Words: Kathryn Edwards  //  Photos: Abbi Draper-Scott

Lambrini Girls

Lambrini Girls’ punk-fuelled chaos cuts through the afternoon heat like they’re personally offended by the concept of daytime performances. The crowd’s still finding its feet – half are wearing sunglasses that probably cost more than most people’s tents, while the other half look like they’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards. But there’s something properly infectious about Lambrini Girls’ complete lack of filter that gets people paying attention despite themselves. They tear through their set with the kind of unhinged energy that suggests they’ve been mainlining caffeine since Thursday morning, with their snarling vocals and guitars sounding like they’ve been stored in a shed for six months. A lad near the barrier shouts “this is proper mental!” before attempting what can generously be described as dancing. Their whole performance feels like controlled chaos, with the emphasis very much on the chaos bit. By the time they’re done, Saturday’s got its pulse back and people are starting to remember why they’re here.

Mouth Culture

Mouth Culture slides in next with that indie-electronic blend that’s fast becoming their signature, and it’s exactly what everyone needs after whatever just happened to their eardrums. Their sound hits that perfect festival sweet spot between accessible and interesting – getting heads nodding without requiring anyone to fully engage their brain just yet. The crowd’s building nicely now, that familiar festival momentum starting to kick in as people shake off their morning demons and remember that yes, they did actually come here to see live music rather than just drink overpriced lager in a field. There’s something almost therapeutic about Mouth Culture’s performance, like musical paracetamol for the collective headache that is Saturday afternoon at Reading. A group of mates near the mixing desk attempt some sort of coordinated dance that looks like interpretive semaphore, and somehow it works perfectly with the music.

Oversize

Oversize brings the energy up another proper level, and this is where Saturday actually starts feeling like Saturday. Their set’s got that perfect festival combination of tunes you might know and ones you absolutely should, building crowd participation without exhausting the collective energies of the crowd (need to save that for Limp Bizzy and BMTH later). The pit opens up properly for the first time today – nothing too serious yet, just enough movement to get blood flowing and remind everyone that their bodies still function after last night’s carnage. It’s the kind of performance that bridges the gap between “struggling to exist” and “ready to lose my mind”, and they nail it perfectly. A girl near the sound desk is attempting some sort of interpretive dance that looks like she’s directing traffic, but somehow it works with the music.

Enter Shikari

Enter Shikari bound onto the stage in the early evening and instantly remind everyone why they’ve been festival royalty for nearly two decades. The crowd response is immediate and massive – this isn’t just watching a band; this is celebrating with old mates who happen to be really good at making noise. Rou Reynolds and the boys open with “The Dreamer’s Hotel” and the field transforms into something approaching religious experience. The moment everyone’s been waiting for arrives when they launch into “Sorry You’re Not a Winner” – everyone absolutely loses their minds, the pit becomes a living, breathing thing, all controlled chaos and shared euphoria that spreads like wildfire through the crowd. You can practically feel the ground shaking under thousands of pairs of feet as bodies fly in all directions with the precision that only comes from years of Shikari worship. The surprise comes mid-set – a live remix of “Sssnakepit” that sends the electronic kids absolutely mental, all glitchy beats and unexpected drops that somehow work perfectly in a festival setting. But the real moment comes when Rou delivers a moving speech about Palestine, calling for a ceasefire with the kind of genuine passion that cuts through all the festival chaos and reminds everyone that music can actually matter. The crowd’s response is immediate and heartfelt – this is why Shikari have always been more than just a band. They close with “A Kiss for the Whole World”, and the resulting singalong feels like 50,000 people actually believing in something together. Some of us might be blinking back a few tears.

Bilmuri

Bilmuri arrives with the kind of metalcore energy that sorts the committed from the casual in about thirty seconds flat. Their blend of crushing breakdowns and unexpectedly catchy hooks creates this beautiful chaos in the crowd – half are trying to start proper circle pits while the other half are desperately attempting to sing along to choruses they’ve never heard before but somehow feel like they should know. It’s controlled mayhem with just enough melody to keep everyone on board, the kind of performance that makes you immediately want to go home and explore their entire back catalogue. A bloke in a bucket hat keeps shouting “this is class!” at increasingly inappropriate moments, becoming an unofficial hype man that the band clearly appreciates. By the time they’re done, even the confused have been converted, and the field has properly warmed up for what’s coming next.

