Fresh from the announcement earlier in the day of them playing Download again this year, following their performance at the 2018 edition, I get to catch Sleep Token live for the first time, in my home city, of all places! Supporting are the equally well tipped Exploring Birdsong in what was a working home for me for 18 months, in a room I’ve previously seen acts as diverse as Napalm Death, Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster and The Sugarhill Gang across the last 15 years.
Our very own Exploring Birdsong have been caught by other members of the Über Rock team previously but not myself – I am quite glad that has now changed. As a live five-piece they create highly melodic, keyboard-oriented prog, utilising two synths, a drummer and a bass guitar, weaving what feels like a web of sonic landscape that almost envelops you in the delicate nature of its being. There is a busy crowd in early, showing the high level of regard in which the local act is held by people and they show exactly why with a rather spellbinding performance.
The melodies are there from the get go and never leave us, while the precision of the drumming, even allowing for its prog nature and the countless off beats this entails, drives the band on, the synths harmonising expertly with the vocals, both backing and lead, to create the aforementioned mentioned musical web, as you can’t help but feel drawn in, as a spider will undoubtedly reel in helpless prey. A fantastic opening act with a set worthy of headlining in its own right.
It now comes to me to describe quite how much of an experience Sleep Token are live. Had they not played Download previously, I’d maybe be a touch worried how this type of performance would work on either a big stage or in a tent setting, such is the mesmerising use of both sound and light to craft what is quite an atmosphere. It is definitely an audio/visual performance with Progressive tendencies, with the soft haunting melodies proving an ideal foil for their entire ethos.
This isn’t to say it’s all plain sailing though, while the softer end may sound more like something Hozier would take to church, the combination of sounds and the prog approach to the heavier end means that even though the softer end becomes a discordance against it, it’s more an emphasis of both than a disturbance against the other, epitomised by the variety of the people in the rammed room gathered around me, with metalheads, hipsters and more ‘everyday’ folk comprising the masses congregated for worship.
The set is, like Exploring Birdsong, very reliant on soft melodies, though when they go heavy, they sure as hell turn it up. ‘The Offering’ is the second track of the set and where people are clearly singing along for the first time properly, so a good choice of early inclusion. ‘Sugar’ and ‘Higher’ both continue this trend, while even songs with their heavier parts work, with the floor in front of the stage headbanging almost as one to the beats, while a small mosh pit occurs at the back of the floor on a couple of occasions. There’s a definite appeal for a mainstream audience in the softer melodic end, while the metalheads are happy with the other end of the spectrum, with plenty happy with it all. ‘Blood Sport’ makes a fitting ending part to the two-song encore, with so many on the audience dancing and singing along. A truly spellbinding and mesmerising evening of music from both acts.
- The tour continues at St Luke’s And The Ox in Glasgow tonight (Tuesday 28 January) and the Riverside in Newcastle Upon Tyne tomorrow (Wednesday 29), finishing at the Islington Assembly Hall on Friday (31).
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