Photo: Phoebe Fox

Live Review: Spiritbox – Summer UK Tour 2023 – The Roundhouse, London

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, the name Spiritbox should be quite well-known to you. From an incredible rise in relevance after their album Eternal Blue took the world by storm, to one of their latest singles being added to the hit game Fortnite recently, the band have quickly become one of the hottest commodities in metal! As a result of this London fans have been treated to not one but two nights of the exciting outfit at the world-famous roundhouse. Here’s what went down during night one of their residency!

Kicking the night off was the ever-heavy Brand Of Sacrifice who wasted little time getting things fired up as they opened with ‘Dawn’. This set was full of blast beats and extreme gutturals and the London crowd ate up every part of it. Pits opening almost instantly and only growing as the set progressed is usually a good sign and the band’s energy only fed the eager crowd more as they magically orchestrated the entire venue. As the band closed their set with ‘Eclipse’, the entire room felt ready for what was to come next.

As Loathe took to the stage to the sounds of ‘Theme’ the energy seemed electric. Quickly breaking into ‘Aggressive Evolution’ sent the room into party mode and whether you were jumping into the pit or just banging your head, the majority of the room seemed into it. ‘New Faces In The Dark’ went down very nicely as the many in attendance knew the song and seemed eager to show their excitement for the eclectic number while their final song ‘Gored’ seemed to miss the mark a little with minor sound issues tarnishing what was a very entertaining set.

As the lights dimmed, the intro of ‘Rule Of Nines’ echoed around the sold-out Roundhouse before Courtney took to the stage. This groovy yet heavy number captured the attention of all in attendance and enchanted the entire room quickly. Following that would be the fan favourite ‘Hurt You’ which had the Spiritbox faithful singing like a choir before the band unleashed ‘Yellowjacket’ with a surprise feature from Architects own Sam Carter. Unsurprisingly, this appearance upped the ante and the entire room seemed to collectively lose their minds for a moment or two.

Photo: Edward Mason

Not wanting to lower the mood, the band quickly launched into their latest single ‘The Void’ before hitting their legions of fans with the Eternal Blue double whammy of ‘Halcyon’ and ‘Circle With Me’. Both these tracks received huge crowd reactions, with the latter being one of the loudest and tightest songs of the entire night. Keeping the party mood going was the groovy as-hell sounds of ‘Rotoscope’ which turned the pit into more of a dance floor before returning into a battlefield as ‘Silk In The Strings’ ambushed the crowd.

If you were looking for a song to sway calmly to while losing yourself in the heavenly vocals of Courtney then ‘Secret Garden’ was the track for you. The entire venue seemed to be charmed during this song as everybody moved in unison to the mellow yet incredibly catchy number. Despite the success of their more recent songs, Spiritbox doesn’t want you to forget about their earlier tracks and the inclusion of ‘The Mara Effect, Pt.3’ was an incredible addition to the jam-packed set. It may not have been the most well-known number but by the end of the song, most of the crowd seemed to want more of what they had just heard.

Photo: Douglas Elliott

One of the most unforgettable moments was obviously the moment ‘Holy Roller’ dropped and it was even more chaotic than you could have expected. Over half the room turned into Spiritbox’s mosh pit and those who were not throwing it down in the pit seemed to be fighting the urge to! ‘Hysteria’ calmed the tide nicely and allowed the crowd to recompose themselves to a more enchanting rhythm before Spiritbox closed out their set with the delicate duo of ‘Constance’ and a shower of blue confetti during the beautiful ‘Eternal Blue’.

Hype can sometimes lead to a band not being able to live up to expectation however Spiritbox don’t just live up to the hype, they surpass it. The reason everyone’s attention is on them at the moment is because they very well may be the best thing in alternative music currently. Their ability to deliver on both the heavy and softer fronts is something a lot of bands struggle to do. Their music is a breath of fresh air into the scene and their live sound is just as crisp and clean as it is on their recordings. I expect nothing but huge things from the Spiritbox camp over the next few years!

Photo: Phoebe Fox