Limp Bizkit

Fred Durst and co. arrive just before 8pm, and they pull one of the biggest crowds of the weekend. The field transforms into something approaching religious fervour. The genius stroke comes before they even appear – “Roll with It” blasts out while the screens show an AI-generated picture of Oasis smiling with thumbs up, captioned “Oasis when they hear Limp Bizkit”. The crowd has got the giggles before Fred Durst even shows up. Throughout the set, the screens continue the theme of AI-generated images of various celebs giving approving reactions, including Billie Eilish, Harry Styles, Travis Scott with Justin Bieber; even Oli Sykes looks chuffed. It’s utterly stupid and ridiculous, and the crowd’s eating it up. When Fred finally emerges like a prophet of nu-metal resurrection, they launch straight into “Break Stuff” and the response is seismic. The pit becomes an ocean of bodies, while the back of the field turns into the world’s largest karaoke session. Mid-set magic happens when they bring fan Brooke on stage for “Full Nelson”, and she absolutely kills it – a proper goosebump moment when someone who’s clearly been dreaming of this gets to live it in front of 50,000 people. “My Way” gets the full singalong treatment that could probably be heard in Slough, while “My Generation” proves that some songs are just built for festival fields. This is Limp Bizkit at their absolute peak powers, combining nostalgia with genuine innovation in the most brilliantly stupid way possible.

Bring Me The Horizon

Back in the day, a metal band headlining at Reading & Leeds was nothing out of the ordinary. In 2025, having three back-to-back metal acts closing out the main stage on Saturday feels really quite special. BMTH close the night with the kind of production that makes everything else look like a school assembly. The Sheffield quintet deliver a mind-blowing spectacular that justifies every headline slot they’ve ever been given. The whole thing starts with video-game style clips on the massive screens, building anticipation like a movie trailer, before a virtual Cortana-esque assistant appears to scan the audience – real dystopian sci-fi vibes that gets everyone buzzing before a note’s even been played. When they finally launch into “Darkside”, the stage erupts in flames and pyrotechnics, and the crowd response suggests this was always inevitable. “Happy Song” follows immediately, and the irony of 50,000 people screaming about depression with massive grins on their faces isn’t lost on anyone. The pit becomes a sea of bodies during the heavier moments, while the back of the field turns into one giant therapy session disguised as a singalong. Woven in between songs are impressive on-screen interactive graphics that flit between the crowd and the band (they have a BUDGET for this) and a couple of chat breaks – a memorable example of this being Oli Sykes berating the “pits at Limp Bizkit” for being “fucking wank”, and instructing us to “PUSH IT BAAAAAACK”.

The set covers their entire evolution perfectly – “Kingslayer” showcases their more recent electronic direction, getting the whole field bouncing with its massive hooks and crushing breakdowns. “Can You Feel My Heart” creates one of those perfect festival moments where strangers become temporary family, with arms around shoulders and voices hoarse but determined. Whilst they don’t play anything older than a couple of tracks from 2013’s Sempiternal, which makes sense given the direction they’re going in – they’re hardly going to whip out “Pray For Plagues” (if only…) – the tracklist still spans over 12 years of musical evolution. There really is something for (almost, bar the teenagers leaving the main stage as soon as they realised that this was, at least once, a metal band) everyone here. The encore arrives with “Throne”, and Palestinian flags fly from the stage in a moment of solidarity that mirrors Shikari’s earlier statement, proving that this festival is about more than just music. The whole field sings every word back with the kind of passion and atmosphere that is difficult to put into words. They close with fireworks, confetti, enough pyro to make those close to the front fear for the safety of their eyebrows, and the kind of euphoric chaos that makes people immediately start planning their return next year, having delivered a headline performance that perfectly balances spectacle with genuine emotion.

Saturday night winds down with that perfect festival exhaustion, the kind where your whole body aches but your brain won’t stop replaying the best moments. From early afternoon punk chaos to BMTH’s closing spectacular, the day proved that Reading’s still got the blueprint for how festivals should work. Tomorrow’s going to hurt, but tonight was worth every aching muscle and every penny spent on overpriced pints. The walk back to the campsite is a parade of weary festival-goers, all buzzing with that post-gig high that makes everything feel possible.

“This world fucking sucks,” proclaims the ominous banner behind cyber-nineties pop-punk soothsayer Cassyette. She throws beautiful shapes in the middle of ‘September Rain’ and its teal maelstrom of twisting underwater Americana blasts, taking her cues from rave culture and Amy Lee in equal measure.

With the power of the rocket resistance to the robot apocalypse, Bad Omens prove they’re the tough guys that nu-metal kids hope they’d grow up to be. The corrosive guitar squeals of ‘Like a Villain’ mix with the seismic bass to produce to the soundtrack to acts on revenge on a global scale, creating a set which sounds like sonic barbed wire. They rapidly build to high intensity that barely lets up and there’s an enveloping appeal with each whiplash vocal flex. A powerful warm-up for tonight’s main event.

