Bring Me The Horizon’s new concert film, L.I.V.E. In São Paulo, eases us in with the gentle sounds and late ‘90s aesthetics of a PS1 Final Fantasy VII loading screen – but it’s a false dawn. After being warned of “explicit scenes of violence and gore”, we’re asked to choose a difficulty level: easy, normal or extreme. When it comes to the Sheffield metal giants, there can be only one choice.
The “L.I.V.E” in the title stands for “Live Immersive Virtual Experiment”. If you were lucky enough to witness Bring Me at their mind-blowing Reading & Leeds headline set last year or 2024’s blockbuster arena tour, you will have played this enjoyable game before. “The world has crumbled to ash and the dead are feasting on the remains,” the storyline on screen reveals, while a demonic, parasitic presence has broken out of a lab and spread a deadly virus. Hosting proceedings is the impish avatar Eve: “I hope you enjoy tonight’s performance, as it will be the last one you ever attend,” she promises. “Are you ready to live your lives like you’re ready to die?”
Bring Me have come to São Paulo to play to a sold-out crowd of 50,000 fans at the Allianz Parque – the biggest headline gig of their career. With a show that follows the post-apocalyptic arc of their ongoing ‘Post Human’ album series, this film could have buckled under the weight of that lofty concept. Instead, we get a tastefully curated and constantly enthralling rollercoaster ride.
Stitched together from different types of contrasting video – modern and vintage cameras, drone shots, fan footage – their performance is suitably fiery, from the stratospheric choruses of ‘Mantra’ and ‘Happy Song’ to the feral rush of old-school ragers ‘Antivist’ and ‘Shadow Moses’, the cyberpunk madness of ‘Parasite Eve’ and ‘Kingslayer’ to the augmented reality of a fittingly possessed ‘Amen!’ (during which Sykes transforms into a demon in real time, which is ace).
It’s as much about the fans as it is the band – and the film appropriately reflects the magnitude of the moment, bringing the viewer into every circle pit, every tearful outburst, every declaration of love. There’s even a few proposals during ‘Follow You’. If our wedding invites get lost in the post, we’re gonna be pissed.
Sykes, who speaks as much Portuguese as he does Yerrrrkshire drawl, tells the audience about the time he first visited the native land of his now-wife Alissic, – and that he didn’t expect to fall in love with a whole country as well. The feeling is clearly reciprocated. There’s a genuinely moving montage of BMTH’s journey from skinny-jeaned noughties hardcore upstarts to Coldplay table-toppling troublemakers at the NME Awards to now – a globe-conquering stadium force. This is how metal should be done. Don’t miss it.
The post ‘Bring Me The Horizon L.I.V.E. In São Paulo’ review: a love letter to their fans and statement of greatness appeared first on NME.
