Bring Me The Horizon returned to the Pageant on May 14th with backup dancers, CO2 cannons and masked men with flamethrowers.
I was very interested to see how Bring Me The Horizon (BMTH) was going to perform on their Second Base Tour. A lot of fans were not particularly excited about BMTH’s new sound direction. Like most successful bands, they eventually mature and evolve with the release of each album. Lately, BMTH has been getting less heavy and more audience friendly. The front man, Oliver Sykes, has been getting away from screamo and doing more clean vocals. A lot of it has to do with the direction of their sound but also partly due to Oliver constantly rupturing his vocal chords. The band recently had to cancel a few dates on the previous leg of the tour due to ruptured vocals. Personally, I really enjoy the direction BMTH has taken with clean vocals, catchy chorus’s and heavy electronic breakdowns.
The show started off with their catchy hit “Mantra” from Amo before getting dark and heavy with “House of Wolves” from Sempiternal. The show quickly slowed its pace with “Medicine”, a very lighthearted and catchy track from Amo.I was a fan of their latest album, Amo, since it dropped despite it getting mixed reviews. I will admit I never fell in love with the album but after seeing them perform it made me appreciate it even more. Even if you’re not a big fan of Amo, they played a good mix of old and new songs.
They had an interesting stage design, complete with co2 cannon, backup dancers, and masked men with flamethrowers. The stage had massive LED screens designed to look like random subwoofers, complete with a staircase in the center that lead to a high platform where the guitarist and backup dancers often occupied. The backup dancers often changed from post-apocalyptic outfits to robots with pom-poms. I’m used to seeing pop stars and rappers bring back-up dancers, but this was definitely a first at a metal show. They pulled it off well and I applaud BMTH for doing something typical, but with their own dark twist.
If you were on the fence about going to see Bring Me The Horizon, do yourself a favor and buy the ticket. With the amount of talent and production that’s going into this show, The Second Base Tour is definitely worth checking out.