The blurring of the barriers between fiction and real life, or reality and imagination, signals Bring Me The Horizon’s entrance. Eve, the passive aggressive retro avatar and narrator of the ‘monsters attack a video game base’ story that runs through the visuals, introduces the ‘Bring Me The Horizon Post-Human Live Experience’. Commenting purely on the first half of the sound of BMTH’s live set would be slightly missing the point; from the first glorious blending of vocalist Oli Sykes’ voice and ours on opener ‘dArkSide’, it’s clear that they’re presenting their music as only one part of a larger, joyfully and destructively theatrical experience. “I can’t tell you what to do but I know what decision you’re gonna make based on free will,” Sykes narrates, crouching as four pits open and melt together and dripping hieroglyphs evoke hell via pyrotechnics and nineties gaming glory.

Our claps splash like raindrops as a virtual monster trashes the set dressing, sending the backdrop we now realise was only projected flying across the screen. “Know what a circle pit is? I think Angel here wants one,” grins Sykes as the undead behemoth behind him mimes a circle and her intestines virtually bleed out into the stage during ‘Kool Aid’. Her body dissolves into smoke as the song fades out, transmitting into the dry ice that billows over our heads. Snow falls onscreen and onto the audience simultaneously. Sykes emerges from offstage, his cropped jacket revealing a meshed and tattooed midriff. In one hand, hoisted above his head, he grips a red flare which writes a mandala above him. We chant like we’re bursting to ‘Shadow Moses’, and gasp when Yungblud joins them onstage for ‘Obey’. 

There’s a danger when presenting a huge show like this. The power and passion of the music which has stirred twenty thousand people to trek into this space can easily be lost within a vast spectacle, rendering songs of joy and honesty into just another backing track. Bring Me The Horizon neatly and delicately sidestep this concern, tangibly drawing a line in the musical sand between the ‘monster movie’ half of their set and something based on a traditional concert. “We’re gonna do that cliche acoustic song bullshit moment,” Sykes announces. “It’s a core moment.”

Quietly, the opening of ‘sTraNgeRs’ wells up and overcomes our barriers and doubts. They strip back the layers to expose the kernel of who they were, and still are, with each note. Sykes wittily addresses the unending delay on their new album when Eve chastises him (“It’s coming, I promise! I’m convinced it’s really good and I think everything’s shit.”) until the stalking beat of ‘Parasite Eve’ slams us back into Bring Me The Horizon’s constructed world. ‘Can You Feel My Heart’ becomes a hectic celebration of us as Sykes grabs a camera and films selfies with the front row as we bounce – suddenly, we’ve become the stars and the feeling blooming in our chests bursts into a cloud of rapturous singing.  

A quiet montage of the band’s history leads into their encore. “Fresh out of rehab, I sat down and wrote these words… if these words mean something to you, let’s do it together…” Sykes crouches like a weary gargoyle. For the first time in the set, the performance is taken away and the frontman’s leaving himself vulnerable and honest. He rolls into child pose, his chest heaving before exploding into ‘Doomed’ as we’re bathed in pink confetti. Green lasers cut the ceiling as he re-emerges from the smoke like a ghost of himself, inflating ‘LosT’ into a huge rock tune. “I think we are living proof that it is just enough to have a dream,” smiles the vocalist as ‘Throne’ closes out show and becomes our shared triumph. It’s been twenty years since they started out and based on this stunning set, we’re left with a strong sense that the best is yet to come in their stellar career.

KATE ALLVEY

Words: Fiachra Johnston and Lisa Fox.  Images: Penny Bennett, Jemma Dodd and Download Festival  / Abbie Shipperley / Todd Owyoung / James Bridle

Stand Atlantic

It’s never easy opening the main stage but if anyone can stay cool under the heat, both metaphorically and literally, it’s Sydney’s Stand Atlantic. It’s an easy going affair but by no means a static one, with ‘Wavelength’ getting the crowd up and moving. Vocalist Bonnie Fraser sticks to the front of the stage, feeding off the early afternoon crowd’s emerging energy as she leads their most loyal fans in a savage rendition of ‘Deathwish’. Stand Atlantic are one of those acts you see live that feel like they belong on the Vans Warped tour on a sunny California day, and while they need to settle for a swampy day in Donington, their pure pop punk style makes for a great first show of the day. As WARGASM’s Milkie Way says during the Kerrang interlude adverts constantly on shuffle every 15 minutes says “You’re all looking sufficiently sweaty right about now.”

Nova Twins

Where Stand Atlantic feel like a VWP classic, the music of Amy Love and Georgia South – aka Nova Twins – belongs to crowded punk basement venues. Though Love whirls across the stage wildly, and South absolutely kills it in the bass solos, they are let down somewhat by the massive stage and its sound mixing, the minute details of the performance lost to its sheer size. That by no means slows the Twins down, and their energy is still infectious. ‘Antagonist’ is the best sounding of the seven song set, its deep and chunky bass ends reverberating throughout the arena and amps up the crowd even more as the duo lose themselves in the madness of ‘Choose Your Fighter’. It’s more a mark on the festival for misplacing Nova Twins than the duo themselves, and had this taken place in one of the tents, who knows what kind of havoc they could wreak.

