BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE + BLEED FROM WITHIN – BRIGHTON CENTRE 9.11.21
The Brighton & Hove News Music Team thought that we would try something a little different for this report and so we give you the same Bullet For My Valentine Brighton Centre concert, but from two different perspectives, that of a reviewer (Guy Robinson) and that of a photographer/reviewer (Robert Sutton). First up is Robert’s review………………..
The Brighton Centre was the last date on the current run of six live shows by the Welsh metaller’s Bullet for My Valentine. The tour was the first time the band have played in the UK since their headline slot at the Download Festival Pilot event held in June this year and was in support of their newly released self -titled seventh album and as part of the promotion of the new album the band also did an album signing session at HMV in Brighton before tonight’s show.
Support for tonight was Bleed From Within.
Bleed From Within: This Scottish heavy metal band from Glasgow had to ‘step up’ at tonight’s show as the other band due to perform, ‘TesseracT’, had to unfortunately withdraw from the show due to the dreaded covid.
So the band had the great honour that they could stay on-stage for 45 minutes rather than the original 30 minutes that is normally allocated to an opening act.
The band’s line-up consists of Scott Kennedy (vocals), Craig Gowans (lead guitar), Steven Jones (rhythm guitar), Davie Provan (bass) and Ali Richardson (drums). Formed back in 2005, they have five studio albums so far with ‘Fracture’ being their latest that was released last year.
If you like your metal to have growling vocals with a Scottish twang then this band will be right up your street and they did an absolutely brilliant performance for an opening act tonight and certainly got the audience warmed up with several mosh pits in the centre of the floor area.
Bullet For My Valentine:
The band’s current line-up consists of Matt Tuck (vocals and rhythm guitar), Michael Paget (lead guitar), Jamie Mathias (bass) and Jason Bowld (drums). Matt and Michael have been in the band since its formation back in 1998.
They opened tonight’s proceedings with the first track from the new album ‘Parasite’ and included another three tracks from this album in their set of seventeen songs, which included a super mix of both the newest and oldest songs from their back catalogue.
Whilst the Brighton Centre was not the fullest I have ever seen, the band did bring out some of its loyalist fans to the show and it was great to see the centre of the floor standing section chanting and singing along to all of the songs and making a great effort in the mosh pit area. We even had a handful of crowd surfers, that did give the security at the front of the stage something extra to do during the evening..
All in all it was a great night out and so good to see that the live event scene is slowly getting back to ‘normal’ after being absent for about the last 18 months or so.
Did I expect a little bit more from a Download Festival headline act??..Well of course I did..that goes without saying.., but was I in any way disappointed in what BFMV performed in their 90 minute set?…Nope..and I do think the set was a great mixed set of their songs and I am loving the heavier sound of the new album.
Now here’s Guy Robinson’s account of the Bullet For My Valentine Brighton Centre performance………….
The Welsh band are now one of the UK’s biggest metal bands. Since their formation in 1998, Bullet For My Valentine (BFMV) have become one of the biggest bands in metal, selling over 3 million albums worldwide and scoring three gold albums….and they are back with album seven, the self titled ‘Bullet for My Valentine’, (order your copy HERE) they were also at the Brighton Centre last night – not one of, I have to say one of my favourite venues, as I always feel the acoustics, are not the greatest…
It’s been some time since I last saw BFMV. Indeed it was years ago- headlining the Ally Pally in London, with the rather wonderful Lacuna Coil as support…that was then, and this is now…
The band now comprises singer/guitarist Matt Tuck, guitarist Michael ‘Padge’ Paget, bassist Jamie Mathias and drummer Jason Bowld, and they will surprise anyone who thought they had BFMV in the bag or written off. They come on a mission, and this time they are (really) angry!
They hit the stage with ‘Parasite’ closely followed by, and in no particular order here…‘Over It’, ‘Piece Of Me’, ‘Rainbow Veins’, ‘Worthless’, ‘Knives’…, indeed they make sure they are covering all bases. From ‘Shatter’ from their new release, back to a snip from ‘Take It Out On Me’, released in 2008 on the ‘Scream Aim Fire’ album. They aim to play something for everyone in this mixed age audience.
Whether you were one of the early Bullet for My Valentine listeners, or only just getting into the band, or indeed, rediscovering them, the setlist would have made your day, or evening…again, some more gems, in no particular order…‘Under Again’, ‘Scream Aim Fire’, ‘Waking The Demon’…
All in all, a fine effort at bringing music back to the masses
Bullet For My Valentine setlist:
‘Parasite’
‘Over It’
‘Your Betrayal’
‘Piece Of Me’
‘Rainbow Veins’
‘4 Words (To Choke Upon)’
‘Worthless’
‘Don’t Need You’
‘Knives’
‘Under Again’
‘Scream Aim Fire’
‘Take It Out On Me’
‘You Want A Battle? (Here’s A War)’
‘The Last Fight’
‘Shatter’
‘Tears Don’t Fall’
‘Waking The Demon’
