Dani Willgress
First on is Caroles Daughter, the creative output of Thea Taylor. They run onto the stage with a skip in her step, wearing an outfit that looks straight out 2012 Tumblr, ultimately setting the tone for how much of a throw back this gig is undoubtably going to be. Tonight already feels like it’s going to be very reminiscent of arguably the peak of emo, but this time we’ll get much better photos than on our dodgy iPod touches our parents bought us for Christmas.
Caroles Daughter’s quirky personality comes across in her performance, vibrant and bubbly with a hint of morbid violence, if you listen more closely. Someone half listening would probably think this is a very cute, innocent act until you get into lyrics like “I wanna cover you in kerosene” from the song titled ‘XO I hope You Die’ so if ricocheting between cute vibes and violent themes is your thing? This is for you.
Taylor ends their set on a song that clearly causes the penny to drop for a lot of the crowd as to where recognise her from; Violent with over 1.5 million streams on Spotify, and counting.
Against The Current band riot onto the stage instantly getting a roar from the crowd as they fire into ‘That Won’t Save Us’. Chrissy Costanza’s is restless with energy not stopping to pause as she dances around the stage, only further amplifying the energy distilled into the room by their predecessors. As always, the crowd before them is captivated by every line, her vocals full of bite, emanating confidence, something made paramount as they dip into an unexpected cover of ‘MakeDamnSure’, orginally made immortal Taking Back Sunday. It’s refreshingly different while playing homage to the original.
“We’ve been in this band since we were 15 Years old,” Costanza addresses the crowd after. “We signed to a label pretty early on which we thought would be fantastic. Spoiler alert it was not. We just finally got off the label and are able to release our music again the way we want to. We are so fucking happy about it! This song (‘Blindfolded’) is our first independent song since we were teenagers”
The grin on Costanza’s face while going into the intro of Blindfolded is heartwarming, the clear joy in having creative control comes across massively in the performance and as they conclude their set with ‘Weapon’, it’s impossible not to adore Against The Current.
It’s finally time for tonight’s main act, Pierce The Veil. If seeing the band for their first tour since their last UK appearance in 2017 wasn’t enough, the introduction of ‘May These Noises Startle in Your Sleep Tonight’ reawakens far too many emotions. Straight into ‘Hell Above’, Jamie Preciado and Tony Perry jumping off risers, confetti cannons erupting during the first line, this is chaotic in the greatest way possible.
From ‘Hell Above’ comes recent single ‘Pass The Nirvana’ and it is even better live than one could have hoped. It’s already clear Pierce The Veil have come back even stronger than they originally left, especially given the band’s ceaseless and boundless energy – how one band could have so much stamina is seemingly a mystery.
Bringing things a bit more up-to date the band move onto ‘Circles’. As expected, the pit opens up in a roundabout formation fitting for the name and not stopping through the band’s fastest song ‘Texas Is Forever’. There are interludes of Mexican music between some songs with the lighting changing to green, white and red, for the occasion harking back to the days where the Pierce The Veil reigned over the genre and scene supreme. Throughout the set Vic Fuentes is using the same guitars we’ve seen over the years, particularly the ionic black and white stripped Gibson, further calling back to those gilded days a decade ago now.
‘Hold On Till May’ is one I’m sure many fans thought they had prepared themselves for but clearly it wasn’t going to be enough to stop the emotions hitting pretty damn hard and going from that to ‘Caraphernelia’ causes emotional whiplash.
Before coming back for the encore, a lone chair is placed in-front of Fuentes’ microphone, a flurry of excitement fills the room. A solo version created for this tour, he plays ‘Stained Glasses Eyes and Colourful Tears’ stripped back on an acoustic guitar. Away from the theatrics of the main set, being able to hear the crowd sing so clearly is stunning.
Ending a powerful set on a song that makes the crowd erupt on a whole new level, ‘King For A Day’ is the perfect round off to an astounding performance – Pierce The Veil are back, and tonight made it clear just how much they were missed. A lot may have changed since their original disbandment, but it’s clear how they’ve making up for long lost time.
