Bullet For My Valentine and Trivium’s joint assault on The O2 feels not so much like a nostalgia fest as a mutual fulfilment of destiny…
Here are four words for any doubters from 2005 to choke upon: Bullet. Trivium. O2 Arena. Two decades on from the albums that made them – the former’s The Poison, the latter’s Ascendancy – these transatlantic peers are heroically double-heading their way into the world's biggest arenas.
While the Poisoned Ascendancy tour could easily be seen as a nostalgia fest, when seeing it in action its significance shifts. Are we jumping in a time machine to 2005, or are we bringing a piece of 2005 into the present day? Both bands seem to treat it like the latter, celebrating two modern classics in the rooms they dreamed of reaching – the rooms, perhaps, those records were made for all along.
There’s every chance the audience might have felt ringing in their ears before the main bands have even rocked up, thanks to the absolutely titanic noise openers Orbit Culture are making. In just shy of half an hour on stage, the Swedes have made themselves at home in a whirl of headbanging and wrecking ball riffs and as they’re ripping through the likes of From The Inside and While We Serve, they’re met with a sea of raised horns. Drummer Christopher Wallerstedt puts in an especially mighty shift, making the booms of his kick drum sound like artillery fire. It’s a heroic performance, in which they’ve taken ownership of this huge space with total fearlessness.
Trivium might have first played Ascendancy live in the 600-capacity Garage 20 years ago, performing them here is a huge moment of poetic justice. Interestingly, they could have treated this as a vicious, aggressive demonstration of power, but it isn’t so. What shines through most is not its heaviness, but a sense of joy, both from the band and their (very mosh-hungry) fans.
The explosive Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr and the majestic Dying In Your Arms are collective displays of triumph and unity, while they gleefully unveil a huge inflatable beast from the artwork for A Gunshot To The Head Of Trepidation (“Say hello to Monty the monster,” frontman Matt Heafy quips). The Floridians use the Metallica snakepit-style runway in front of them to interact more personally with the crowd, and if stood in the right place, you might feel like they’re shredding just for you. There's a touching dedication of Departure to their late friend, legendary Roadrunner publicist Michelle Kerr, and this is a victory she would have truly loved. They sign off with an absolutely biblical rendition of In Waves, and 20,000 people screaming its iconic refrain feels incredibly deserved.
Bullet For My Valentine treat the occasion rather differently. In contrast to Trivium’s more theatrical set dressing nodding to the imagery of Ascendancy, the Bridgend quartet’s bright video screens and jets of fire complement a show that is flashier, sexier and more cocksure. In some ways, they benefit from going second – the audience is looser and louder, chanting “BULLET! BULLET!” as they arrive, and the sound is clearer too. Really, it’s no wonder frontman Matt Tuck’s looking like the cat who got the cream.
4 Words (To Choke Upon) is a snarling statement of intent, while they brandish their arena chops by audaciously starting Tears Don’t Fall and All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me) as ballads before they grow teeth and becoming the fierce metal classics we know them as. Even away from the singles, the excitement bubbles among the crowd for the deep cuts – especially Cries In Vain and an epic version of The End – while the seething Knives is an inspired leftfield encore choice and Waking The Demon’s bloodthirsty rage inspires two mosh pits to converge in a giant figure of eight.
Two bands, two anniversaries, one enormous night of celebration. Twenty years on, even as they look back like this, both bands are absolutely on the form of their lives.
