Black Veil Brides + Lillith Czar
Overall, a brilliant night
American Glam Rock, Goth Metal Icons open their UK tour in style right at the heart of our fine city.
As the queue to get into the UEA snaked around many a halls of residence there was a real sense of excitement in the air for Black Veil Brides first UK show in over seven years. Fans filling the venue were certainly up for a great time and the band fed off that and delivered a storming set.
BVB treated us to an incredibly strong 17-song setlist featuring a host of career-spanning tracks, opening with Crimson Skies from 2021 album The Phantom Tomorrow and wrapping up with classic single In The End. In-between, they went back to fan-favourites like Rebel Love Song, as well as bringing things to the present day by airing Devil from 2022 EP The Mourning.
We did however have a few incidents of said excited fans finding the gig too much to take and so on a number of occasions the band had to stop mid song to allow medics to attend or for folk to make their way out of the crowd. To their credit the band were brilliant about it and made sure everyone was safe.
Lead singer and the one remaining original band member, Andy Biersack, certainly had the crowd eating out of his hands and worshiping every scream. His laidback manner on stage somehow managed to fit the chaos and noise that was going on around him. Speaking of noise, I’ve been to this venue quite a number of times in the eight years I’ve lived in Norwich but Black Veil Brides are certainly the loudest band I’ve heard in the venue, no wonder a few people fainted.
Support came from the most excellent Lillth Czar. The former lead singer/guitarist for the emo-punk band Automatic Loveletter performed songs from her album Created From Filth And Dust with a Stevie Nicks cover thrown in for good measure. Czar’s powerful vocals blended fantastically with the soulful rock sounds her band was producing. You could tell she was loving performing in the UK for the very first time. The crowd were loving her performance too, I could definitely see her headlining at say The Waterfront in the near future.
Overall a brilliant night was had, full of wall to wall goth metal goodness, the crowd left the venue in just a good a mood as they entered it, the make up may have run and the shirts may well have been soaked with sweat but the smiles were wide. Rock On.
