Bring Me The Horizon
10th February 2017
Logan Campbell Centre, Auckland, New Zealand
Review by Kate Taylor. Photography by Connor Crawford.
Immediately on the rock up to Logan Campbell Centre on a balmy February Friday evening; the sense of excitement for Sheffield’s Bring Me The Horizon was as palpable as the exotic cheeba scent on the air; with it seeming like all was forgiven among these punters regarding the postponement of this gig by Oli Sykes and Co. Whatever was before, didn’t matter now – we were here for tonight. Although excitable the crowd was exceedingly chill in parallel with their pumped vibe and with the venue crew respectfully herding the ‘kids’ around, it was apparent from the outset that this was going to be a good and loved up evening; with the busy and hot main room space, packing in tightly from 7:15 with the punters ensuring they were there for the support kick off of Auckland act, City of Souls.
Infiltrating the stage two minutes early; in a wise move to be honest as the gathered were positively vibrating with enthusiasm, it meant that City of Souls were already winning hearts and influencing minds by not dragging out proceedings, they’re straight up the guts and they know what they’re here for. Professional and taut, City of Souls took the limelight with frontman Richie centre-stage, conducting the young-uns like some demented puppet master, hopping down onto the lower stage area to connect with and whip up the assembled. Energy within band and crowd was high from the outset with the new City of Souls tracks playing well for the crowd with their crunchier, heavier sound and a breakdown in one reminiscent of the kind of corridors of heaviness that Tool conjures up on their best nights; which plays well with City of Souls’ general Deftones vibe. Banging out their set quickly and efficiently, Richie really cared for the crowd, including himself in their pre-BMTH reverie and letting them know that as soon as he’s done with ‘work’ he’ll be out there in the crowd enjoying the main event too – which obviously went over very well; inviting the crowd to check out their new track Ghost which Richie prefaced “It’s new, it’s not heavy. Give someone a cuddle”, as band and punters took a brief moment for reprieve. It was warming to see a band comprised of members namely: Marcus Powell, Guitar (Blindspott / Blacklistt), Trajan Schwencke, Guitar / Vocals (Cold By Winter, In Dread Response) , Richie Simpson, Vocals (New Way Home), Steve Boag, Guitar (In Dread Response / Blacklistt), Daniel Insley, Bass (Solstate), Corey Friedlander, Drums – (In Dread Response / 8 Foot Sativa / Fornax Chemica); who have contributed to the seminal metal, rock and hardcore bands of New Zealand for the last 20 years, up there looking like an overnight success but the old heads know the truth of how long these top blokes have worked on their craft. Drawing towards a close of their set with Water – their big hit that’s getting plenty airplay on The Rock, it was a great send-off that’s sure to have won some new devotees.
During the break between bands the kids really did blur into one mass as they milled into the space to fill every possible spot before BMTH was to take stage. Crushing techno over the PA caused the kids to dance ironically to it but really; it did sum up the frenzy well with everyone then singing lustily along to Dr. Dre’s Still D.R.E in between screaming out at any band tech that cruised on to the stage to assist with the set up.
Bursting through the darkness, just as their songs do for the people that need comfort in their struggles; Bring Me The Horizon were behemoths taking every inch of space up on that stage, either with their gear or simply their energy enveloping the venue and bouncing out of their every movement. Launching into Happy Song it was clearly off and away and we were on the ride, with the crowd positively beaming at BMTH playing before them, reaching their hands up in metal-pop supplication. A display of humanity always sends the crowd into a frenzy and as Oli stooped to tie his shoe in a lyrics break, he sent the place into a tumult as he displayed a mere human task and bound himself to the mob for being just like them; you couldn’t hear the chorus from his lips for kids yelling over the instruments from the bottom of their hearts. Hurtling through their set it was absolute chaos on the floor with a decent circle pit mosh opening up in the middle to back of the thickly packed crowd; but with respect and giving each other equal time to dance being the order of proceedings, (plus thankfully without staged out poser moves included). Everyone got to offer up their vigour to the pit gods and would go home a little lighter in the kilos for sweating it out on the floor with the rest of the dedicated. Up in the seats where this older, more discerning rocker was placed; I honestly though the companions I was with on the mezzanine were going to bring that shit down to the floor, with the whole place bouncing with the turbulence of remarkable music both played and enjoyed in real time…no kidding I thought that shit was going to collapse for a moment and much like their performance, you just had to grip onto something and go with it.
In an evening’s recital so incredibly tight it really is difficult to pick out stand-out tracks from an entirely very impressive set, but I’ll give it a go. As the visual effects on screen, as well as the lighting-scape, jets of stage smoke were used to punctuate heavy music stings and the visual closer of thousands of tabs of white paper confetti descending during the encore, really did make this humble show feel like something so much larger and more important. We’re talking headliner of a massive festival or set-list for a huge stadium sized night kind of vibe, making what was witnessed by the assembled feel all the more extraordinary. Although not a totally chatty front-man, Oli with his wispy lip-slug planted his feet and delivered pure rock stance on Avalanche making it so heartfelt, as he stretched himself out to the crowd who also reached out back to him in the space between. Shadow Moses had the entire place screaming, “we’re going nowhere” in a bonding cry of the youth who can see that the world’s just a little bit shit at the moment. As with Follow You, where the throng warbled along as best they could with Oli as he took it down a level to cool everyone off; adorning himself with a flower crown that had been handed to him onstage by Abilene Jones, a huge Bring Me The Horizon fan whose birthday was that day also. To be honest, it was one of those live music moments that was just a little bit cute and clearly special for all gathered in the space. Oli didn’t talk much, but when he did it was all about the appreciation he had for the people that had come out to see BMTH; letting us know before launching into Sleepwalking that, “…we’re from Sheffield England…we haven’t been here for eight years, so this one’s for you lot…thank you so much, it’s fucking great being here”; or personalising it by asking “Auckland, Can You Feel My Fucking Heart?”
A truly cathartic night of fucking good music was studded with faves from across their career to date with Chelsea Smile, Go to Hell, for Heaven’s Sake, Antivist; and also True Friends and Drown slaying on the encore. It was one of those killer gigs where you’ve seen the artist you’ve scraped your dollars together for, really get a kick out of their set too; with Oli once again honouring us by saying “thank you so fucking much, this is the last show of the tour and I couldn’t think of a better way to fucking end it”- and as the upturned, glistening faces radiated out their satisfaction, as the confetti rained down on us all, this magical night was OK by us to end, leaving us all in twitching anticipation for our next meeting.
Were you there at the Logan Campbell Centre to witness this amazing show? Or have you seen Bring Me The Horizon somewhere else before? Tell me about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- Happy Song
- Go to Hell, for Heaven’s Sake
- The House of Wolves
- Avalanche
- The Best Is Yet to Come
- Shadow Moses
- Chelsea Smile
- Follow You
- Sleepwalking
- Doomed
- Can You Feel My Heart
- Antivist
- Throne
- True Friends [Encore]
- Oh No [Encore]
- Drown [Encore]
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