Pierce The Veil immortalise their discography with a celebration of their journey at London’s OVO Arena Wembley
Definitely not ‘Floral and Fading’: Pierce The Veil bring in support from Hot Mulligan to make this a night to remember.
Photo: Press
Pierce The Veil proved that emo is not dead, as one of the stalwarts of the genre performed in front of OVO Arena Wembley for the first time, with a set full of teenage nostalgia that included contributions from all five studio albums.
The show was part of the I Can’t Hear You World Tour, named after a lyric from the most recent album The Jaws of Life, which is ironic due to the sheer volume the crowd was creating — at times drowning out the acts in a chorus of angst and comfort.
The show opened with Warrington outfit Crawlers, who — despite the early start (beginning just before 6pm) — were able to muster up great energy from the crowd, who were still filtering into the arena.
It was a set with intense energy, and they set the tone of the show with their unapologetic sound, with songs I Don’t Want It and aptly-named Fuck Me (I Didn’t Know How To Say). They also played some new material, including a fierce track Cool, which, if this is the direction the band are looking to continue on, then I can only see positive things ahead. Overall, a very energetic and enjoyable set and a great way to kick off the show.
Hot Mulligan then took the stage with their punchy and raw performance, featuring unique vocal tones alongside the infamous harsh scream from vocalist Nathan “Tades” Sanville. The performance was bouncy and dynamic, which resonated more with the crowd as the show went on.
It was clear that the onlookers were not overly familiar with Hot Mulligan’s work, but by the end, the crowd had bought in, with pits and crowd surfing. A lot of this was brought about by very comedic outbursts between songs by Sanville, firstly going on a tirade about how weed in the UK is illegal, despite himself not being a smoker, to him then loudly exclaiming he is a “weed ally”. This was followed by “when you guys say ‘pierce’ it sounds like ‘piss’, so it sounds like you’re saying ‘Piss the Veil’”, which was met by a chorus of laughter. This was marvellous crowd work and allowed those in attendance to echo the vibe that the Michigan boys put out in their performance.
For the setlist, they opened with Drink Milk and Run, which, for those who may not have listened to Hot Mulligan before the performance, is a major synopsis of the band and a great introduction for what was to come.
During the midpoint, they delved into songs from their latest album The Sound a Body Makes When It’s Still, which was released in August this year. The band again leaned in with their witty crowd-work and quipped that they “have a lot of albums” and, from someone who has been a fan of the band for a while, I can confirm this is not an understatement. My pick of the new songs was It Smells Like Fudge Axe in Here, a fundamentally groovy track that you can’t help but jump around to. It’s a fun, upbeat track referencing Fudge Axe body spray, the US equivalent of Chocolate Lynx, and has a heavy lyrical undertone despite the cheery sound. They closed the set with Hot Mulligan staples *Equip Sunglasses* and Bckyrd.
Hot Mulligan are a band that I think should be bigger with the “elder emo” community in the UK than they are, and, to me, this performance proved why. They captured an unsuspecting audience and formed an outstanding atmosphere to create a well-received performance, which certainly allowed them to gain more well-deserved fanfare.
Following the grittier performance from Hot Mulligan, we were offered a more subtle and cosy presentation from Oxford’s own Cavetown. It was clear that the younger crowd in the arena quickly resonated with Cavetown and this only enhanced the performance. As someone who was not familiar with Cavetown prior to the show, this definitely opened my eyes to the magnitude of the following Cavetown has.
The crowd sang along beautifully to Home and a plethora of others, and made the performance feel quite grande. This to me was a complete juxtaposition to Hot Mulligan, who you feel had to gain the audience, whereas Cavetown from the get-go seemed to have the audience in the palm of their hand.
This only levelled up with a rapturous reaction to a cameo from Vic Fuentes for their duet, a kind thing to do, where Vic gave us a preview of his harmonious voice for later in the evening. Cavetown’s live performance seemed to have a more upbeat, instrumental and heavier sound than what was on their studio releases, which I think enhanced the performance and aided when performing in a large venue capacity crowd.
A sweet touch during the set was singing happy birthday to Cavetown’s touring drummer, Willoughby Morse — not a bad birthday with 12,500 singing happy birthday to you. This then transitioned into Cavetown’s crescendo in the set with the popular songs Boys Will Be Bugs and Devil Town, featuring the crowd with great singing alongside.
A very fun and very wholesome set, which opened my eyes to the project and may have also swayed those like me in attendance to dive further into their discography.
It was then time for the main event, and Pierce The Veil hit the stage with Death Of An Executioner, an explosion of sound after a long, enthralling build-up. The setlist provided an amalgamation of all five albums, from 2007 with A Flair For The Dramatic, all the way to the 2023 release, The Jaws of Life. This was a very rewarding experience for long-term fans who have an appreciation for the deep cuts, with all the nostalgia hitting.
I’m fortunate enough to have seen Pierce The Veil at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham back in 2024, and I felt this was a step up from that show, from a production standpoint and from a performance standpoint, and the setlist was a major factor in this.
Following up the booming opening was Collide With The Sky hit Bulls In The Bronx, and it’s safe to say the crowd was electric for this. They were then followed by The Jaws Of Life belter Pass The Nirvana, the song used to advertise the tour, and the Wembley crowd rose to the challenge of “I can’t hear you”, because the song was loud, uncompromising and a no-holds-barred anthem. The pits were moshing, the vocals were hitting, and this was a perfect display of what Pierce The Veil have achieved as a band.
Some deep cuts were then played from A Flair For The Dramatic, with a sprinkling of a Pixies’ cover of Where Is My Mind? flowing effortlessly into Floral And Fading. They brought back the angst with Yeah Boy and Doll Face, and a seraphic performance of Wonderless, which concluded the throwbacks to the debut album.
Pierce The Veil opened their encore with a very surprising inclusion of Disasterology — surprising, as I was thinking it would most likely be Caraphernelia or Bulletproof Love, but both were omitted from the setlist. I am, however, far from complaining, and the track worked well to reintroduce the band following the short break.
The band then closed the show with what can only be described as ‘fundamental’ Pierce The Veil; the extremely powerful Hold On Till May, my favourite Pierce The Veil song. This was a timeless reminder as to why the band were a huge part of not just my teenage years, but also many others, a feeling shared within the experience of the arena. Then, to close the show, was the mega King For A Day — the song that is ever-present on every emo playlist, and was undoubtedly the perfect way to send the people home happy.
It’s safe to say Pierce The Veil owned Wembley Arena. It was the first time they played here, and I have no doubt it will be a venue they will be returning to. The band does not show signs of stopping anytime soon, and the younger audience filling the arena points to a very positive future for them going forward.