I somehow managed to skip writing about a lot of gigs (I've been to so many recently...and I don't think I wrote about Reading festival either?) but Halloween really can't be ignored.
I don't usually do anything for Halloween and hadn't planned to this year either, but then
Bring Me The Horizon announced another London O2 Arena date. This wouldn't be particularly interesting...except
Enter Shikari were to support as special guests. Um, yes please!
I missed part of
Basement as they were on at 1830, which is when my lying ticket said doors were. I had been loitering around outside and checking out the merch tables! I only recognised one song, but they seem a pretty decent band and I would see them again at a festival, probably.
Next was
Don Broco, who I have seen twice before. They were all dressed up as cowboys (like in their creepy music video) and put on the best show I've seen them do. They seem an odd choice of support being very poppy, but not complaining as they are a bit of a guilty pleasure!
Then the relief of not having to wait until next year to see
Enter Shikari again! I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous of people with standing tickets as I'd have been able to get to the front with ease and couldn't see well from my seat at the back of the venue, but then again I easily had one of the best seats in the house and I finally got the chance to appreciate the stage set-up and lighting which is easily missed when you're at the front.
The set was 11 songs long, featuring 4 tracks from
The Mindsweep, 3 from older albums, and 4 non-album singles including brand new
Hoodwinker. Only thing I'd have wanted different from the set would be for it to be longer - can't fault the song choice at all, even if it wasn't all that different from their February tour set.
Now
Bring Me The Horizon are definitely a guilty pleasure for me. I don't like their older stuff at all but do like the 2 newer, more mainstream albums. I have to say they completely blew me away this time! I've always enjoyed seeing them before, but the stage set up, lighting, and all that jazz were superb. They definitely deserve their arena tour, and I hope they do Cardiff on their next run!
The next day after a swift hangover recovery (sitting at Marble Arch with a book and a can of Monster for an hour until I felt human), I went for a half-hearted shopping trip along Oxford Street. I had intended to do my usual an have a nice long read at Jubilee Gardens at the other end, but I was so exhausted that I decided to rush back for one of the last super off-peak trains rather than giving myself another 5 hours to kill.
I didn't end up buying much at all this time! Though I stupidly forgot to go in the toy store and was too fed up of how crowded it was (and by google maps getting me lost) by the time I got to Forbidden Planet. BMTH shirt from the gig, necklace from Primark, the others from H&M (I'd be lying if I said my main motivation for buying that shirt was anything other than that it looked like something Rory C would wear). Err I was too lazy to take a photo sooo maybe I'll add it at some point later. I just realised I'd never post this if I didn't just do it before I forgot entirely haha.