Live Review: Creeper – The Sacred Blasphemy Tour – O2 Academy Bristol

Local Bristolians might have been surprised to learn that Halloween had just wrapped up, given the lingering spookiness in the air, as the goths, rockers, and vampires assembled at the o2 Academy Bristol, to witness the blood-curdling spectacle of The Sacred Blasphemy UK tour. Bringing Save Face, and The Nightmares along for the ride, the night promised to be a feast for the senses.

While a lot of Creeper fans might be somewhat familiar with The Nightmares thanks to their collab with Will Gould earlier this year, it was clear that the band gained some new fans with this set. Drenching the venue in red, the self proclaimed Noir Pop South Welsh upstarts would be the first to grace the stage. While the set wasn’t full of energy, the band did a great job of setting the mood for the night. With a set that consisted mainly of tracks from their 2023 debut album ‘Séance’, it was a little surprising that Will Gould didn’t make an appearance on the set’s final track ‘Murder Season’ (as he did on the album version).

New Jersey punks, Save Face, got the movement going as they wasted little time getting into their set. Frontman Tyler Povanda made the stage his own, bouncing around every inch of it. Very reminiscent of legendary New Jersey emos My Chemical Romance, the band put on quite the set to win over the Creeper devotees and felt like the perfect warm up for this show. I hope they’ll be able to return to the UK soon.

The theatrics that Creeper are quickly making themselves known for started before the band were even on, with Darcia (The Vampire Familiar, of course) warning fans that the show was “too scary”, akin to the start of Frankenstein (1931). Of course the warnings went unheeded, and following the release of the insanely brilliant ‘Sanguivore’ last month, it was only right that the band got the show going with the 9 minute behemoth ‘Further Than Forever’ – not only a great track to invite you into the theatrical world of the album, but also a fantastic show opener. The pace wouldn’t stop as the band swiftly launched into ‘Room 309’.

The perfectly balanced set list continued as Creeper played through songs that spanned their discography. Whether it was tracks from the bands self titled EP, like ‘VCR’, or newer ones, like ‘Black Heaven’, the room reciprocated the energy laid out by the band and didn’t waste an ounce of energy.

Of course, the night also didn’t shy away from having some quieter moments with Hannah and Ian taking centre stage mid-set to bring the room to tears with the beautiful ‘Crickets’. Upon his return, Will Gould took the opportunity to sink his fangs into a mid-show snack… from his girlfriend’s neck; Quickly launching into ‘Cyanide’ once he was finished.

‘Misery’ closed out the main section of the set, nearly bringing Will to tears when the crowd finished off the song without missing a beat, announcing that Bristol are “a very special crowd” before thanking and leaving the stage. With the crowd hungry for one more, the now blood soaked band returned to ‘Cry To Heaven’.

Creeper are undoubtedly at the top of their game musically at the moment, and I can’t wait to see more from them. While the theatrical moments littered through the set are great, I’d love to see them lean into this even more, something that’d also go great with some more stage theming. I really want to enter the worlds created in their albums. I’d highly recommend checking out Creeper as they tour ‘Sanguivore’ throughout the next year, with their headline sets at Takedown and 2000 trees festivals promising a lot.