Bad Omens rocked the sold out TD Garden in Boston on Wednesday (3/11) as part of their Do You Feel Love North America 2026 Tour, a situation the music industry should be paying close attention to because it shows that not only is rock back with a vengeance, but now metalcore is drawing audiences that can pack in basketball arenas.
Straight outta Richmond, Virginia, Bad Omens is Noah Sebastian on lead vocals, Nicholas Ruffilo and Joakim “Jolly” Karlsson on guitars, and Nick Folio on drums.
A permanent replacement for their original bassist, Vincent Riquier, has yet to be found. Still they march on.
Bad Omens started after singer / songwriter Sebastian left the band Immoralist in 2014 to start his own project. He was 18 years old at the time.
He connected with Ruffilo, who joined as the first collaborator. Ruffilo brought in bassist Riquier, and Riquier introduced Sebastian to Swedish guitarist Karlsson.
Folio got the gig during the band’s quest for their missing piece after submitting a drum cover of one of the band’s early tracks.
The group cut a demo, got the attention of Sumerian Records - who specialized in sub genres of metal - who signed them and they released the self titled Bad Omens debut LP in 2016.
"The Worst in Me" broke a million streams a month after its release. "Exit Wounds" was also popular (the music video now sits at over 5 million views), but some critics complained that the group sounded too much like Bring Me The Horizon.
Metal Injection nailed it that year, though, saying Black Omens isn't biting a style, they're filling a hole.
"When comparing the choruses of these two bands, tracks like 'Thrones' and 'The Worst in Me' are delivered quite similarly. Yet, if you focus more on the music, BMTH extracts more of the post-hardcore side from their metalcore genre where Bad Omens borrows more from nu-metal and modern melodic metalcore.
"So in contrast, although both groups share the metalcore genre tropes closely, their foundations are built on different ground. If anything, I would label Bad Omens as the missing gap in between Bring Me the Horizon's There is a Hell… and their recent more hard rock based releases."
Because life is beautiful, seven years and two LPs after their debut, they had a hit with "Just Pretend" which probably got them their invite to open for Bring Me The Horizon for a short tour in Europe.
Now look at them, selling out arenas like they did on Wednesday (3/11) in NBA home of the Celtics. Unfortunately when you get 20,000 Bostonians in a highly charged hard rock show, let's just say people can get physical.
Apparently one guy in the pit was not respecting the personal space of some of the women around him, according to several attendees who discussed it on Reddit, and one of the women's boyfriends took matters in his own hands, very effectively.
About two minutes into "Limits" the band stopped so security could get the guy medical attention.
"We have a situation," Sebastian said as the music abruptly silenced.
"We're trying to keep rocking," he said, followed by, "I knew Boston would get too crazy."
After delivering a blitz of 16 songs, Bad Omens ended it all with an extremely powerful "Dethrone" filled with fireballs, and Sebastian on his hands and knees facing the ground screaming into the mic.
With 5.4 million Spotify followers, Bad Omens was ranked the #4 most popular metalcore band in 2025. If they keep this up, they'll continue their impressive climb.
Bad Omens have 10 more shows in the US before they take a much needed break and head to Europe in June.
Grab tix off the Bad Omens website.
Bad Omens Do You Feel Love World Tour 2026
3/13 Xfinity Mobile Arena, Philadelphia, PA
3/14 CFG Bank Arena, Baltimore, MD
3/16 Lenovo Center, Raleigh, NC
3/17 Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN
3/19 American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX
3/20 Frost Bank Center, San Antonio, TX
3/22 Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, OK
3/24 Desert Diamond Arena, Glendale, AZ
3/26 Kia Forum, Inglewood, CA
3/27 Oakland Arena, Oakland, CA
6/3 PSD Bank Dome, Düsseldorf, Germany
6/5-6/7 Rock im Park, Zeppelinfeld, Nürnberg, Germany
6/5-6/7 Rock am Ring, Nürburgring, Nürburg, Germany
6/8 Quarterback Immobilien Arena, Leipzig, Germany
6/10-6/14 Download Festival, Donington Park, Castle Donington, United Kingdom
6/11-6/14 Nova Rock Festival, Pannonia Fields II, Nickelsdorf, Austria
6/11-6/13 Greenfield Festival, Flugplatz Interlaken, Interlaken, Switzerland
6/16 Parco della Musica di Milano, Novegro-Tregarezzo, Italy
6/18-6/19 Summer Punch Festival, Letnia Scena Progresji, Warsaw, Poland
6/18-6/21 Graspop Metal Meeting, Festivalpark Stenehei, Dessel, Belgium
6/18-6/21 Hellfest, Val de Moine, Clisson, France
6/24 Broken Summer Festival, Östermalms IP, Stockholm, Sweden
6/25-6/27 Provinssi Festival, Törnävänsaari, Seinäjoki, Finland
6/26-6/28 Tuska Festival, Suvilahti, Helsinki, Finland 7/17-
7/19 Inkcarceration Music & Tattoo Festival, Ohio State Reformatory, Mansfield, OH
