“So Tell All Your Friends: This is the End of the NX_GN World Tour”

Bring Me The Horizon was in Dublin 3Arena last week for the first time since 2011 to end their NX_GN World Tour, welcomed by an electrifying crowd of more than 11.000 people including yours truly. When it comes to Alternative Metal or Deathcore (in their earlier years, however you want to define them), I had very little experience in this kind of genre and show, so I honestly did not know what to expect. When we walked into the arena, I was filled with a mixture of excitement and nervousness, but when I was leaving, it was all joy and amazement (and a few bruises and a missing toe from the mosh pits). 

Performance

In our previous review, we talked about Oli Sykes, the lead singer of BMTH, sharing his thoughts on Alex Turner and his Band. Sykes basically said that Arctic Monkeys are just naturally cool. He mentioned how they don't need flashy stages or big productions to impress because their coolness speaks for itself. Dear Oli, I understand you want to praise your homeboy from Sheffield, but after seeing your show I can say from the bottom of my heart that you and the band are right up there when it comes to coolness.

The stage was set up in a way that put Oli in the centre of everything, with the band situated in different floors on top, more at the back or the sides. In such a set-up, He often looked like he was alone on stage, which required him to fill out the stage and make the crowd feel his presence. We write about stage presence and the importance of having the charisma to dominate the stage a lot in our reviews, and it is fair to say that Oli as a performer had great charisma on stage.

Prior to the show, I was wondering if I would be able to notice a difference in his voice, or feel like he was holding back himself a little bit due to his ruptured vocal chords a few years back. Even though this was the last show of their tour, which means that considering he has been singing day in and day out for months now, he still delivered a very solid vocal performance, including the high notes and the screaming. I was very impressed by his ability to hit the high notes very effortlessly.

Guys, I am not going to lie but because I was jumping around and mosh pitting the whole time, I might not have been able to focus on all of the elements of their performance as much as I usually do, and so most of my notes are Oli-oriented rather than the whole band. My highlight of the whole performance was how genuine Oli was as a performer. 

Being a frontman in a globally successful band usually brings attitudes of massive egos, which is not necessarily a bad thing because I believe it also allows the show to be heliocentric as we see in Arctic Monkeys. It adds up to the “wow” factor. However, Oli did not seem to have the attitude of “I am the man” even though it is possible to say that he was the centre of attention during the show. 

He was extremely humble and he could make the crowd feel his gratitude for being able to perform there tonight, which I think is another very appealing and cool thing to do. After the show, I could tell why so many people in the world were obsessed with the band and their music, because the whole show felt very humble and down-to-earth, even though there were incredible screen-plays, fire and confetti everywhere. He connected with the audience very well, making the crowd feel “present”.

You could see this while they were performing Drown, where he took the camera and walked right into the front row, sang with the audience, drew tattoos for one of them (a smiley-d*ck drawing), took selfies with them during the song. The genuineness of the whole performance personally made me feel like I was part of the band, which is not something you see in a lot of concerts.

Setlist

A fairly substantial setlist (19 songs) that covered most of the discography. Interesting choice to include only one song (Diamonds aren't forever) from their first 3 albums. There is no doubt that the release of the album 'Sempiternal' was a crossroads in BMTH's career. Most of the played songs came from 'Sempiternal' and their latest album 'Post Human: Survival Horror' (4), but especially from singles (6) released in the last 3 years, which will form the new album 'Post Human: NeX GEn', expected to be released in June 2024.

 It started very strong with the first 7 songs one after the other without giving the crowd a moment to catch their breath, including the 2 most recent singles, 'Darkside' and 'Kool Aid.' 'Empire (Let Them Sing)' returned, a song that had been missing in the setlist for almost 10 years, in my opinion, one of the best live. From here, heavy moments alternated with lighter moments, with more chill pieces like 'Die4u' and 'Strangers' breaking the chaos created by songs like 'Obey,' 'Kingslayer,' and 'Diamonds Are Forever' (sung together with Olli Appleyard, the vocalist of Static Dress). 

