Bring Me The Horizon: Anatomy Of A Future Festival Headliner
Tuesday, 25 August 2015
Written by Alec Chillingworth
People have been calling it for years, but few really believed. Cynics scoffed as fans valiantly denied that their band could succumb to such mainstream pandering. But, in 2015, Bring Me The Horizon are in the box seat as future headliners of some of the world’s biggest festivals.
First, let’s look ahead to this weekend. The band will take their place on the main stage at Reading and Leeds, kneeling before only one band: Metallica. The metal band that plays anywhere and everywhere. The metal band that even your grandparents have heard of. And, as we all know, whenever a heavy act starts to reach the upper rungs of the festival circuit, the phrase “the next Metallica” becomes currency.
Their 1991 blockbuster self-titled record, known to most as 'The Black Album', is one of the biggest selling of all time. Tens of millions worldwide have a copy of it stashed on a shelf, while yet more have snaffled it from iTunes in fear of invoking the wrath of Lars. They were behemoths of the metal world beforehand, but it made megastars of the thrash outfit and, vitally, granted them crossover appeal.
This is something we often forget. When Avenged Sevenfold headlined Download Festival last year, the drunken rabble before them seemed convinced that the sky was the limit for the band. As defiantly brilliant as they were that day, their journey into the upper echelons appears to have ended there. They're not going to headline Reading and Leeds or Glastonbury. They are one of the biggest names in modern hard rock and metal, but you'd struggle to find their music nestled on the iPod of a casual music fan.
Even Slipknot’s chaotic cacophony would stand a better chance of topping such a bill. The Iowan monolith remains a cornerstone of musical culture and, besides Linkin Park, they are one of the last metal bands to truly invade mainstream consciousness on such a scale. Plus, Slipknot still write metal songs. The same cannot be said for Linkin Park.
And this is where Bring Me The Horizon elbow their way in. The Sheffield bruisers' early output was utterly pants, but from 2008's 'Suicide Season' on, they have been flawless. 'Sempiternal' dropped in 2013 and earned the band a #3 chart position in the UK, leading to ceaseless touring and a sold out Wembley Arena appearance last year.
Building on the electronic, dense trappings of 'There Is a Hell, Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let's Keep It a Secret', 'Sempiternal' merged keyboard-flecked metalcore with gargantuan choruses. Shadow Moses invaded Radio 1's playlist and, prior to Wembley, a further step into melody threatened to change the game: Drown.
“We wanted to write our version of an arena anthem,” OliSykes told the Independent. That they did. Drown was followed by Happy Song and, to the annoyance of old school fans, Throne: an uplifting, pumped-up singalong that bears little resemblance to the racket made on 'Count Your Blessings'. All three are lifted from next month's much-anticipated 'That's The Spirit'. It's going to be massive.
We can safely assume that a tour will follow and it'll probably sell out faster than Greggs Sausage And Bean Melts in a blizzard. Bring Me The Horizon have not been rammed down every possible orifice like The Darkness were just over a decade ago, nor do they rely solely on 'classic' metal traits like Bullet For My Valentine. Of all the bands anointed to step up and sit on the throne of their musical forefathers, they are the most qualified. Just you wait and see.
Bring Me The Horizon Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Wed August 26 2015 - LIVERPOOL O2 Academy Liverpool
Thu August 27 2015 - OXFORD O2 Academy Oxford
Sun September 06 2015 - KINGSTON Rose Theatre
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