Bring Me The Horizon’s Oli Sykes broke down in tears as he thanked fans for "saving his life" during an epic career-spanning headline set at All Points East on Friday (31.05.19).
The Sheffield rockers – who had curated the high energy genre-hopping line-up, featuring the likes of Run The Jewels, Yonaka, Nothing But Thieves, While She Sleeps and Architects – took fans on an emotional ride through their 15-year career with a 20-song set at the festival at London’s Victoria Park.
Oli and co kicked off with ‘Mantra’, the Grammy-nominated single from their latest LP ‘amo’ – a complete departure from their heavier roots – as eerie masked performers blasted smoke into the crowd and the frontman invited fans to join them on a "spiritual journey".
Five songs in, and it was time for the first special guest of the night, Cradle of Filth’s Dani Filth, who emerged in his signature horror goth make-up, pushing a supermarket trolley, before joining Oli to perform the album’s second single ‘wonderful life’.
Fans – who were given the chance to suggest their own setlist for the performance on social media – were then treated to a major throwback with ‘Diamonds Aren’t Forever’ from 2008’s ear-shattering ‘Suicide Season’, which, from the first lyric, set off multiple circle pits, as the band paid homage to their beginnings with the deafening anthem.
The set also saw BMTH dust off ‘The Sadness Will Never End’ to honour Architects’ Tom Searle – who sadly passed away in 2016 – with the metalcore titans’ frontman Sam Carter joining Bring Me The Horizon for the first performance of the screamo classic since September 2016.
The five-piece then performed a crowd-led acoustic version of ‘Sleepwalking’ – which was penned after Oli spent time in rehab for Ketamine addiction for 2013’s mellower ‘Sempiternal’ – and the 32-year-old rocker opened up to the audience about how hearing how they have been helped by their music is "the most addictive feeling in the world".
He shared: "I was going through the hardest s*** in my life and I had all these people coming up to me going, ‘I know exactly how you feel, I feel exactly the same way. And what you are saying on those songs, it helps me.’
"And that is the most addictive feeling in the fucking world, I’ll tell you that."
The ‘Drown’ hitmaker said that he wants to make as many people "feel OK" through their music as possible, if only in that very "minute", and admitted their fans don’t "realise" just how much they have saved him.
He said: "I don’t want to be the biggest band in The f***ing world, I couldn’t give a f***. But I want to make as many people in this world feel OK, even if it’s just for a f***ing minute."
He also vowed to always "tell the truth" through their lyrics; no matter how "humiliating or cheesy" they come across.
Oli continued: "We are always going to tell you the truth. We are always going to do our own thing no matter how humiliating, no matter how f***ing cheesy.
"We appreciate it so f***ing much, you don’t realise how much it helps our band and how f***ing much you saved my life."
The emotional singer – who had bloodshot contact lenses in – struggled to hold back his tears as he introduced ‘Sleepwalking’.
He declared: "This second song is a song that wrote itself, it’s called ‘Sleepwalking.’"
Earlier in the day, Oli surprised festival-goers as he jumped on stage with fellow Sheffield outfit While She Sleeps to perform his line from their collaboration ‘Silence Speaks’ in a blink-and-you-miss-it moment.
All Points East continues with Mumford and Sons and Bon Iver headlining on Saturday (01.06.19) and Sunday (02.06.19) respectively.
Oli Sykes thanks fans for ‘saving his life’ during emotional All Points East headline set
