Live Review: While She Sleeps – Underworld

While She Sleeps have been one of the hottest UK metalcore outfits over recent years which made their announcement of an intimate tour around the British isles quite surprising. From selling out venues like Brixton Academy to then playing at some of the smallest venues around the country isn’t normally a band’s go-to approach however, Sleeps are far from your ordinary band. Here is everything that went down during their third consecutive night at Camden’s Underworld.

Opening the show was Merseyside’s own Loathe and they did a hell of a job getting the crowd going. bringing their blend of hardcore and metalcore to the tiny venue in the heart of Camden Town was always going to be a match made in heaven. Opening with ‘Red Room’ quickly set the tonne of the night as the underworld split open and fans were ready to let loose. Loathed rocked the room with their highlights coming from songs like ‘Gored’,  ‘New Faces In The Dark’ and ‘Two Way Mirror’. Loathe’s style is quite the contrast from While She Sleeps yet the fans seemed to dig them regardless. They certainly made some fans that night!

It wasn’t long before the light’s dropped once again and ‘Sleeps Society’ would send the crowd into a frenzy. High energy and loud voices would be a theme throughout the night while the Underworld would become like a sauna. The pit erupted right from the off and the energy from While She Sleeps was matched by the fans. The band wasted little time before storming into ‘Anti-Social’ which had the entire room jumping before unleashing ‘Brainwashed’ upon the London crowd. This was the point of no return. The circle pit started and the band held nothing back. As Lawrence urged the fans to let loose and declared the stage as ‘Your Stage’ the fans held very little back.

‘You Are All You Need’ followed the carnage of ‘Brainwashed’ and it made for a great singalong while crowd surfers would take to the stormy seas. ‘The Guilty Party’ would follow which sent the pit into overdrive. Following such a high energy start, ‘I’ve Seen It All’ offered little in the scene of a break. The sweat was dripping off everyone inside the venue at this point as you could see the ceiling dripping from the heat inside the tiny venue. ‘Inspire’ would follow which offered fans a little time to gather themselves before the band dropped the fan favourite ‘You Are We’. Unsurprisingly, the room was spinning as soon as this dropped. The entire room could be heard singing along to this number while the energy somehow picked up in the pit. No one cared about how they’d feel after the show, it was all about living in the moment.

It was that time of the night once again and ‘Four Walls’ saw the crowd’s collective voice opening the track before all hell broke loose. The energy during this show was unreal to the point of Lawrence himself jumping off the balcony area that was adjacent to the pit and crowd surfing his way back to the stage. It was clear that the band didn’t come to mess about and the fans ate up everything they threw at them. ‘Know Your Worth (Somebody)’ was quite a moving number that acted as a slight bit of rest bite.

If you thought this night couldn’t get any crazier, ‘Hurricane’ saw the crowd lose their minds. Fans flipping off the stage, Moshers going at it like it was the first song of the night and everyone’s collective voice bellowing the world back at the band was only the beginning. The pace only intensified when ‘Silence Speaks’ broke out. The crowd didn’t miss a beat and lost it once again when Kadeem France of Loathe came out to scream ‘That’ part of the track while the crowd went wild. The realisation that the end was near quickly set in and the penultimate song ‘Nervous’ would help the fans to catch their breath before Sleeps finished their set off with the emphatic ‘Systematic’. This was everyone’s last chance to let loose and the pit grew in size because of that. The song ended with fans invading the stage via the band’s request and just like that, it was all over.

While She Sleeps know how to put on a show and they certainly didn’t disappoint on their first tour back after the pandemic. Playing a more intimate setting made this show feel special and nothing beats seeing music fans happy at a live show once again. This show was something to behold and I think this is only the beginning of the band’s plans for this current album cycle. I cannot wait to catch these guys again!