I really expected Bring Me The Horizon to suck live. I was so wrong.
First of all, Oli Sykes could really make anybody swoon. His tactics as a front man, going into the crowd, standing on top of huge speakers, and high fiving the crowd surfers, were enough to make you love him. And he also was hanging from some wires that if there was another second of him hanging from them, it could’ve ended terribly. Regardless of how drunk he seemed, drooling all over himself, he was still quite the beast.
As for the, y’know, performance, it was incredible. I couldn’t take my eyes off the stage. They gracefully and enthusiastically played through songs like “Chelsea Smile”, “It Never Ends”, “Diamonds Aren’t Forever”, and “Fuck”. There were more kids crowd surfing that watching the actual show. They all wanted to get closer to the band. If you made an effort to wave to the guitarist or high five Oli, the band made an effort back. A crowd surfer waved to the guitarist, and he threw a guitar pick to her. BMTH was happy to be there, and it resonated and was infectious. Not to mention the fact I snagged a pick too and had a little fangirl panic attack afterwards.
Oli’s screams were impressive and strong, since his voice isn’t in the best condition due to some…incidents a couple years back he did his best and it showed. He was active, smiling, and caught up in the music. A few slurs or insults were hurled at him from the crowd, but he didn’t care. It was obvious he was used to put downs toward him or his band because they’ve been around for such a long time. He didn’t throw things at the crowd, he didn’t swear at them or walk off. He played and did his thing. He was there for the fans.
The band was together and tight and when they were stalling in a song to get the crowd moshing, they all knew what they were doing and when it was time to back into the song, they went in perfectly. It showed they had years of experience doing this, but still loved it. They didn’t come off as arrogant, or even showed a glimpse of “when’re we gettin’ off the stage? this is boring”. They gave it their all and that improved their performance. Their enthusiasm contagious, their energy intoxicating.
Bring Me The Horizon knows how to put on a show and can get a crowd moving. (And Oli Sykes should be voted most attractive man alive). I’m proud to be a fan and I’m proud to say I was at that show.
What a mind-blowing, jaw-dropping performance. I would kill to see those guys again.