Hot Milk

Apex stage really belonged to the women of rock today as Han Mee leads Hot Milk up to the base plate alongside co-vocalist Jim Shaw. Though it’s an early show, Hot Milk crank up the heat with some unexpected pyro throughout their set, as ‘Wide Awake’, true to name, perks up the crowd. Mee picks up the pace to respond, a symbiotic energy forming, and at one point she busts open her knee on the guardrail. Caked in blood and surrounded by flames? Not a bad way to cement yourself in the annals of Download history. Shaw also kills it when it comes to mixing rap into tracks like ‘Candy Coated Lies’, however some poor sound mixing means his most powerful moments are regretfully diluted. It’s not the first time this has happened on Apex, and it mires an otherwise tremendous set.

Demob Happy

The Avalanche suffers greatly from the heat throughout the week but being the most available source of shade, it still draws many people under its awning which in turn means more eyes than usual on smaller acts. Despite only having six songs to turn the mood in the Avalanche around, the suave trio immediately set to work revitalising a waning crowd. How Matthew Marcantonio is able to perform vocalist duties in a full purple suit in the muddy humidity of the tent is anyone’s guess, but the crowd are appreciative of the daring fashion choice in 25 degree weather during, ‘Succubus’, the wailing open guitars cutting through the heat. Delayed by nearly 40 minutes due to a medical emergency, the boys of Demob Happy still manage to give an absolute riot of a performance and turn a crowd originally just escaping the heat into loyal fans.

Crawlers

Though they came to fame recently through TikTok, Crawlers no less deserve the crowd they’ve drawn at the Avalanche than any of the other tenured bands that came before. Draped in a lesbian pride flag plucked from the crowd, Holly Minto gushes about the  group’s opportunity to be here. To mark the occasion, a special heavy rendition of ‘Come Over (Again)’ is played, to the delight of the crowd. It’s a love-filled set, the crowd both receptive and giving throughout the short but impactful six song outing. On what is the start of a weekend long stifling heat, Crawlers and their audience turn the tent into their own personal oasis.

The Blackout

The Blackout, The Blackout, The Blackout. Oh how you’ve been missed. From the moment the band’s banner is unfurled, chants of “We are the dynamite” blast forth from an excited crowd. Packing as big a punch as the last time they played Download (way back in 2010), Wales’ finest blast right out of the gate. ‘Children of the Night’ has the audience in a frenzy, which threatens to burst when vocalist Sean Smith jumps into the crowd.

It’s not long before Gavin Butler jumps in too, much to everyone’s delight. Bouncing around the stage, the sextet have all the energy of a band in its heyday and they have the crowd in the palm of their hand. Mics are spun, mullets are slammed, middle fingers are raised, crowd surfers surf, and everyone is in ectasy. The crowd might be a few years older (and we even spy some kids belting out lyrics with them) but for 40 minutes we are transported back eight (or is it seven, Gav?) years. It’s like The Blackout has never been away.

Emotions are running high, both on the stage and in the audience as Sean Smith declares “I’ve got goosebumps.” The packed tent is treated to banger after banger. ‘ShutTheFuckUppercut’, ‘I’m A Riot? Youre a Fucking Riot!’, ‘Higher & Higher’ – and then, all too soon, it’s over. Closing with ‘Save Our Selves (The Warning)’, including the whole tent kneeling and erupting (which saw more than one set of old knees crack), the crowd are left hungry for more. Hopefully this isn’t the last we hear from boys from Merthyr Tydfil, because it’s clear The Blackout still means everything to a hell of a lot of people. In fact, from the sounds of it we won’t have long to wait before they’re back. What a treat! [LF]

Empire State Bastard

If you wandered into Dogtooth just to see what a band named Empire State Bastard’s deal is, your first thought may have been “Is that Simon Neil from Biffy Clyro?” and, well, it is! Neil’s newest project, alongside touring guitarist and Oceansize frontman Mike Vennart, aims to get as heavy as his voice allows, and believe us, it is heavy. While they only have two singles from their future record out for streaming, their set is filled with incredible content we can’t wait to get our hands in, though some unfortunate feedback issues mean both Neil and Vennart suffer from blown out mics at one point (near unavailable with the black metal screeches coming out of Neil). It’s an incredible set that showcases abilities Neil and Vennart have only been able to demonstrate occasionally, with vocals that are going to blow folks away come their full debut.

