Bring Me The Horizon fans . Last Friday, the 16th, the post-hardcore band packed Vibra São Paulo, which had to open a new ticket session to meet the demand. The group will perform at the first edition of Knotfest Brasil , which takes place this Sunday, December 18th, and their side shows are part of the so-called Metal Week , which organized a series of extra shows by Knotfest acts.
BMTH's last visit to Brazil was in 2019 for Lollapalooza . The following year, the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic partially served as a backdrop for the excellent album POST HUMAN: SURVIVOR HORROR (2020). The nine-track album is the first in a series of conceptual EPs and speaks about the arrival of a virus that consumes humanity. Conceptually, this would be a kind of vampiric virus that ended up becoming strangely prophetic and gained new meaning amidst the pandemic.
On Friday night there was no doubt: the audience was there in force to see Bring Me The Horizon. Originally, the band was supposed to share the set with Motionless In White , but they cancelled their performance at the last minute due to "a serious illness" that had affected the members and crew. They also cancelled their participation in Knotfest Brasil and were replaced in the lineup by Black Pantera .
The sheer number of Bring Me The Horizon t-shirts at Vibra São Paulo made it clear who the night's headliner would be. The crowd welcomed the Vended , who replaced Motionless In White, but didn't seem very keen on physically engaging with the music . When the British band took the stage, however, the venue erupted.
Beyond the sonic experience, Bring Me The Horizon takes their show on a visual and conceptual level. The performance begins with a video conveying the message of an Artificial Intelligence called Eve , referencing the song "Parasite Eve" by Survival Horror . On the screen, images explode in color with the lyrics of the songs throughout the show and also simulate computer commands. At the end of "MANTRA," all the lights are turned off as if a virus had invaded the band's system, and the show is momentarily interrupted until Eve reappears on the screen.
While the audience wasn't very keen on interacting with Vended, the relationship with Bring Me The Horizon couldn't have been more different. The entire Vibra São Paulo venue was filled with voices singing along to the opening tracks "Can You Feel My Heart" and "Happy Song," and the crowd was captivated by the charisma of vocalist Oli Sykes . Married to Brazilian model and singer Alissa Salls , Oli took up residence in Brazil in 2021 and even has a CPF (Brazilian tax identification number). During Friday's show, he communicated in Portuguese all night, mixing full thank-yous with multiple requests for mosh pit openings, saying things like "needs bigger," "crazy," and "I hated you guys."
The big surprise of the night was the special appearance of Pabllo Vittar , who took to the stage to sing “Antivist,” from the album Sempiternal (2013). Although it seemed unusual at first, the choice wasn't that surprising; Oli and Pabllo frequently communicate on social media and comment on each other's Instagram photos. During her performance, the singer showed enthusiasm and hit impressive high notes, adapting screamo registers to her vocal range.
While Pabllo Vittar's participation entertained the audience and provided a great surprise, fans missed one of their favorite songs. Despite multiple requests from the crowd for "Sleepwalking," Bring Me The Horizon left the song out of their setlist on Friday night. Other cities in Latin America heard the track live, which increased anticipation for the São Paulo show. However, playing with a reduced set of only 1 hour, the band didn't include the much-anticipated song.
“Follow You” provided a beautiful moment with cell phone lights on and people climbing onto each other's shoulders at the vocalist's request. The night ended with an explosion of energy with “Throne,” where Oli asked everyone to crouch down and stand up at once on his signal. “Please, go ahead. It's so much fun,” he requested in Portuguese.
Despite the glaring absence of "Sleepwalking" from the setlist, Bring Me The Horizon ended the night with a sense of accomplishment. Their selection of songs blended great hits from the albums Sempiternal (2013), That's The Spirit (2015), and Survival Horror (2020), wisely leaving out amo (2019), which had already been promoted at Lollapalooza in 2019. Although the short set left a feeling of "I want more," the band managed their time excellently and left on top of the show, delivering one of the most powerful performances of 2022.
Check out our photo gallery taken by our contributor Leca Suzuki . Swipe to the side to see all the images – if you can't access them, click here .
READ ALSO: Vended puts on a mind-blowing show for a static audience, but leaves to a standing ovation.
