On Wednesday, November 27th, it was time for Bury Tomorrow to take over Melkweg in Amsterdam. They did not just bring one or two, but three supporting bands to warm up the crowd.
Doors opened as early as 5.30 PM, with As Everything Unfolds on stage just half an hour later. Due to the early start and the weather (storm Conall was raging over the Netherlands), the venue was slowly but surely filling up. While the venue wasn’t packed yet, the stage definitely was. Gear from all bands was spread out over the stage, leaving just enough room for the British band to jump and dance around. Vocalist Charlie Rolfe talked about how she used to watch Bury Tomorrow in small clubs nine years ago, and about how being on tour with them now felt extra special. She then spoke words of encouragement to anyone thinking of starting a band and touring the world: if you want to do it, you can do it. The band then kicked into ‘Twilight’, which the crowd seemed to love a lot. During the song, Rolfe asked for a mosh pit and the crowd immediately obliged, opening one up in the middle of the venue.
At 7 PM it was time for Thornhill to take over the stage. The band from Melbourne, Australia, gathered a bigger crowd, as more people made their way into the venue. The crowd was warming up for sure now, starting quite a few mosh pits throughout their set. The band sounded great, especially vocalist Jacob Charlton who had some impressive screams. Clapping along can not be skipped, especially not for ‘Casanova’. “Side to side Amsterdam, wake up, wake the fuck up!” yelled Charlton, which resulted in the biggest mosh pit of the evening yet. During their set the first few crowd surfers of the evening also made their way to the front.
As last support, Make Them Suffer was ready to hype up the crowd even more. They were not very pleased with the energy they got, which resulted in both bassist Jaya Jeffery and guitarist Nick McLernon screaming at the crowd to “wake the fuck up”. It was noticeable that quite a few fans of the band were in the crowd, singing their songs as loud as they could. Mosh pits, wall of deaths and crowd surfers were all appearing throughout their set. They ended their set with ‘Doomswitch’, for which they asked even more crowd surfers to make their way forward.
After being in the venue for quite some time, it was finally the most awaited moment of the evening: Bury Tomorrow. The stage was set up in two different levels, with LED screens at the back. With drummer Adam Jackson, guitarist Ed Hartwell and keyboardist and vocalist Tom Prendergast at the back on the raised platform and guitarist Kristan Dawson, bassist Davyd Winter-Bates and vocalist Dani Winter-Bates at the front. Both guitarists and bassist kept switching places around, giving them all some time to stand at the front. Crowd surfers immediately started coming to the front right from the beginning of their set.
“I’m not gonna lie, I’m pretty impressed with the middle, pretty impressed with the front, but for this one I need to see everyone moving. This is ‘Villain Arc’, don’t you fucking dare stand still”, Dani spoke to the crowd. To which the crowd of course replied with all of their energy and immediately created a big mosh pit in the middle.
Bury Tomorrow stands for their fans and does everything to show them that their shows and their music is a safe space for everyone. Dani spoke out that the metal and hardcore music scene should be more inclusive, no matter your gender, faith, religion. It doesn’t matter, because we are one and we are all human. “Anyone who says to separate the art from the artist is lying, they don’t care about you, they only care about money”. He then asked the crowd to put an arm around your neighbour, even if you don’t know them (without forgetting to ask for their consent, of course). The whole crowd was intertwined and moved as one during ‘Boltcutter’.
For ‘Black Flame’ they usually ask for as many crowd surfers as possible, but there was barely any security so they had to change it up a bit. Dani asked for one crowd surfer at the time, in one line straight through the middle. This went great and security could keep up with catching them.
While the storm was still raging outside, the energy in the room might have been just as crazy. The crowd gave their energy for all four bands on the line-up, but went especially hard for Bury Tomorrow. The bond between the band and fans showed through, with Dani grabbing people’s hands and giving speeches to show their gratitude and love they have for their fans.
