As a While She Sleeps fan of many years, I was incredibly excited when it was announced they would be headlining Brixton academy and somewhat proud to see that it had sold out. After seeing the band play at countless festivals and venues around the UK, including the 400 capacity Bullingdon in Oxford, headlining a sold out Brixton Academy felt like the culmination of 14 years of hard graft from the Sheffield band. But would they rise to the occasion? (spoilers… yes they did)
Unfortunately we missed the opening band, Vein, as we were busy scranning chicken nuggets so our evening began with Every Time I Die. The hardcore punk band from Buffalo stampeded through their set with the pace and energy of a herd of wild beasts with what seemed like a 45 minute medley of breakdowns and riffs with the kick of spicy wings. I had not listened to Every Time I Die previously but after headbanging along while clutching a double pint of cider, I’d certainly see them again.
The crowd shuffled forwards in anticipation for While She Sleeps. Blue lights flashed as the air-raid siren playing over the speakers was almost cancelled out by the whistles and cheers from the 4,000+ in the crowd. The sirens ceased and after a brief silence, the recognisable opening riff to ‘ANTI-SOCIAL’ triggered the room to descend into chaos. Everybody was off their feet chanting the lyrics “I’m not anti-social, I’m anti-bullshit”.
The band ripped through other songs from their most recent album ‘SO WHAT?’ before the backdrop ascended and was replaced by a plain red flag to represent the 2015 album ‘Brainwashed’. One final backdrop change occurred during the anthemic ‘SET YOU FREE’ which revealed a simple yet effective lighting set up with the word “sleeps” on illuminated guitar cabs. New single ‘FAKERS PLAGUE’ was next which seemed to inject more energy into a now tiring crowd. ‘Death Toll’ had a similar effect with probably the wildest mosh pits of the night. This was, unfortunately, the only song from 2012’s ‘This is the Six’. The crowd made up for the absence of Choir Noir, who featured at last year’s headline show at The Roundhouse, with a huge singalong for ‘Hurricane’ before an encore of ‘HAUNT ME’, ‘Silence Speaks’ then ‘You Are We’.
While She Sleeps often hit like a whirlwind when they play live but this show seemed different, although not in a bad way. This is no longer a raw, reckless, “D.I.Y” band playing club venues but a professional, controlled, well-oiled machine which has many big nights like this one left in it. My only criticism is how the setlist felt a bit too “safe” with no songs from ‘The North Stands For Nothing’ and only the one song from ‘This is the Six’. This night felt less like a celebration of the WSS journey so far and more like the birth of a new era. And at the rate this band is going, perhaps arena headline shows aren’t too much to hope for one day.
While She Sleeps are currently on a headline tour of North America and will headline the Jägermeister stage at Slam Dunk Festival in May
The Birdbox 