Live Review: While She Sleeps - O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester 07/12/2024
One of the most anticipated tours of the year had finally come to fruition after months upon months of waiting. A line-up as stellar as the main act alone, and night after night of heavy riffs and metalhead-filled mosh pits. On this night, the tour finally made it to arguably the rock music capital of the United Kingdom. Along with their three support acts, metalcore outfit While She Sleeps took over Manchester for a night of deep vocals and even deeper emotions.
Opening the night was France’s latest metal helping in Resolve. A talented act who have been opening for the tour since the start of the European run, there is only one way to describe their talent: tres magnifique. Promoting their debut full-length record Older Days, the band were all substance and no surface. With outlasting energy and unforgettable tracks, this is just the beginning for the French collective. With the recommendation from While She Sleeps, their next UK adventure will be bigger, louder, and more loving.
Next in line to hit the stage is Thrown; one band on the line-up that a great majority of the crowd have been waiting for. A nu-metal act coming out of the heart of Sweden, they had an already warmed up audience to work with - an easier challenge than their preceding fellows had to face - and were ready to win over every single person in the venue.
As the second act on a run of four bands, the room was still filling and new faces were still coming from around the corners and from the back of the building. An intimidating sight for even the most seasoned of musical acts. For Thrown, who have only been working together for half a decade, this has to still be a view that can shake down one’s confidence. Even if there were shakes and shivers, the sweat wasn’t staining and if they had to fake it, then they definitely made it. The room refused to calm down or lull, and such as Resolve before them, they left that stage with a greater number of fans than when they stepped foot.
It’s always important to come to a gig early. The attendees would never know what they missed if they decided to leave a little later or take one more drink at a bar nearby. These people are usually the most thankful for live music.
The final support for the night is Currents. One of the most exciting American metalcore acts making the rounds, they were a UK exclusive on the tour and the second strongest pull for ticket-holders behind the main act. Performing a range of their fan-favourite songs and best known hits, alongside a selection from their latest record The Death We Seek, the crowd were ready to go, roaring along with every word and crashing into each other with fun-filled ferocity.
Spending almost 15 years in the metal scene, breaking through their home of Connecticut in the United States and making waves around the world. If the reaction on this stormy Manchester night was anything to go by, then the wave is stronger than ever and rocked the entirety of the Victoria Warehouse. A better and more enjoyable storm within the walls than what was happening outside, but no one was thinking about that right now and it wouldn’t cross their mind for hours to come.
After what felt like a glorious festival building up to its finale, it was time to greet the Sheffield metalheads with metaphorical open arms and literal open circle pits. Opening with ‘PEACE OF MIND’ and ‘LEAVE ME ALONE’, taken from their latest full-length Self Hell, it was immediately greeted with an overwhelmingly positive reaction - something all acts wish they could have with playing brand new material. For While She Sleeps, who are just short of 20 years in music, this must always be a mix of relief and pure joy. They know their fans and the fans know them just as well right back.
While this is a tour mostly to support Self Hell and the band’s most latest trail of single releases, they did not neglect their highly popular tracks. Along with the latest record, they were also giving equal attention to one of their greatest received albums: 2021’s SLEEPS SOCIETY. Bringing to life tracks such as ‘SYSTEMATIC’, ‘YOU ARE ALL YOU NEED’, and the album’s title track as the closer for the night, it shows that While She Sleeps are not about to abandon their more recent releases as time goes by in favour for their older content. Many bands in the rock world, specifically in heavier subgenres such as metalcore, thrash and hardcore, tend to bring out their greatest classic hits over their more recent music - usually at the request of fans, but also out of wanting to be crowd-pleasers - however, this isn’t always the case as While She Sleeps proved. SLEEPS SOCIETY is a record for the ages, and both the band and their dedicated fanbase are aware of this. Removing all traces of this record from their live sets would be a cold day in hell; and the northwest was cold enough on the night of this show. There was no taking risks, just pleasing the crowd and themselves.
Vocalist Lawrence ‘Loz’ Taylor made the show as entertaining between songs as during. Interacting with his fellow bandmates, shouting out the night’s supports, or giving humorous comments about opening the mosh pit as wide as a mother’s body part, it was the break in-between the heavy everyone needed. Taylor has made a name as a charismatic frontman for the metalcore act, ever since his induction in 2009, and as time goes by his stage presence just grows stronger, brighter, and his character is much more animated and likeable. It’s a part of what drew the fans in outside of the discography, and may he never change a single spot on his frontman fur.
As the night came to its natural close, and the hundreds upon hundreds of attendees made their way back out to the brisk darkness of Manchester’s streets, the air was still electric and the energy was still abuzz. The flitting audience was taking the entire atmosphere of that show with them, on their way home and beyond the night itself. As far as While She Sleeps’ live sets go, this was a night to remember, but not simply for their own sole efforts. If there had been any change in their support slots, any switches or swaps, things would not have felt the same as they did and the crashing and twisting of the collective sounds would not have been as memorable.
While She Sleeps knows how to put on a tour, and if they ever dared to, they have simultaneously proven they could also put on a self-hell of a festival line-up.
Words by Jo Cosgrove
Photography by Maryleen Guevara / @maryleenphoto