A NIGHT AT THE ALTAR: BAD OMENS TURN ALLY PALLY INTO A MONUMENT OF BEAUTIFUL DESPAIR

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐(5/5)

BAD OMENS AT ALEXANDRA PALACE, LONDON
PHOTOCREDIT: **BRYAN KIRKS**

Alexandra Palace is a strange place. By day it is a family-friendly cultural landmark with views of London that fit a postcard. By night - specifically, this night - it transformed into a massive echoing chamber of emotional devastation (courtesy of Bad Omens) and a production spectacle where the audience stood. Supported by The Ghost Inside and Bilmuri, Bad Omens were ready to turn the stage and the pit into a hall where thousands of people would scream back lyrics about trauma, redemption and existentialism… practically, do therapy. Just louder.

The Ghost Inside opened the night with “Avalanche” - a fitting title for the spectacle they delivered. Their backstory is almost mythological at this point: they had a bus crash in 2015 that almost ended their career and their lives, and they have since rebuilt themselves not only physically and mentally, but also musically, with surgical precision and resilience that is inspiring. Their set was pure conviction, playing battle hymns such as “Aftermath”, “Engine 45” and “Wrath”, as the crowd started gathering up. Their stage presence was commanding, enhanced by guitar breakdowns, high scream vocals and emotion thick enough to cut with a knife. They were a great start to the ritual promised by Bad Omens and a suitable band to lay the foundation for what was to come.

BILMURI (yes, pronounced Bill Murray) came on stage straight after with the energy that we have all come to love them for. Once the solo project of ex-Attack Attack! member Johnny Franck, the band have built a cult fanbase by releasing more music per year than most bands manage per decade. They have their own fandom, inside jokes they share with their dedicated followers and they win the genre-blending competition by a mile. Their music is chaos: pop hooks, metal riffs, synth gloss, screamo vocals, saxophone and jazz-infused solos added by self-aware and slightly inappropriate humour through the lyrics are what makes BILMURI the tornado that they are. And people who know me know that I have a soft spot for them - I have watched them live five times this year alone!

Live, they are charming and unexpectedly wholesome. Their set is uplifting, unhinged and warm. They have songs that you sing along, such as ‘EMPTYHANDED’, ‘ABSOLUTELYCRANKINMYF’INGHOG’ and ‘BLINDSIDED’, going from post-hardcore to R&B to emo nostalgia, all rounded off with meme energy and the perfect vocal pitch.Their performance, despite its arena scale, felt intimate and soulful, and they had people singing along to the falsettos, headbanging to all the crunchy riff bursts and all the catchy hooks. In contrast to past performances, they brought a bassist on stage to amplify their impact in a large venue (not like they haven’t played those before). Closing off their set with ‘More than Hate’ and ‘BETTER HELL’, the set felt like it flew by yet it hit hard. But the magic of BILMURI is that despite supporting massive bands, they treat every show like they are headlining it - and that’s why the crowd rewards them every time.

**PHOTOCREDIT:** **CHARIS LYDIA BAGIOKI**

Formed in 2015, Bad Omens started as the ‘they sound like Bring Me The Horizon’ band - then immediately outgrew the comparison. They leaned into emotional storytelling, cinematic metalcore and slow-burn industrial influence - in short, they brought aesthetic, becoming on the most inescapable forces of modern heavy music. Their breakout moment was however The Death of Peace Of Mind, an album that is already a cult classic that unites people across genres, even if the only heavy band you listen to is actually Bad Omens. That record made them a brand, a visual universe and a mood board, so it was only fitting that they finally got their big moment in one of London’s greatest venues.

The band walked on stage through thick fog and opened their set with their newest released song “Spectre”, ripping through the atmosphere. The song is like skin is being torn to pieces and it hurts. Add their massive production of lights, lasers, moody smoke and pyro, and you are down to your knees before Noah Sebastian even sings the first ‘Do You Feel Love’ lyric. The emotional and sensory spectacle was so precision-engineered it felt like deep cuts. So it was only expected that their set was an emotional rollercoaster ride through the band’s eras. Following on with “THE DRAIN” and “THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND”, they carve out emotional repression and command the stage like none other. It also helps when your song is a viral phenomenon - it has the whole room singing along - or holding their phones to capture the moment for their loyal non-present online friends (yes, this is criticism).

The rest of the set - divided in four parts - was equally atmospheric, theatrical and calculated to the millimitre. Going from emotional despair to existentialism, followed by lighting that felt like a plot twist and a crowd that nodded along to every cue, Bad Omens played through “Dying to Love” (another new radio hit), “CONCRETE JUNGLE”, “Limits” and “ARTIFICIAL SUICIDE”. The second and third segments of their set were a tribute to their hardcore fans - they were delivered with conviction, energy, emotion and tension that made the room feel like it was holding in a storm. It flew by in a heartbeat, yet it felt like a slow-burn emotional breakdown full of guitars and drums.

The set came to a close with “Like A Villain”, “Just Pretend”, “Impose” and “Dethrone”, the quartet of cinematic anthems that made this night curated into an explosive spectacle. Even if the crowd was mixed and felt a bit flat at times, there were still people around me screaming every lyric like it was their religion, bringing classic British mayhem into the aesthetic masterclass that calls itself Bad Omens. If I could sum up everything into a sentence, I would say it was atmospheric destruction delivered like the perfect storm that would make even the most emotional person confront things they didn’t know they could feel. And for a band that went from headlining the Dome and eating pizzas off towels instead of plates, that is absolutely no small feat.