Architects

It’s been a long time since opening for Bring Me The Horizon’s first ever headline show (In vocalist Sam Carter’s words, “I wasn’t even in the fucking band yet”), and in the ten years since their appearance at a UK Download, Architects have changed so much. They deserve all the hype on the big stage now just as much as they did back then. While there’s not a lot to remind us of days gone by, bar a ripping version of ‘Nihilist’ and the evergreen ‘Doomsday’ and ‘Royal Beggars’, Architects are happy to evolve with the times, Carter chugging spirits and strutting in sparkling sequins while the band absolutely shred the singles of the last two records. Guitarist Josh Middleton is sorely missed, but it does not dampen the heaviness on ‘Impermanence’, or the closing chugs of ‘Animals’. As the energy only grows and grows in the crowd you start to wonder why it took so long for Download to bring them back.

Carpenter Brut

With the crowd for Amy Lee and Evanescence at Opus fit to absolutely burst, we look next door. Alongside Perturbator yesterday, Poitiers artist Carpenter Brut brings synthwave to Download, turning the Dogtooth into his own personal 80’s slasher flick. He’s an unusual pick for the festival, but the energy is fantastically unique within the tent, an engrossing neon lightshow pairing up with the mix of 80’s glam metal and disco, with suitably epic guitar and drum solos from Brut’s backing band. Brut spreads his set out between his albums, pulling from both the acclaimed EPs of ‘Trilogy’ to the glitter-dipped horrors of ‘Leather Terror’ and ‘Leather Teeth’, even dipping into some live rarities like ‘5 118 574’ and ‘Chew Bubblegum’ and, of course, the ever popular cover of Michael Sembello’s ‘Maniac’. Despite never uttering a word, Brut’s set drives the crowd into an absolute fervor, a suitable communion for the main event that is to follow…

The Church Of GENXSIS

Bring Me The Horizon did not come to Donington alone. If you attended this year you will invariably have seen the roving bands of hooded individuals and on-screen ads during the intervals of a mysterious man inviting you to a specific part of the Arena (“Where can I get some good fish n’ chips?” playing over the speakers will be burned into the memory of every attendee for years to come). The location? An unremarkable shipping container. Solving the treasure hunt tucked away in the Download Arena provided those dedicated enough with a coin that gained entry into the container. One concertgoer described entering, having their tarot read with a uniquely themed deck, before being led into a dingy bathroom scene and signing their name with your fingers on the wall. Attendees left with the coin and a necklace for the church, suitably confused by the affair, but left with a feeling that some large announcement was coming from the band.

Bring Me The Horizon

The church has been established, it’s time to go to mass. Bring Me The Horizon are the dark horses of this weekend, despite their ever growing success over the last two releases. While Slipknot and Metallica are prime candidates for headlining a Download weekend, BMTH felt a little off theme for what is usually a more classic metal/rock show. It marks a noticeable shift towards more scene and modern ‘core’ music compared to previous years, and it was anyone’s guess as to how festival goers would take to Oli Sykes and co’s electronic-infused rock, especially in their upcoming EP, which was formally announced just after this show.

However, as the opening drop of ‘AmEN!’ hits, to the closing samples of ‘Steal Something’, BMTH’s ninety minute set have the crowd completely enamoured. Our host tonight, aside from frontman Oli Sykes, is head of the Church of Genxsis, Parasite Eve-L, whose takeover of the human race is told throughout the show’s setlist. BMTH’s set up helps tell this story, a two level screen setup shifting from grand cathedral aesthetics to shivering tundra wastes, and even fleshy, mechanical behemoths in the case of ‘Kingslayer’. From the classics of the ever popular ‘Sempiternal’ such as ‘ House of Wolves’, to more recent work off the ‘Post-Human’ EP like ‘Teardrops’ and the newer ‘LosT’; every track feels like it’s meant for the grand Apex stage. ‘Dear Diary’ sets the entire stage alight in pyro, and proves that Sykes is well and truly back when it comes to live screaming. There’s little bits of banter here and there, the gang immediately making fun of their acoustic cover of ‘Follow You’ (it’s a bit Coldplay, but…), and expertly balance moments of chaos in tracks like ‘MANTRA’ with the slower, emotional beats they spend with the crowd in ‘Drown’. BMTH have the crowd in the palm of their hand, the group swaggering across the stage with all the confidence required in a Download headliner.

It wouldn’t be an anniversary without a reunion though, and returning to join on their respective guest tracks are the Nova Twins and Amy Lee. ‘1×1′ never felt the same without Love and South, and their misfit energy mirrors Sykes’ as they blast across the stage. Lee remains hauntingly beautiful for ‘One Day the Only Butterflies Left Will Be in Your Chest’. We even get a spectacular rendition of ‘Nihilist Blues’ with Lee taking over the duties of Grimes, as she builds up to a huge drop that incites even Oli (“Jump you little shits!”).

