Live Review: Bring Me The Horizon, While She Sleeps, Hands Like Houses

Sure, weather reports in reviews are lame but let's just say Bring Me The Horizon's brolly-in-the-rain logo springs to mind while en route to Margaret Court Arena. Once inside the venue, we note that probably only 1% of this crowd aren't wearing Chuck Taylors. The band hail from Canberra, but Trenton Woodley, the magnetic lead singer from Hands Like Houses, sings with an American accent. He boasts a great vocal range, but strains to hit some of the high notes in the latter part of the set tonight. Hands Like Houses are a tight-as-fuck band and, during Glasshouse, drummer Matt Parkitny sounds like a drum ensemble. By their closer, I Am, Hands Like Houses are a force to behold.

Nothing could sleep during the brutality of While She Sleeps. Charismatic lead singer Lawrence "Loz" Taylor demands circle pits before taunting those in the seated bleachers, "You muthafucking pussies!" Taylor explains his band last graced our shores for Soundwave 2013, promising to "make oop time" in his charming Geordie accent. Taylor delivers growls that sound as if his voice box has been possessed by the devil, but then giggles playfully during between-song banter. Don't miss this metalcore quintet from Sheffield next time they're in town.   

There's a full set changeover before Bring Me The Horizon's first rescheduled Melbourne show since the original dates were cancelled due to frontman Oli Sykes' acute laryngitis diagnosis last year. And the band's set is insane, completely stripped-back and open with crystal-clear 3D visuals that replicate the screen actually cracking before our eyes. Streamer cannons detonate and it's straight into Happy Song, which sounds so ridiculously spot-on you'd swear you were listening to the record. "S-P-I-R-I-T/Spirit/Let's hear it!" — the recorded child-chant is drowned out by the punter singalong. The band dress in all-black, their outlines silhouetted against these next-level visuals. Sykes requests "a big fookin' circle pit!" We spy a broken black brolly raised skyward within the whirlpool of the circle pit and pray it doesn't take someone's eye out. "I said fookin' sing it!" Sykes demands. Guitarist Lee Malia and bassist Matt Kean adopt wide lunge stances.

"This song's called Avalanche," Sykes informs and then we experience smoke cannons and avalanche-recreating visual activity. Bring Me The Horizon sure do love operatic flourishes as demonstrated by the inclusion of Aoife Ni­ Fhearraigh's The Best Is Yet To Come, which flows into Shadow Moses ("We're going nowhere!"). "Do us a favour, sit down," Sykes pleads before directing, "Three, two, one, JUMP!" Inquiring afterwards, "Now wasn't that fun?" We swear there are actual flames up on stage during one of the band's poppier moments, Follow You; the visuals are so realistic! It's frustrating sitting in the bleachers and we wish Sykes demanded we be upstanding from the get-go. Beautiful flowers time-lapse bloom on the giant screens before stark, geometric visuals take over. There's a deafening hell's chorus during standout track Doomed. The synth elements in Can You Feel My Heart, during which sparks rain down, positively glisten and there are many middle fingers in the air. There's so much bouncing going on in GA that it should be renamed The Trampoline Section for this evening. A wall of death is summoned before Bring Me The Horizon leave the stage.

Our encore visuals open with what resembles a genius Willy Wonka invention for True Friends and as the lyrics, "True friends stab you in the front," flash up on the screen we clock a girl in the row in front of us wearing a T-shirt with this exact slogan emblazoned across the back. Bring Me The Horizon's stage hands wear powerful miners lamps to assist on stage as needed. When acts such as this request for lighters and phones to be brandished in the air (Oh No) they should remember that not many opt to take their smartphones into the mosh. During Drown, Sykes high-fives all crowd-surfers once they reach the photography pit, but gets a bit nervous when a couple of fans wind up on the stage.

As we leave the Arena and put up umbrellas, we feel as if we're completely embodying the spirit of Bring Me The Horizon. A flawless performance.