If you have never heard Bring Me The Horizon’s brand of metalcore/screamo/deathcore music before, you could have easily been fooled by their boyish, roguish appearances, and write them off as another soft rock band — or even a slightly overage boy band — who prefer full bodied tattoos, especially when you take a look at vocalist Oliver Sykes.
Bring Me the Horizon delivered an electrifying performance
Sykes is an epitome of a reckless pretty boy with his dishevelled hair and puppy dog eyes, but once you come upon his blood-curdling screams, the visuals and the person suddenly don’t match. That, however, makes it even more exciting to see BMTH live.
After a decade in existence, the outfit from Sheffield in northern England certainly knows what haters are saying about their collective good looks, and to toy with the public perception of them, they opted to basically push the lighting away from band members during their first gig in Bangkok, making sure that no one could really see their faces, and focus on the music and visuals that reigned supreme for the short, precise show last Wednesday at Centrepoint Studio.
With a rather large, unruly crowd, it was a little hectic ahead of the gig, but the organisers managed to instil some sort of order. When the queuing and waiting hoopla died down, Bring Me The Horizon took the stage, and they brought a vast horizon with them as they kicked the sweaty night off with Shadow Moses which got the crowd in a roaring mood right away. Go To Hell, For Heaven’s Sakes, The House Of Wolves and Alligator Blood closely followed. Only four songs in, there was no denying that BMTH had the crowd right where they wanted them.
Sykes asked for red sea, circle pits and mosh pits from the fans, and he definitely got plenty of those, but I really have to hand it to the crowd for applying self-restraint as non-participants weren’t harmed. I was even able to witness several circle pits up close without getting my head smashed. This was one of the fiercest yet controlled crowds I’ve seen this year.
Chelsea Smile and Can You Feel My Heart blasted out full on, and we became moved by a musical violence that is completely at odds with the vulnerability in a lot of BMTH’s lyrics. Unfortunately, the show lasted little more than an hour, with Blessed With A Curse and Sleepwalking as a farewell.
It felt too short, but with such a high level of sustained energy and non-stop emocore screaming, I doubt the band could have gone on any longer. Technically speaking, there are better bands out there, and Sykes clearly needs to rethink his vocal style, as his voice cracked and he had to pull out from time to time.
Having said that, however, BMTH were good for massive entertainment value, even though we couldn’t drool over Sykes’ pretty face. The lighting and visuals were stunning, and perfect in reaffirming the band’s stance on aesthetics. The amped up dry ice machines and headbanging added to the flow. But most importantly, Bring Me The Horizon’s commitment to honest live shows shone through, and that’s more than I can say for a lot of other gigs.