As they finish on the classic ‘Can You Feel My Heart’, Eve-L is finally prevented from exterminating the crowd with a simple onscreen captcha, closing out the night in typical BMTH sardonic fashion. While it would have been nice to have seen some classics from the first two records for the sake of Download, Bring Me The Horizon stand by their recent work, and with good reason, it’s utterly fantastic on the Apex stage. Concocting one of the weekend’s most hypnotic, inventive, and explosive sets, Metallica and Slipknot have been put on notice. If you didn’t think the boys from Sheffield belonged here before, they’ve given you ample evidence on the contrary.

Bar some rather ridiculous lines for merch and water, and some occasional tech issues, Friday is about as successful as it could have been. Bring Me The Horizon and a host of younger bands have proved they belong as much as any classic punk or metal band does, and the positive reaction here ensures they’ll be welcome back for a while to come. As Saturday approaches though, the real question remains: can this quality keep up for two more days?

WORDS: JESSICA MCCARRICK; IMAGES: EMMA STONE

Static Dress

What do you get when you pair relentless energy and crashing drums with a lead singer whose voice manages to stretch and scream over every word so intensely you wonder how he does it? Static Dress, that’s what. You have to hand it to them – they are all or nothing with everything set to 100%. Lead singer Olli Appleyard shares his appreciation by highlighting how he’s not feeling great today but “to see this many people here is fucking sick”. There’s something special about watching a band local to Leeds who’ve been coming to this festival for years now getting to play. He asked how many people knew who they were and half the hands in the tent moved up but the entire crowd could’ve already been fans judging by their enthusiasm. The drummer was putting so much power into his strokes it was hard to know how the sticks didn’t puncture holes in the kit over the course of the set. Their sound is complex, with fully interwoven components that create a disorienting and abrasive sound that’s hard not to get behind. The showmanship from the group was immense as Appleyard jumped off an amp and straight onto a keyboard that he later then smashed just before he was escorted off stage at the end of the set. This band certainly practices what they preach.

Enter Shikari

Enter Shikari have made quite a name for themselves over the last decade of their fruitful career. They preach sustainability and equality through the use of experimental production that is part rock, part electronic, part something new entirely. It’s all carried perfectly by Rou Reynolds who could go down in history as one of the best frontmen of all time, able to control the crowd like no other whilst speaking about topics with a level of sincerity that most lack. The Main Stage West was set and we were prepared for a show, all of us immediately erupting as the iconic riff of ‘Live Outside’ began, paired with the explosion of confetti to match the high energy. From that moment it is a blur of people crashing into each other, the dust from the ground rising in a glorious fashion thanks to not one pair of feet being stationary. They brought out Wargasm for their latest single ‘The Void Stares Back’ which was met with huge applause in admiration for the band that have been picking up steam as of late. A highlight of their set was of course ‘Sorry You’re Not A Winner’ with the crowd happily obliging them for the iconic triple-clap involvement in the chorus. They have carved a place for themselves amongst the greats and their fans are second to none thanks to their enthusiasm and decorum – a welcomed necessity.

Cassyette

Cassyette is the definition of versatile, her insatiable discography laced with electro pop and punk influences all meshed together to create her unique sound. She slithers around cool as anything in total control as her band lay down the foundation of her opener ‘Dear Goth’, a sultry anthem with an ironic theme. She has amazing vocal skill that was able to shine through on the more discreet numbers. This is really a one woman show, backed by a heroic drummer and a guitarist that worked so instinctively together. Her passionate intensity is a pleasure to witness, especially in closer ‘Petrichor’ that shows her immense range – her voice is almost sacrilegious, in total and often baffling control of her ability. She is bending the genre lines and creating a lane of her own, cementing herself as one to watch for sure.

carolesdaughter

Quite the opposite from the previous act was carolesdaughter, in a lot of ways carrying the same air of angst throughout her set but in a more carefully curated package. Though her tracks are riddled with honesty her performance felt rather one sided and almost identical to her recordings, the live setting not adding much. At the halfway point her backing band left the stage, leaving behind interesting backing beats, proving a little light for her punky persona. Her performance from then on out was bland, prancing around stage delivering lines with little intensity and lacking a genuine feel. She admitted that she had not been feeling well and had to take things slowly which certainly explained her performance style. It was good of her to power through and still perform her hits like ‘Violent’ and ‘Trailer Trash’, their self-deprecating humour befitting the nature of the show. Catch her on a good day and the performance would have shone.

Ho99o9

This performance was madness. Ho99o9 (pronounced Horror fittingly) have been trailblazing the music scene for years with their merging of rap, metal and rock to create something that is unpredictable and unprecedented. As quickly as the instruments begin their tunes, the crowd is thrown into a frenzy. The BPM has never been so intensely maintained throughout a set, taking deep foundations of relentless noise and energy in their stride as they continually batter their instruments. The songs are indistinguishable in the best way possible; absolutely ferocious in their delivery and creating chaos in the crowd. You could feel the pure, unbridled rage amongst onlookers was being shared with the band, with frontman theOGM knowing exactly how to ignite it. You have to hand it to them; they can provoke such a passionate response and, given their performance, it’s unsurprising.

