London, Wembley Arena, 30/10/24
Devil’s Night – 30 October. The calm before the annual Halloween storm, and London’s OVO Arena Wembley is being flooded by thousands of fans who are eager to get the celebrations started nice and early.
That’s because Black Veil Brides and Creeper are in town for a mammoth co-headline show – marking both artists’ largest show on UK soil. Eight years after Andy Black (BVB frontman Andy Biersack’s solo project) invited Creeper to open his 1,500-capacity KOKO show, the stakes have risen exponentially, in the form of arguably the UK’s most iconic arena.
Some Wembley teaser trailers did take place last year, with BVB supporting Halestorm while Creeper shut down May’s Heavy Music Awards. After years of toil on the live circuit which has led to both respectively amassing dedicated cult followings, there is a sense inside Wembley that the time to make the jump is now.
Common threads run through both bands which make tonight a heavenly – well, hellish – crossover for fans. Devilish imagery, exaggerated theatrics and soaring melodies have come to define the grandiose spectacle of both Creeper and BVB. They’ve each terraformed and constantly redefined their own worlds, helmed by two inimitable frontmen in William Von Ghould and Andy Biersack.
After Choir Noir open proceedings with some spellbinding choral renditions of rock and metal classics including Architects’ ‘Doomsday’, Darcia – Creeper’s mystical spokesperson – has a few words of warning for Wembley. “Don’t lose your heads. Don’t get ahead of yourselves. Here’s Creeper.”
LIVE AT WEMBLEY
I know you were all so glad to see me, very polite of you to all stick around for Creeper’s set too…
Tonight I return to the o2 Ritz in Manchester for a sold out Darcia show! (ft Creeper)
📸: @hauntedmattress pic.twitter.com/maiQVWt9ZF
— C R E E P E R (@creepercultuk) October 31, 2024
Creeper hit the stage and immediately turn up the heat with a barrage of pyro, as ‘Further Than Forever’ and ‘Lovers Led Astray’ kick things off. Guitarist Ian Miles can’t stay away from the runway, bouncing around the stage like a kid in a toy shop, before the stage is flooded with five backing dancers. If it was ever in any doubt, Creeper are going all-out on production.
The fast and furious ‘Sacred Blasphemy’ and the rock opera of ‘Teenage Sacrifice’ continue the theme of their stellar fourth album ‘Sanguivore’, which the setlist unsurprisingly revolves around. “Wembley Arena, huh?” muses Von Ghould, showing a glimpse of the humanity beneath the make-up for the first time tonight. “All the way from hell, we are Creeper. Happy Halloween.”
Hannah Greenwood takes centre stage to belt out ‘Crickets’, while ‘Black Heaven’ is lifted to mighty new heights: you could easily be watching Danzig. A rare outing for ‘Astral Projection’ is met with a roar – and plenty of crowdsurfing – before the unholy trinity of ‘Annabelle’, ‘Misery’ and ‘Cry To Heaven’ take us home in style.
“We have fought our way up pubs and clubs for 10 years”, reflects Von Ghould. Unashamedly reiterating his love for BVB throughout the set, you’d be forgiven for thinking this is a support slot, based on his humility and gratitude. The performance, however, tells a different story. In their first arena show, Creeper demonstrate why they have all the grandeur and showmanship to make these occasions far more regular.
Black Veil Brides are slightly more accustomed to bigger crowds, and this dominance shines through from the get-go, following a drawn-out, shimmering orchestral intro. ‘Bleeders’ asserts its authority as one of their undeniable greatest hits, receiving its first outing on British turf, its spine-tingling, crackly synths teeing up the immense chorus chant.
Shouting out a Spanish flag in the front row, Biersack expresses his gratitude to the BVB Army who have flocked in from far and wide. ‘Wake Up’ does what it says on the tin, turning a good crowd into a great one. Guitarists Jake Pitts and Jeremy ‘Jinxx’ Ferguson channel their inner Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance in more ways than one, lining up back to back as they shred through the ‘Scarlet Cross’ solo on the runway.
Christian ‘CC’ Coma’s raised drum kit provides an unmissable opportunity to show off with a solo, before a slightly confusing heavy electronic interlude momentarily turns Wembley into a rave. Riff-tastic ‘We Stitch These Wounds’ cut ‘Sweet Blasphemy’ hits hard, before the timeless ‘Knives And Pens’ brings the main set to a conclusion.
Clutching his mic stand like a wizard’s staff as the last riffs of ‘Knives And Pens’ sound around him, Biersack takes a moment to soak it all in. His posture, his stillness – everything about the image of Andy Biersack tonight is godlike. “Thank you for letting us be a band for so long”, he says, aware of the undying support that’s helped propel BVB to the Wembley stage.
Just like Creeper – Biersack’s “fucking favourite band” – BVB end on their own ridiculous three-peat. ‘Lost It All’, the unifying ‘Fallen Angels’ and, of course, ‘In The End’, as more pyro lights up their spiky ‘Black Veil Brides’ logo. In terms of a greatest hits set, they hit the nail on the head. Although a new album is confirmed to be on the way, it’ll have to battle hard to displace anything from tonight’s 19-song masterclass.
The bar is now set for every future Halloween. Two bands with different stories, trajectories and visual identities, coming together on the hallowed Wembley ground to cement their status as the next heirs to the emo throne. As the shape-shifting Creeper wind down their illustrious ‘Sanguivore’ era and Black Veil Brides gear up for their next one, tonight is a reminder of what ambition, conceptualization and commitment can achieve, as both bands prepare to create even more history.