LIVE REVIEW: Pierce The Veil, Against The Current, carolesdaughter, O2 Forum Kentish Town, 03/12/2022
Photo Credit: Jack Geddes (05/12/2022 – SWG3 Glasgow)
San Diego emo scene royalty Pierce The Veil have witnessed somewhat of a small understated resurgence since the last time the foursome were back in London six years ago. The bands 2012 single King For A Day, featuring Sleeping With Sirens’ Kellin Quinn has become the soundtrack to hundreds of thousands of TikTok videos and has become a global viral trend on the platform a decade since its inception. Whether it be TikTok users participating in the trend amidst a backdrop of band posters from the comfort of their bedrooms or the song receiving silver certification status in the UK and shooting to the top of Billboard’s Hard Rock Streaming Songs chart to Pierce The Veil and Kellin Quinn collaborating on the song live at this year’s When We Were Young Fest sending Las Vegas into a state of pandemonium, Pierce The Veil never asked for this unprecedented success on King For A Day but they were given it whether they like it or not, a similar case being Bad Omens’ Just Pretend, the song again climbing to the number one spot on Billboard’s chart simultaneously.
So inevitably when the lights went down and the jangly guitars and Vic Fuentes’ scream vocals kicked in, the second of the bands two sold out shows down at Kentish Town’s O2 Forum was sent into a frenzy of flashbacks to Fuentes and Quinn faking a bank robbery and cathartic chorus screams that sing those famous words the whole world has come to know in 2022, “You told me think about it, well I did/Now I don’t wanna feel a thing anymore/I’m tired of begging for the things that I want/I’m over sleeping like a dog on the floor.”
Before that, carolesdaughter the alter ego of Thea Taylor tears up the stage, the cute Tumblr-girl style meeting a sweet yet menacing performance 7/10. After, Against The Current’s infectious energy is to die for, Chrissy Costanza and co break away from the major label chains that have held them down since they were teenagers for a new found sense of freedom that makes their music sound liberatingly free and colossally catchy. 8/10
New found Pierce The Veil fans finding the band through King For A Day and going onto discover the new stuff such as Pass The Nirvana and Emergency Contact or die-hard Pierce The Veil fans sticking with the band since Selfish Machines songs like Caraphernelia, Pierce The Veil covered all bases. The intro into opener May These Noises Startle You In Your Sleep, tonight startled the senses of every Collide With The Sky fanatic found in the room.
“London this is a new song for ya, are you ready to jump with us?,” asks Fuentes, not needing no verbal reply, launching into the explosive breakdown of Pass The Nirvana, the out don’t all the talking for itself. It’s newer counterpart Emergency Contact came later, whilst more life affirming and less aggressive than Pass The Nirvana, Fuentes taking a moment of self-reflection to note the songs meaning as you progressively get older, “When you think about who your emergency contact is when you are younger, usually you think about your Mom or your Dad. But as you get older, your emergency contact becomes your partner or significant other.” The two new tracks combined display why this originally post-hardcore band have risen through the ranks to become some of the scene’s kings, fifteen years on, their upcoming album The Jaws Of Life their first full length in seven years after 2016’s Misadventures songs such as Circles and Texas Is Forever who are finding a place in tonight’s setlist is set to be a concrete example of their continued evolution that’s pulling new generations onto of new generations into the Pierce The Veil universe.
Songs to make you weep and songs to make you celebrate, Pierce The Veil put on a show spanning the emotional spectrum at the O2 Forum Kentish Town, sad and happy tears flooding the faces of 2,000 emo pouring out onto the street not long after. 9/10
Written By: Katie Conway-Flood