From here, the rhythm slowed down (except for 'Antivist') compared to the beginning of the concert. 'Drown' was very nice, with Oli coming down from the stage and starting to sing it with the fans in the front row. Disappointing, however, was 'Can You Feel My Heart,' BMTH's most famous song, but which didn't convince me live at all. From here, the encore composed of 'Doomed,' 'Lost,' and closing with 'Throne,' which worked well as a finale, although I would have replaced one of the first two with a more intense song. I believe that the placement of the songs also took into account the fact that Oli's voice might have weakened as the concert progressed. Overall, it was a good mix of more recent songs and past classics.

Production

We're trying to make a Disneyland, Universal Studios feeling in a rock set. We're so scared people might be bored for one second; it's just constant flash and bangs. It's almost too much but I love it." Oli couldn't find a better way to describe their show. The interaction began even before the band's entrance when Eve, a sort of alien (inspired by the song "Parasite Eve"), introduced herself as a State of the Art Advanced Research Engine. After asking if we were ready for the greatest night of our lives, she thanked the audience for volunteering in the NeX GEn research and started scanning the pit to see if there were any mosh pits present. 

As BMTH entered with "Darkside," the audience experienced the full arsenal of confetti explosions, smoke, fire, and strobe lights, elements that will be present throughout the entire concert. Despite this, it was not overwhelming, and there was never a feeling of being too much; everything has been balanced excellently. The stage was set up on three levels, with the guitarist and bassist on the first, Oli alternating between the first and second, and the drummer and guitarist on the third. In the background, a series of screens in a half exagon shape initially covered by tarps that gave the appearance of a gothic stained glass window, creating a cult or sect-like atmosphere, which I loved because it fits well with their style and songs.

These tarps were removed just before "Kool Aid," and then the screens were fully used in their entirety. The interaction with Eve continues throughout the concert, recording the voices of the 11,000 present shouting all togheter, "Hello Oli, you f**king knobhead," until the end of the concert, where before extinguishing our species, Eve's stopped by the reCAPTCHA test (the famous "I am not a robot"), confusing Oli with Howard from "The Big Bang Theory." Trust me, there is no way to get bored!

Venue & Crowd

In these alternative-hardcore concerts, there's always an atmosphere of inclusivity where everyone can find their place, regardless of how they appear or dress. The audience had been waiting for BMTH to return to Dublin for 13 years, and they made their presence felt, accompanying every single song by jumping, dancing, and even throwing in a few wall of death moments here and there.

For anyone looking to dive into the pit at these concerts, just a heads up,. To be clear, it's not a death sentence, but certain things need to be highlighted. Participating in mosh pits is undoubtedly fun (and safe if done with caution), but it can also be physically demanding. Unfortunately, both during Bad Omens and BMTH's concert, I saw many people feeling unwell (Oli had to stop "Can You Feel My Heart" to assist a girl who had fainted).

My advice is to preserve yourself both physically and vocally for the main band you came to see and enjoy the opening bands in a more relaxed manner without jumping into mosh pits just for the sake of it.

There's nothing specific to add regarding the venue or the audio. For the first time, we used earplugs (game changer), so it's challenging for us to say whether the audio was too loud. From what we perceived, everything seemed okay.

Finishing Touch

The gates were open around 5.30, fairly early for a concert on a Tuesday night, with Static Dress taking the stage as the first act of the night. Unfortunately, we could not make it for them because of the early hour. As we walked in the arena, Bad Omens were about to take the stage. I was fairly impressed by the frontman Noah Sebastian, who also made an appearance during BMTH, to play a song with the band. Also, shoutout to Bad Omens for having very cool full black outfits and the masked-hoodies for their opening song, I loved that. I was also surprised by the audience Bad Omens had in the arena. There were many fans in the arena with a lot of knowledge about the band and their songs. For me, it was the first time I heard of them, but I found them as the perfect opening act for what was about to happen…

Hot gignwings review

Performance: 🌶🌶🌶🌶

Production: 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶

Setlist: 🌶🌶🌶🌶

Venue: 🌶🌶🌶

Crowd: 🌶🌶🌶🌶