Beartooth - Live Review

STRAY FROM THE PATH / MOTIONLESS IN WHITE /BEARTOOTH / BIRMINGHAM 02 ACADEMY / 18TH MARCH 2023

A factor the O2 Birmingham always seems to struggle with is opening up the doors late on, meaning when the first band gets on stage, fans are still queuing to get in - and with a triple hitter lineup like tonight, this was really a sad state of affairs for ticket holders who were eager to see the three sets. 

Stray From The Path were the first on, and as much as we’re huge fans of all three of these bands  tonight, we were super buzzed particularly about catching this act. After all of these years doing the rounds we’ve yet to come across them before and we’ve been fans for a while. And they did NOT disappoint! They hit the stage like an injection of adrenaline. They are an explosive act of passion, meaning and guts and it was an absolute revelation to finally see them in person. Some music, some bands, resonate differently in person, and this is so true of SFTP - their sound is way heavier than you could have even imagined. It’s magic. 

The penultimate act of the night was Motionless In White. MIW are not exactly the kind of band we’d listen to as a personal taste, but we’ve seen them before and know they perform.  Even coming in with that mindset we were taken back by how good Motionless were. Their sound is sooo heavy, dark and gutsy - so deep that honestly it made us feel sick ! That deep resonating bass, hit differently and we loved it!! Chris orchestrated the whole performance with an elegance and power unlike anyone else and the crowd ate up every song they gave us, including  a cover of The Killers ‘Somebody Told Me’ which had the crowd both grooving and moshing. 

 It was 10 years ago, that we first saw Beartooth. And it was love at first sight, & sound… Caleb’s story of writing and recording that heartfelt, heartbreaking album (Disgusting) by himself in his basement, struck something in us as really special. Caleb’s raw emotion, powerful vocals and heavy instrumentals mixed to create a near perfect record. Somehow - he, along with the contributors which have amassed along the way and become part of the band that we now know as “Beartooth”, have created that mixing pot of power and emotion twice more. And throughout this time, Beartooth have gained momentum, and as to be expected with a band as amazing as this, they gained fans along the way… many many fans. From the O2 3 we have now come to the O2 1 with Beartooth, and we couldn’t be happier for them. 

Having said aaaaall of that, and impressing once more that we listen to Beartooth daily, and that we love and appreciate them dearly… Tonight in Birmingham, the sound was shocking. It was so bad, that after 6 songs we couldn’t listen any more. It was hard to tell what song it was even supposed to be. At times it was down to the mix, others… we’re not quite sure, something was just off and it really affected the sound and our enjoyment of it.

Everyone seemed to be enjoying the show, the crowd still cheering along, but we were definitely not the only people to think badly of what they were hearing, girls in the toilet were questioning “what’s with the sound?” and a friend who was also at the show messaged at the end saying “think that’s the worst sounding show I’ve ever been to”. Such a shame, but an off night can happen to the best of us.  

*photos are from the bands official photographers*