Will Marshall
First on are rap rock troupe Oxymorrons who recently signed to Mascot Records and released their label debut single ‘Enemy’. That gets dropped just three songs into a set that flows between rapping, screams, sung choruses and hip hop beats. They’ve got a great sense of humour too, telling the story of their name’s extra “r” and having the crowd chant “not one!” when they call out “two R’s”. One part Run the Jewels, another part Outkast, then some A Day to Remember and a shot of punk to create some unholy hybrid that’s got groove, bounce and a whole tonne of swagger, all with the self-belief and confidence to pull it together.
GHØSTKID are the new musical outfit of former Electric Callboy vocalist Sebastian Biesler, and they lack both the hooks and fun factor of his previous band. The lack of inspiration spills into demanding the crowd take part in the tired “jumpdafuckup” trope on their first song and, while the front of the room does it, it’s painfully obvious from the stationary back half that they’re less impressed. They lean into that new iteration of nu-metalcore, feeding in trap and industrial what should be an interesting mix feels flat. It’s not particularly memorable and spends more time aping its influences than going anywhere new. The crowd lap it up though, the middle of the room swallowed by a circle pit that’s wide but sparse, though that does let one of their guitarists take advantage of the space by descending into the crowd. It’s derivative, unimaginative, and creatively bankrupt and offers nothing besides filler between two far better bands. At least they’ve got energy to perform with.
Bad Omens found themselves at the centre of a viral storm last year with the release of third album The Death of Peace of Mind; attention focused online, predominantly through TikTok, meant gauging the size of their next tour was difficult. They needn’t have worried; London sold out so fast they added two more days, which also summarily sold out. It’s easy to see why; from the moment ‘Concrete Jungle’ opens with its dancefloor-worthy beat. The crowd sing every word, while frontman Noah Sebastian towers and commands them from the stage with consummate ease. The ensuing ‘Artificial Suicide’ and ‘Nowhere to Go’ go off like atom bombs, the latter prompting a wall of death that near swallows half the venue. They naturally focus predominantly on that new album – 11 of 16 songs are pulled from it – but the few older songs they play still land with the diehards at the front. The band have a surprise up their sleeve, too; none other than Architects’ Sam Carter joins them onstage for ‘Mercy’ to deafening cheers, and his vocals fit the song’s breakdown and ensuing final chorus like a glove. They follow the emotional purging with the softer ‘Who Are You?’; it’s another example in a long line of them of an expertly written setlist, as Bad Omens take the crowd along an emotional rollercoaster during the hour-plus set. Naturally, the TikTok-famous ‘Just Pretend’ sees one of the loudest cheers and singalongs of the night, while ‘IDWT$’ pairs its thumping dance bass line with a crushing metalcore chorus. The band round out the main portion of the set with ‘What It Cost’ and the aforementioned ‘Just Pretend’ in a masterstroke that sends an already-pumped up crowd nothing short of feral. The album might have gone explosively viral, but it’s performances like this that should send them stratospheric.
