Unfortunately, due to delays in transport, we missed the opening set from this night, played by Young Guns. We did however, get to the venue in time to catch the second band, Asking Alexandria.
As soon as the band took to the stage, the front of the standing area ripped open into a huge, brutal mosh pit. After a couple of songs had been played, frontman Danny Worsnop instructed the standers to get down and crouch. On his order, everybody leapt up, with the entire room erupting into another mosh pit, which died down, and restarted throughout the set. Asking Alexandria’s set wasn’t all about thundering guitar riffs and brutality, however because in amongst their heavier tracks, they mixed in gentler songs, including a poem, Dedication, about the loss of loved ones, and powering through the heartache.
Despite Wembley’s rule against crowdsurfing, members of the crowd still jumped up on top of others, riding the audience to the front, where they were soon escorted away by security. With bass so heavy you could feel it in your heart, and a lightshow full of strobes, combined with a quality performance from the band, and good crowd interaction, Asking Alexandria played a great set, and really got the crowd geared up for the main attraction.
After a break for set-up, the lights dimmed, and the crowd roared as Bullet For My Valentine took to the stage, tearing into their first song. Their new single, Raising Hell, was played second, and despite it having not been played live a lot, the band really showed off their skills, and outdid themselves here.
Rather than opening the set with one of their most popular songs Your Betrayal, with its thundering drum intro, they chose to play this as the third song in their set. By now the crowd was thoroughly warmed up, so they threw themselves into this song just as much as the band did. Later on in the set, they played their song Bittersweet Memories, and with an impressive light show, and responsive crowd, the show was great.
After a quick break, to keep the crowd excited and enticed, they moved onto a shredding guitar solo, by Michael Paget. The crowd were stunned into silence, in awe of his skills. After the solo, the band rejoined him on stage, to shred through the song Dirty Little Secret (which has a sound similar to their famous song Tears Don’t Fall during the verses) from their newest album, Temper Temper.
In their encore, the songs played included Pleasure And Pain, and an excellent cover of the song Ace Of Spades, by Motorhead after the lead singer, Matt Tuck, described Motorhead as the band that “wrote the rule book for rock ‘n’ roll, ripped it up, took a shit on it, and then burned it”. The band tore into the song, with a pyrotechnic display that made forest fires look tame. After thanking the audience, and requesting that they sing along, their performance ended with quite possibly their most popular and well known song: Tears Don’t Fall. The crowd clapped along in time with the intro, then went crazy, as fire, confetti, and fireworks were launched into the air simultaneously.
Overall the night was brilliant, with great performances all round and a really involved, excited audience. With so much effort being put into a show, how could it not be great? They are definitely bands worth seeing again, especially after a night as amazing as this.
9/10
Photography by Deanna Wordley.
