Bring Me The Horizon in Milan: Moshing for Your Salvation

Bring Me The Horizon in Milan: Moshing for Your Salvation

ByJohn

History repeats itself to be transformed and evolved. Bring Me the Horizon return to Milan more than a year after their last tricolour passage, and in the meantime mmore things happened. When, on the evening of July 7th, the band led by Oliver Sykes goes up on the I-Days stage it inevitably leads with it the changes of the last period. While the release of their new album, “Post Human:NeX GEn” (“read our review here”), was postponed several times, finally released last May as the second chapter of the “Post Human” series, inaugurated in 2020 with “Post Human: Survival Horror”, the Sheffield band had to deal with the separation from its keyboardist and producer Jordan Fish.

Bring Me the Horizon are back in our country with yet another .their identity intact and with a narrative that resume the conversation of the tour previously passed through our area (here is our story of the concert in Milan in February 2023), but with a greater self-awareness.

The task of opening the day of the festival, hosted by the Ippodromo Snai San Siro, falls to the Swedish metalcore group Imminence – called to replace Bad Omens after the cancellation of their summer tour due to health problems of singer Noah Sebastian. Under some attempts of rain, which fortunately always stop, then goes on stage Young bluewhose presence at the I-Days on the same date as Bring Me the Horizon it is revealed later a blessing for the fans. The British artist, born in 1997, brings to the stage his imagery inspired by the pop punk of the late 90s and early 2000s, together with the exuberance of his most famous pieces.

It is 9:30 pm when, as scheduled, the I-Days stage is ready to welcome the headliners of July 7th. The scene is set: a three-story structure is arranged to frame the interior of a Cathedralgothic reproduced on the back of the stage. The side screens show what appears to be the opening screen of a video game inspired by an anime: “Press start”, reads a sign under the title “Post Human:NeX GEn”. Bring Me the Horizon once again invite the public to play with the imagery already proposed with “Survival Horror Tour”, with a new storybut always tied to one dystopian scenario and to the theme of

dissolution of humanity. When the game starts, selected in “extreme” mode, it appears in the guise of a female creature, part mythological and part science fiction, the avatar of EVE, a virtual artificial intelligence project programmed to “conduct mass experiments on humans” to help unravel the mysteries of evolution. The audience is warned of an impending apocalypse and the failure of humanity, while Oli Sykes, drummer Matt Nicholls, guitarists Lee Malia and John Jones, along with bassist Matt Kean they are arranged on stage on different levels. The stained glass mosaic windows light up to the piercing, bullet-like notes of “Darkside”. The public outrage it breaks out immediately and the pit it’s a big single pogowhere dancing, jumping and elbowing are essential for one’s own salvation – and for that of humanity, according to EVE

In addition to the powerful and engaging storytelling, developed in this highly articulated form in concerts over the past year, Bring Me the Horizon are a concentrate of frenzy and explosive force. The sound is solid, and the atmosphere is now characteristic of the band. The sounds are urgent and thunderousand in songs like “Empire (Let them sing)” and “Mantra”, proposed already at the beginning of the concert, they dictate singalong choruses and frenetic and flattering rhythms. Oli Sykes takes the center stage, designed by himself, so much so that his bandmates fade into the background, eclipsed by the overbearing character of the frontman and the wall of sound they themselves built. Interactions with the fans are almost absent in words, but with impetus the singer drags the audience to sing at the top of your lungs with him, between personal conflicts, spiritual crises and self-destruction. At times, Sykes’ voice is completely covered by the backing vocals of those present.

In the hour and a half concert, the setlist focuses on the new albumwith many singles released long ago and well known to fans, but not yet played live in Italy, among these “Kool Aid“. There is no shortage of songs to celebrate “Sempiternal”, which turned ten last year and at the time of its release marked a turning point in the British band’s sound, seeing them experiment beyond the boundaries of the metalcore, hardcore punk and screamo language of their previous works, and evolve through the discovery of electronics and other sounds.

While the cathedral of the stage is destroyed by a fire and humanity is threatened by a monstrous creature that appears on the screen at the center of the stage, the musical race of Bring Me the Horizon knows no rest. And the enthusiasm of the audience does not calm down either, becoming also spectators of the live duet of Oli Sykes and Young blue on their “Obey” of 2020. To “never fail to keep promises”, as he did on previous tour dates, the Bring Me the Horizon frontman invites you to perform with him on “Antivist” a fan, who doesn’t at all have the air (and voice and ability) of having been chosen at random.

The parenthesis dedicated to the public continues with “.Drown”, which also at the I-Days sees the band’s frontman get off the stage and hug the people in the front row. Everyone’s hearts beat in unison on the pounding “Can you feel my heart?”, before the final act with “Doomed”, the hyperpop euphoria of “Lost” and “Throne”. In Milan, Bring Me the Horizon score another show with a major impactwhich sees them traveling on the right tracks, in terms of originality and personality, but also popularity and success. With “Post Human:NeX GEn” Oli Sykes and his friends have left no doubt that they will be around for a long time to come. And even live, their creative strength is intact.

Lineup:

Darkside
Empire (Let Them Sing)
MANTRA
Teardrops
Kool Aid
Amen!
The Best Is Yet to Come (recorded)

Shadow Moses
Obey (with YUNGBLUD)

Top 10 statues tHat CriEd bloOd
Itch For The Cure (recorded)

Kingslayer
Parasite Eve
Antivist (with a fan)

Drown
Can You Feel My Heart

BIS

Overture (recorded)

Doomed
LostT
Throne

John
John

With an untamed passion and deep, eclectic knowledge of music, John is the soul of RadioWise UK. Having worked in the music industry for over two decades, his vision was to create a platform that embodies the love and respect for music. John is known for his great attention to detail and insatiable thirst for discovering new talents and music genres.