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Just prior to the end of their set, Oli Sykes recalls Bring Me the Horizon’s first ever appearance on the main stage at Reading Festival. Called up due to Slipknot pulling out in 2008, his band opened the day, in his words, “much to Britain’s disappointment”.
It’s mad to think that a little deathcore band that rattled so many metal fans back in the 2000s are now headlining this festival. Before a note has been played, let’s just make a point of saying: fair fucking play, this is persistence, self-belief and hard work personified.
Anyone that ever suggested that BMTH weren’t going to be headline material look pretty stupid today. The show that the band put on this evening is genuinely jaw-dropping. Comparable with the likes of Rammstein in terms of the sheer spectacle they have designed, the firebombs, explosions and unique onstage camera work has to be applauded.
They come out of the gate swinging hard; DArkSide, MANTRA, Happy Song and Teardrops all sound incredible, each one a big, pumping, slick, earwormy, modern metal banger. So far, so great.
When the band get to a spine-tingling, monumental Shadow Moses, this feels like an all-timer of a headline set. Then it happens: Bring Me the Horizon drop their utterly appalling cover of Wonderwall and it all goes to shit for a bit. There’s then a pause while the show's 'video game gone wrong' running narrative takes over for what feels like an age, slowing momentum to a crawl.
The band then get a fan up to sing Antivist and it takes forever for them to prepare, before we get absolute snoozefests Lost and Follow You. It all feels like a waste of 20 minutes - an all-time vibe killer.
Luckily, the closing run of Can You Feel My Heart, Drown and Throne go back to showing how great Bring Me The Horizon can be. But the crowd has thinned at this point. When they were good tonight, they were incredible, but that mid-set ball-drop ultimately makes this a decent, rather than legendary, headline set.
Bring Me The Horizon Reading Festival setlist 2025
DArkSide
MANTRA
Happy Song
Teardrops
AmEN!
Kool-Aid
Shadow Moses
Wonderwall
Kingslayer
Antivist
Follow You
LosT
Can You Feel My Heart
Encore
Drown
Throne
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