Bring Me The Horizon Show New York City First Love

First Love North American Tour

There are bands who you hear and you know it’s them because of the same old sound they’re known for. However then there are bands like Sheffield, UK’s Bring Me The Horizon who have no issue with evolution and pushing their sound to places that defy fans imaginations and expectations. Oli Sykes and company have done just that with their latest release amo. The album, which centers around the theme of love and all it’s beauty and pain, is the latest in BMTH’s trajectory towards experimenting with new sounds and styles of music virtually making them genre-less.

Anybody who has been a fan of the band should have seen this coming, afterall the band has been evolving for a while now, just give a listen to previous albums like There Is a Hell Believe Me I’ve Seen It, Sempiternal, or That’s The Spirit and the path for amo becomes clear. Bring Me The Horizon are not looking to be a metal band or even a rock band for that matter, and that’s OK.

Change doesn’t have to be bad, so long as you’re not a metal elitist there is plenty of great things about amo, Oli Sykes shows off various vocal abilities we otherwise would not have heard and the ability to hop from a more upbeat, rockier track like “Wonderful Life” feat Dani Filth and then slow it down to something more electronic like “Nihilist Blues” feat Grimes aspects of the album is what makes this record gold. Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself!

With a new album comes a new tour, and Bring Me The Horizon have embarked on their North American First Love Tour. The band is playing some rather large venues and has some of their best production yet, the tour also features some great support acts in Fever 333 and Thrice. The lineup catapults this tour to an absolutely can’t miss show.

We couldn’t miss this tour so we made our way out the second of two New York City shows at the Legendary Manhattan Center’s Hammerstein Ballroom, night one was sold out and night two was very much the same story.

The nights opener Fever 333, led by former Letlive frontman Jason Butler and consisting of former The Chariot guitarist Stevis Harrison and drummer Aric Improta, also formerly of Letlive, were one of the most talked about acts of 2018, and now in 2019 with the release of their debut album STRENGTH IN NUMB333RS this three piece is gearing up to take names wherever they go.

The album is a movement rather than just an album, focusing on the worlds issues of racism, police brutality and social injustices on our planet Fever 333 remains a voice for those who don’t have one or even better a voice that will stand with them to bring awareness and change to the world.

The band as been on our radar since they came out and are a favorite among staffers, so when they took to the stage at 7pm on a chilly New York night, we were ready to feel the heat and catch a Fever!

The set begins with vocalist Jason Butler led to the stage wearing a black hood and standing in the center of the stage, the next 30 minutes it’s full blown chaos with the three piece performing favorites like “Burn It”, “We’re Coming In” and a track that started the band’s hype “Made In America”.

Both Butler and guitarist Stevis Harrison are madmen on the stage running back and forth, jumping and even heading out to the crowd and later both perform on the balcony as fans literally help keep the mic wire stretching as far as it can go.

The set also features and insanely cool beat-boxing session and drum solo, Fever 333’s performance was pure perfection. They not only sounded great, but they also keep the energy steady throughout. At one point Butler tells the crowd “I see our manager down in the pit with y’all, our label Roadrunner Records is here tonight”. Then proclaiming “Roadrunner where you at? Get in the pit”. Which was met with a roar from the packed NYC crowd.

Fever rounded out their set with the hard hitting track “Hunting Season”. These guys never fail to impress, in my opinion one of the best new bands around they remind me of the result of Rage Against The Machine having a love child with Linkin Park during the Meteora era. Fever 333’s debut album STRENGTH IN NUMB333RS is available now and can be purchased from the band’s official store.

The night’s second act really needs no introduction, the rockers that are Thrice have been back on the scene and making waves since their return in 2016 with the album To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere featuring the smash singles “Black Honey” and “Hurricane”.

The band keeping with the momentum and returned with their latest release Palms in the Fall of 2018 and have not looked back. After a year of successful headlining shows seeing them team up as the direct support for Bring Me The Horizon is a great opportunity to mesh with a new and open minded fan base.

Thrice took to the stage and began their set with the more mellow “Only Us”, before kicking things into high gear with “Hurricane”. Though the odd man on the tour lineup, they clearly had a load of fan support from the Hammerstein crowd. The set is most definitely a change of pace, most would be following Fever 333 but appear a better fit for the bill after seeing Bring Me The Horizon.

Thrice doesn’t move much, but rather provides a show experience with the ambiance of their lighting and true to record sound. The band’s 45 minute set is packed with great songs like “Black Honey” which had the crowd singing along. These guys are always a guaranteed pleasure to see perform live and made for an unexpected great addition to this tour. If you get the chance to see them, do so I promise you won’t regret it! Make sure to checkout their latest album Palms as well.

At the 9pm hour it was time for Bring Me The Horizon to take the stage, just like they have musically evolved, their live show has as well. The band’s stage is towering as its about three feet higher because it’s built on top of the venue’s stage. This is done to accommodate lighting coming up through the floor making for a beautiful production addition.

The show begins very simply as vocalist Oli Sykes takes the stage alone with a spot light focused solely on him as he runs through the song “I Apologize If You Feel Something” off of their week old release amo. This is the first glimpse at new BMTH and also an impressive moment for Sykes vocally, as he hits the songs high notes with ease. Before things get to comfortable and mellow the band breaks into amo’s single “Mantra” which finds the crowd singing the songs starting lyrics “Do You Wanna Start A Cult With Me?”

Bring Me The Horizon do a great job of building a setlist that flawlessly moves through the band’s extensive catalog mixing in songs from Sempiternal like “Shadow Moses”, “Antivist”, “Sleepwalking”, and “The House Of Wolves” and then flowing into songs from amo, That’s The Spirit as if they could all be one piece of work.

The shows production quality get’s better and better as the show goes as well. Everything from streamers in the beginning to the unveiling of the “Mantra” logo which lights up and changes colors to fit each songs mood, or how about the move able tilting light truss which at times makes the stage appear 3 dimensional.

Highlights of the performance include a newer edition to the set “Nihilist Blues”, an acoustic version of “Drown” which was epic and had the audience on each others shoulders and singing along. However for me and I know for a lot of old school and hardcore Bring Me The Horizon fan, the most unforgettable and unexpected moment of the show was the performance of the “Metal Melody” featuring “The Comedown”, “(I Used to Make Out With) Medusa”, “Diamonds Aren’t Forever”, and “They Have No Reflections”.

The melody was introduced by Oli telling the crowd “You wanted it, make it count” after joking about hating playing those old songs, after playing them Oli told the packed house

“I’m only joking about not liking to play those, it’s a walk down memory lane. Honestly we’re so thankful, you guy’s care enough to want us to play those songs. It’s Mental.”

It’s a testament to the staying power Sykes and company have had over the span of their 15 year career and things don’t look to be slowing down as the band is eyeing up their first number one album with amo.

The set was closed out with an energetic performance of the That’s The Spirit hit “Throne” raining loads of confetti down on the Hammerstein ballroom. Bring Me The Horizon once again delivered a captivating, high energy and plain out fun performance and there was no sign of negativity regarding their newer material, quite the opposite actually as fans seem to know all the words and were happy to belt lyrics at the top of their lungs. In my opinion things only seem to be looking up for the UK boy’s and I predict they’ll be on a completely new level by next year.