Bury Tomorrow were all set to release their new album Cannibal in April of 2020 when the pandemic hit. This set them back a little, and instead released it in July of the same year, whilst treating us to some singles while we waited. Following this, they announced their 2021 tour with August Burns Red, who also had a new album, Guardians, come out that year. Surely everything would be over by then? Sadly, after people bought their tickets and got ready to see their favourite artists take to the stage, the tour was postponed for a year in order to keep to the COVID rules of some of the European countries they were going to perform in.

Cut to 2022. More tragedy as support acts Thornhill and Miss May I pulled out with late notice. Luckily, French band Novelists stepping into their shoes just in time for the long-awaited tour. Now I didn’t have a ticket, and the Birmingham show has been sold out for months. But only a few weeks before the show, someone must have resold their seat because a sole ticket showed up and I grabbed it as quickly as I could. Finally, it was time.

The doors opened at 6pm, and I take my seat on the balcony. At 6.30pm, the first band comes onto the stage – Novelists. Well, most of them. The lead singer couldn’t make it out to the UK, so they were instead fronted by KUBRICK. It was hard to be disappointed about this because I had watched him perform a few weeks ago, and his voice was incredible, just as it was tonight. Despite the great music (in fact, this was my favourite band of the night), the venue was still half empty, there was very little movement, and no one, bar two very enthusiastic guys, joined the pit. Likely, most people were here for the main two bands and wanted to miss the queue. But they played their set well, and got a fair amount of applause.

A few minutes later, though, the crowd grew and their noise with it. The unmistakable opening guitar of System of a Down’s Chop Suey began to build, and August Burns Red took to the stage. Almost immediately, the pit awakened. From the first song to the last, there were people roughing each other up in the centre of the stalls, including someone dressed up like the Joker (it was almost Halloween, we can give him this), and a man who looked to be at least 60 who fell for a moment, at which point everyone stopped to help him up. Metal fans really are some of the nicest people.

On stage, the presence of the band was intense. The guitarist’s flip flops almost stole the show from the vocalist’s growls, that were so deep I had to remove my earbuds to hear them properly. This is when the smoke machines came out. Perfectly in sync with the drops, the striking visual was worth how hard it became to breathe. Smoke rises, remember, and I’m on the balcony. By the end of the set, the venue was completely full, and the final song – White Washed from their new album – elicited massive screams. Sadly, they never played my favourite song Lighthouse, but I can forgive them.

Now the waiting came. There were only 10 minutes until Bury Tomorrow came on stage, but you could see that everyone was impatient. A few premature cheers went out to the stagehands and the bar was packed with people who didn’t want to miss a second of their favourite band playing. Finally, all the lights go out, and the hum of a guitar can be heard. The lights pulse blue and purple, then explode into rapid flashes as the band come onto stage one by one to a soundtrack of whoops from the audience.

When everything looks like it’s about to calm down, they begin to play Choke, and the stalls become almost entirely a circle pit. People are crowd-surfing, the audience is singing along to every moment of clean vocals they can, and the noise is immense. Good thing I’m wearing earbuds! Every member of the band (except the drummer, of course) is bouncing around the stage with almost as much energy as the audience. They even play three new singles that we wouldn’t have gotten to hear live if the tour went ahead in 2021 like was originally planned. They ended on one of these singles, DEATH (Ever Colder), to roaring applause and with, sadly, no encore.

At the end of the night, everyone was still buzzing, on their way to the Halloween afterparty at Subside. But I got a better end to the night. I met Matt, the drummer from August Burns Red, on my way out, and spent the taxi home with a smile on my face and no ringing in my ears. A 10/10 night all round.