Bring Me The Horizon
w/ Of Mice & Men, Letlive., Issues
The Warfield
San Francisco, CA
March 21, 2014
Okay so I’m going to get this out of the way first. The bands were all fantastic. When I say fantastic, I mean they kicked ass. There wasn’t a bad artist there that night. Now onto my main problem with this show.
It bothers me that so many people do not understand that these bands are comprised of normal people. They put on their pants one leg at a time, just like everybody else. I understand that music has the power to help people through horrendous and difficult times, and that there is this huge rush and incomprehensible feeling you get when you see those people that made those songs that helped you, standing there on a stage just a few feet away from you. But I encountered so many disgustingly rude people at this show that it’s not even close to laughable. People were pushing their way past each other and myself with brute force just to get a glimpse of the singers for three seconds (keep in mind I was not on the general admission floor). The worst part of this entire show? The second that Bring Me The Horizon came out, a band that is very well known for putting on an incredibly involved and intense show, a sea of camera phones went up. I was overlooking the floor, and not a single person was watching through their own eyes. It bothered me so much. I know, I sound like I’m old. I’m a student in college though, so not really. It just bothers me that all of these kids are not experiencing the show, but rather spending their entire time recording the show that they’re never going to look again or post to YouTube.
Anyway, rant over. Like I said, the bands were all fantastic. Issues and Letlive. kicked off the night’s activities with heavy-hitting metalcore and post-hardcore antics. It’s important that you catch both of these bands if you ever have the chance (Hint, hint, Issues are on Warped Tour this summer…).
After both bands destroyed the stage, the always compelling Of Mice & Men came out. It’s been a couple years since I’ve seen OM&M, but they are just as I remembered, if not better than the last time I saw them. Crazy, emotional, and brutally heavy. The breakdown in “O.G. Loko” is still one of my favorite moments I’ve witnessed during a live show. Vocalist Austin Carlile controls the entire audience with an unbelievable amount of energy, while guitarists Philip Manansala and Alan Ashby, bassist/vocalist Aaron Pauley, and drummer Valentino “Tino” Arteaga murder their respective instruments. Of Mice & Men is a band that is to be experienced live, without a doubt.
Bring Me The Horizon finally take the stage to close out the show, and as I stated before, they require a lot of involvement. Their intensity resonates throughout the crowd (once the camera phones eventually make their way back into the fans’ pockets), and they are a captivating band to experience live. The confetti cannons and CO2 tanks enhance the high points of their songs, emphasizing the raw intensity of their breakdowns.
All of these bands should be witnessed live, at least once. But fans: put away the camera phones, just once. I’m challenging you to do this. Put them away for just one show and truly experience the music. I promise you, it will be much more rewarding than recapping a blurry iPhone video you took while getting pushed around in the pit.
You can check out more from both Bring Me The Horizon and Of Mice & Men at www.facebook.com/bmthofficial and www.facebook.com/ofmice
This has been another shameless promotion.