Wolf Alice

Delicate, thoughtful and a crowd as big as The 1975, Wolf Alice are an indie sensation that just keep on giving. The foursome are masters of their instruments as they pour over complex yet understated melodies, accompanied by a subtle vocal performance. Graceful songs like ‘How Can I Make It Okay’ and ‘The Last Man on Earth’ build gradually to show off the carefully placed heavier motifs taken from rock influences, totally unique to the group and helping them stand out from the crowd. Throughout the course of the set it is hard to not be in awe as the group masterfully manages to balance softness with intensity. Closing their set with ‘Don’t Delete The Kisses’, the band are met with a universal cheer from the throng around the stage, as the delicate synth trickles in and we can only gaze with our admiration. Their softness is a welcomed break from the other extremities of the weekend, the perfect calm before the upcoming storm.

Bring Me The Horizon

Bring Me The Horizon are a band that need no introduction, clawing themselves to headline status over their glittering career, and no one deserves it more. Lead singer Oli Sykes saunters on stage and looks the part as they open with one of their biggest tracks ‘Can You Feel My Heart’, parting the crowd with his voice. Immediately they follow with the iconic ‘Happy Song’ which sends everyone into a spectacular frenzy of bodies battling to express half as much as Sykes is able to do with his vocals. The show felt like it was on another level to anything they’ve done before, returning to the festival for the first time since their secret set in 2017, and what a momentous return. They continued through their setlist with immense enthusiasm and uninhibited glory, hitting every beat with absolute consistency. Their sister performance at Reading Festival had seen the band bring out Ed Sheeran to do a rendition of track ‘Bad Habits’, and we can’t help but feel lucky that in his place we had Yungblud to sing his parts on the riotous ‘Obey’. As the sun set and the show came to an end, one last triumphant move was made as huge red streamers shot into the sky to mark the moment, leaving us all with one collective thought; what a show.

If you’ve come here for a potent dose of classic Prada, then you won’t be disappointed. Tracks like the anthemic ‘Watchtower’, the devilishly heavy ‘Hallucinate’ and the rip-roaring ‘Sacrifice’ all scratch that itch; bludgeoning metalcore riffs and uplifting choruses locked in an endless ebb and flow as vocalist Mike Hranica recites dark and often harrowing poetry over it, often slipping into an almost spoken-word croon.

Album opener ‘Exhibition’ also has those moments but also allows the electronic side of the band to lead the charge, swerving in and out of the foreground around DePoyster’s lament of “welcome to the way down.” All the material is instantly recognisable as The Devil Wears Prada but moments like this are where the new album shines, and there’s plenty more where that came from.

‘Salt’ is one of the most commercial sounding tracks they’ve released, but that isn’t a bad thing at all. Taking influence from the aforementioned Bring Me The Horizon, the powerful guitars in the main motif launch the song into the stratosphere right from the off, with the dual vocal attack of Hranica and DePoyster working at its absolute finest from beginning to end. ‘Time’ is an expertly walked balancing act between calm and carnage, flicking a switch from haunting moody passages to razor-sharp distortion without it sounding uncomfortable or out of place. Energetic and moody giant ‘Noise’ is both infectiously catchy and deeply moving in its delivery, with some of Hranica’s most thought-provoking lyrics on show. The conveyance of the line “I’m existing as a ghost but I’m still afloat, dizzy drifting from left to right” and the way the music shifts with the honesty is, simply put, beautiful. That happens a lot on this album.

The soul-stirring and candid side of the band has always been one of the things that makes them special, and that characteristic has never been as prominent as it is throughout ‘Color Decay’. The pained ‘Trapped’ is a tidal wave of emotion that crashes over and over again, Hranica and DePoyster narrating two different sides of the same story on this towering epic. ‘Twenty Five’ is a solemn and gloomy slow burner, with the soft piano tones slowly ascending towards an explosion of ethereal guitars. There’s the ominous inner-turbulence on show in ‘Fire’, the honest and self-deprecating cries in ‘Broken’, the heart-breaking finale ‘Cancer’ – on the whole, this album represents one of the band’s most experimental efforts and it may just be one of their best, too.

There’s something so alluring about the way The Devil Wears Prada continue to evolve. The band have transformed themselves from screamo staple into metalcore bar raisers, and this album sees them push it even higher. They still manage to retain their core characteristics – Hranica’s unmistakable emotive voice, the crushing dense breakdowns, the glistening choruses – but there’s a maturity and attention to detail on show that makes it feel like hearing the band for the first time all over again. The fact that keyboardist Jonathan Gering took the reins to produce the record may have something to do with this, able to really transform the band’s collective ideas into a cohesive product, and it’s really worked. This album is confident, diverse and powerful, displaying them as a band that have far outgrown their roots.

