Bring Me the Horizon have a lot to celebrate this week. They kicked off the North American leg of their massive First Love World Tour on January 23rd in Nashville, Tennessee. The setlist carried with it three songs off amo, which was officially released into the world TODAY!
On opening night they fired off the set with new song "MANTRA," and also performed "wonderful life" off the new album. During their three song encore, they live debuted "medicine." The rest of the setlist included beloved tracks mostly off Sempiternal, That's The Spirit, and Suicide Season.
It's obvious that BMTH have evolved completely. As they embrace their newfound electro-pop elements, they are slowly shedding away cuts from their earlier career during their performances. Only "(I Used to Make Out With) Medusa" was included off their debut album during the first night of tour.
See the full setlist below:
Their sixth studio album release is much "softer" than their previous metal-core efforts. Even with 2015's That's The Spirit we saw BMTH taking a huge step away from their scream-o rep, so we were expecting this. One of the tracks off amo even features guest vocals from Grimes, "nihilist blues," to get an idea where they are heading now. Meaning it's safe to say that they are no longer a metalcore band.
The new album experiments with not only pop and electronic elements, but hip hop as well, which you'll pick up in "heavy metal," a track that features Rahzel. The transition is risky because you have to consider your already massive fanbase and how they will adapt, but with that also comes a whole new following.
Oli Skyes previously said of the album:
“amo is a love album that explores every aspect of that most powerful emotion. It deals with the good the bad and the ugly, and as a result we’ve created an album that’s more experimental, more varied, weird, and wonderful than anything we’ve done before.”
Obviously, the world is here for it, because lead single "MANTRA" is up for a GRAMMY nominee for Best Rock Song. BMTH are here to show us that change is a good thing, and it's entirely OKAY for band to experiment and allow their songwriting chops take them down different roads.
Tonight BMTH will play their album release show at Orlando's CFE Arena, and we expect to hear plenty of live debuts. If you need to pre-game or have FOMO, then cue up with the playlist we created, which mirrors their First Love World Tour setlist!
Complete tour dates are listed on their website.
