the UK, including two nights at London's O2 arena. To add to this momentous occasion, the band had a stacked support bill that included one of the most talked about metal bands right now, Bad Omens. One thing was for sure, 2024 would start with a bang.

We, unfortunately, missed out on Static Dress who opened the string of support acts which was a shame but gives me more of a reason to catch their set at 2000Trees. We did however get to catch the next support act Cassyette, A pop rock artist who has played at some of the biggest festivals such as Download Festival and Glastonbury as well as supported the likes of Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes, Sum 41 and My Chemical Romance. It's safe to say that they have already had an incredible career to date. this tour was just another achievement in the alternative scene. while she only got seven songs which for me was far too short for an artist of her caliber, she made every song count. Opening things up 'Petrichor' blasted through a set featuring singles throughout her career ending with 'Dear Goth'. It's a short but class set from an artist I'm looking forward to hearing more from this year.

Next up for The O2 is possibly one of the biggest support slots I've ever seen at any show since Disturbed supported Avenged Sevenfold back in 2017 in the same venue. As I said before, Bad Omens has been the band that has been on everyone's lips in the last few years producing the album 'THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND' which has seen the band garner a massive fan base with over 5 million monthly Spotify listeners and 172 million listens to their hit song 'Just Pretend'. To say that Bring Me bringing them on tour with them is a big deal is an understatement. The band started their show and showed they were not here to mess about. Usually, bands just have a backdrop with their name on it and that would be their setup, but this was not the case with Bad Omens. the band had a backdrop with their name on it but they also had two screens one on each side of the stage with light rigs placed between each side of the screens. I'd never seen so much production for a support band in my life. It was a visual masterclass from the band and as for the music, The band provided the fans with their hits and some songs from their back catalogue which showed off the band's versatility. Opening with 'ARTIFICIAL SUICIDE' was one of the best openings to a set I've seen. Mixed in with the amazing visuals, It's a great example of how to open a show. Other highlights include the energetic 'Nowhere To Go', The rather heavy 'Glass Houses' and 'Just Pretend' at the end. It's clear that we are going to see the guys again playing on bigger stages very soon.

At last, we get to Bring Me The Horizon who have been running off the high of headlining Download last year with Metallica and Slipknot. It's not all plain sailing recently with BTMH. The band have suffered from what lead singer Ollie Sykes claimed to be "Internal issues" which has seen the band delay the release of their upcoming EP 'Post Human: Nex Gen' as well as the departure of long-time bandmate Jordan Fish who was a massive influence on the bands change in sound in the last ten years, Most notably on the 'Sempiternal' which changed the landscape of the metal scene at the time. I was very interested to see how BMTH would deal with this change and what impact this would have on their live shows. It's safe to say it was business as usual for the Sheffield band.

The setlist was a career-spanning setlist that featured songs from the 'Next Gen' and songs from as early as 2008. The ones that impressed me the most would be some of the songs that I hadn't seen on the setlist before such as 'Empire (Let Them Sing)' and 'Doomed'. These are songs that I had been listening to as a teenager so to hear them now as an adult is insane, but I do love that they decided to switch things up on this tour. We also got a taste of what BMTH have been up to for this new EP. Songs such as 'Darkside' and 'Strangers' went down well with the fans and the bands A.I, EVE, let out some snippets of some unheard songs as well as recorded the crowd singing a new song the band had not finished yet. Clearly, the band are cooking up a storm and it will be worth the wait.

But back to the night's events, One thing that kept impressing me was the visuals for the show. Every time I go a see BMTH the visuals at their show get better and better every time I go and see them, and this time was no different. The reason standout moment of the show was when the band played their most recent single 'Kool-Aid' which saw the church-like structure created on screen destroyed by a demon-like creature as the band performed on stage. It was truly a moment that blew me away and showed that Bring Me doesn't sit on their morals when it comes to the productions of their shows.

Some guests joined BMTH on stage that evening as well. The biggest surprise would have to be Yungblud who came out to play 'Obey' as an exclusive for the London show. While it was a good laugh watching Oli and Yungblud muck around on stage, Yungblud did not sign much of his parts which made this cameo a bit disappointing. One Feature that did deliver however was Bad Omens leader singer Noah Sebastian coming back to the stage to play 'Antivist' which made a welcome retrun to the setlist. Both Noah and Oli complemented each other vocals very well with Noah stealing the show a bit with his growls and screams while the whole of the 02 was bouncing to the song.

On the topic of vocals, I have to say I was very impressed With Oli's vocals throughout the set. I would have to say this was by far the best vocal performance I had ever seen by the lead singer as he was able to sing the new songs with no issues and deliver on the heavier songs such as 'Diamonds Aren't Forever' which saw his demonstrate he's still got what it takes to play some of BMTH older songs, too many fans delight. He also did a great job of making sure that the fans were safe at the show with him stopping the show to allow a fan to receive medical attention. The band went off-stage for a while before resuming their set later on. Not only did Oli is one of the best frontmen in modern rock and metal but also shows he cares for the fans and makes sure that everyone is safe at their shows.

I had a lot of excitement and interest going into this show and I have to say that I was very impressed by BMTH. Not only were they able to continue without a key member of the band but they were able to put on a visual and audio masterclass which has to be one of their best tours to date. The band have certainly elevated themselves as one of the best arena rock bands going alongside the likes of Muse and Green Day in terms of production and music. Bring Me The Horizon proved that evening that there is simply nothing stopping them from world domination.