‘Color Decay’ as a title may accurately represent the lyrical content, but the music contained within is some of the most colourful that they’ve ever made. They really have captured a special moment in their career and, if their new outlook on creating is anything to go by, this will be the first of many.

DAVE STEWART

‘Post Human: Survival Horror’ is Horizon’s first step into a new style of releasing music. With plans to release four EPs that make up ‘Post Human’, ‘Survival Horror’ is the opening offering, and proves to be their heaviest release in eight years. Released in digital format only in November 2020, it debuted at number five in the official UK charts before being physically released in early 2021 and going straight to number one. These two sets tonight played their part, announced during physical release week, fans could buy a physical variant and a ticket for the show together for a very kind price. Both sets sold out within an hour of release, unsurprising given BMTH are fresh off of the first full arena tour of the pandemic, selling 63,000 tickets for those dates. Punktastic were in attendance at Pryzm for the first set of the night in this overly intimate venue for a band of this size.

To start, BMTH play the record in full. ‘Dear Diary’ gives guitarist Lee Malia full licence to riff, harking back to their early days as a deathcore band, and frontman Oli Sykes releasing full guttural screams, his vocal cords all but ripping themselves from his tattooed throat. BMTH have become a band who look genuinely happy to be on stage, and tonight they wear big smiles throughout the opening song, gazing out at the carnage that is ensuing in front of them. ‘Parasite Eve’, was the first single to be released from this EP, and has clear pandemic influence. Having been the song that the fans have had longest, the singalong is almost deafening, feeling very poignant for where we currently stand as a human race. With restrictions having been all but lifted, “When we forget the infection / Will we remember the lesson?” in particular is a lyric is very true to the world right now.

‘Teardrops’ is quite clearly the highlight of the night, though. Leaning very heavily on the Linkin Park influence, this track would not sound out of place on ‘Hybrid Theory’ or ‘Meteora’. Baring his soul, Oli Sykes delivers his lyrics with venom. ‘OBEY’ follows, complete with Yungblud’s vocals being played on a backing track, which is feels a bit flat after his surprise appearance at the O2 Arena to close BMTH’s tour. The band become very flat during this part of the set, seemingly unsure about what to do in the absence of Yungblud, before locking back in to finish the track. ‘Kingslayer’ also features Babymetal’s vocals on a backing track but, in contrast, this song still sounds massive. If and when BMTH can play it with Babymetal on stage with them, it has the potential to go down as their best live track, but for tonight, ‘Kingslayer’ is clearly the highlight of the record, mixing the big chorus with the growls and an over the top anime feel, the band have crafted one of the most mental songs but also one of their best.

‘Ludens’ from the Death Stranding video game is another welcome addition to the group’s setlist, taking cues from Billie Eilish before crashing into one of the best breakdowns they’ve ever written. The band close this portion of the show with ‘One Day the Only Butterflies Left Will Be in Your Chest as You March Towards Your Death’, which shows the growth that Sykes has been through as a singer. From a teenager who just wanted to scream so he could be in a band, to a man who can pull heartstrings with just clean vocals, Sykes has grown into one of the most versatile frontmen this country has to offer.

With the EP played in full, front to back, the band then treat the crowd to some of their biggest hits. ‘MANTRA’ opens this encore of sorts, bringing screams from the crowd, before new single ‘DiE4u’ is aired. From the next release of ‘Post Human’, ‘DiE4u’ points to a more pop sound, bringing the big synths and falsetto vocals from Sykes, but with a chorus which is stadium ready. BMTH prove once again why they are one of the most creative bands in the country. ‘Drown’, which was initially met with scepticism upon its release, is now an anthem for fans and is a song so versatile that it works in an arena setting as well as it does in a small nightclub like tonight.

Bring Me The Horizon close their set with energy, crashing through ‘Throne’ and ‘Can You Feel My Heart’, before exiting the stage, to do it all over again. After their sold out arena tour, this show is further validation that the band are fully equipped to play any venue this country has to offer. Sold out shows up and down the country and the demand for tickets tonight proves that they are at the peak of their powers. It feels genuinely amiss that they have not been given the opportunity to headline a full festival yet. Bring Me The Horizon are a band who have become can’t miss – a band who are guaranteeing the fans at least a spectacular show, and they duly delivered. The future is bright for the band, who are basking in the light of the present. Now. Someone put them on a main stage at a festival on a Saturday night, they’ll rise to the occasion and make it look as easy as playing a nightclub in Kingston.

ADAM ROSARIO