Twin Cities Ascends with Bring Me the Horizon
Just when I was getting used to taking a step back running-wise, I found myself right in the full swing of things, having just started my training block for the Chicago Marathon last week. The other part of my life that seems to be back in action is getting out to shows, and this week had one of my most anticipated ones on the calendar. Bring Me the Horizon was due to hit Grand Casino Arena on the second round of the North American Ascension tour and I couldn’t miss it. It has felt like ages since I last saw this band headline The Armory and as I walked up to the arena I couldn’t help but notice the thousands of fans and the electricity of excitement swirling around downtown St. Paul.
First up for the night was new to me Amira Elfeky. The L.A. based musician hit the stage right at 6pm, bringing a mix of nu-metal and gothic rock with her. When I was looking more into Amira Elfeky, I was kind of surprised to see that her first EP “Skin to Skin” was released only two years ago, with a follow-up EP “Surrender” released last year. I was intrigued to say the least and seeing her live on this tour made more sense as her set progressed. Amira Elfeky fit the sonic theme of the Ascension tour and provided a moody ambiance to the crowd that continued to trickle in, setting the stage for the rest of the night for what was to come.
Next up was Ohio metalcore band The Plot in You. I’ve been able to catch this band in smaller venues over the years but cannot say that I’ve seen them play a room bigger than one like First Avenue and was excited to see how their sound translated into a much larger stage. The Plot In You played a short but sweet set and got the crowd, which had filled in nicely by the time they started, head banging along, even getting a small flow of crowdsurfers by the end of their set. While the band was only on stage for a little less than a half hour, they were relentless during each song, using every opportunity to showcase their sound, metalcore blaring through the speakers to the eager fans. The Plot in You sounded great and was a nice step up of energy, rounding out their set with one of their more popular tracks “FEEL NOTHING.”
The last band before the headliners were none other than Motionless in White. I feel like the last time that I properly caught this band was back in the prior decade, when they played the Skyway Theatre with Atreyu. Even though they have been back since (playing venues like The Armory), I haven’t been able to be there and was happy to finally catch them again.. Motionless in White was definitely more polished than the last time I caught them live, and had zero issue commanding the arena stage like it was their own headline show. During “Slaughterhouse,” a large, albeit oblong, circle pit broke out, gaining the compliments of lead vocalist Chris Motionless at the end of the song. There was plenty of CO2 to go around on stage to heighten the effect of the many riffs and breakdowns, along with a small but mighty flow of crowdsurfers. Even though it became apparent that a majority of the crowd may be awaiting Bring Me the Horizon, Motionless in White was able to get moments of huge crowd participation, calling on fans to wave their arms, jump, and head bang, which a large part of the crowd happily obliged.
Last but certainly not least, heavyweights Bring Me the Horizon took the stage to an overwhelming wave of cheers from all sides of Grand Casino Arena. It’s been a minute since I’ve been able to see Bring Me the Horizon live, but something about the anticipation of their set and eagerness of the crowd brought me back to the first time I saw them co-headline The Cabooze with August Burns Red back in 2010. The band hit the ground running leading with “DaRkSide,” “MANTRA,” and “The House of Wolves,” before cutting into “Happy Song.” I personally have several Bring Me the Horizon tracks on my running playlists and it was so cool to be able to hear these tracks as loud as I wish I could play them during my runs (“MANTRA,” “Antivist,” “Can You Feel My Heart,” and “Kingslayer” to name a few).
The stage design for the Ascension tour took inspiration from a lot of retro video game motifs, and ranged from original PlayStation graphics, Silent Hill/Resident Evil horror themes, and even Guitar Hero/Rock Band themes during “Antivist.” Lead singer Oli Sykes called on a nine year old fan to come up to the stage to sing “Antivist” with the band, which was, even with the numerous curse words sprinkled throughout that song, very cool to witness. While I was a little disappointed to not hear any songs from “Suicide Season” or “There is a Hell…,” I couldn’t deny the power their records “Sempiternal” and “That’s the Spirit” have, with over half of the setlist displaying songs from those records. There was plenty of CO2, pyro, sparks, circle pits, more than one wall of death, and a few rounds of confetti to round out the Ascension experience, and Bring Me the Horizon proved they are without a doubt, here to stay near the top of the metal/rock music world.
