When I’m in an awesome gig competition and my opponent is Loathe: cappy hall reviews

Loathe at the Metro Theatre, 14/05/26

I’ll confess that in the weeks leading up to Loathe’s Sydney show at the Metro Theatre, I began to imagine the following weeks as deeply pale and unfulfilling. Seeing Loathe (Liverpool, UK) live was like Christmas, a glimmering joy you simply had to experience to grasp.

I lined up just before 3 pm, joining a line of roughly 20 people. By around 5 pm, an hour and a half before doors, the line had stretched all the way down Central Street and into the shadows of Pitt Street. Once inside, the crowd quickly enlarged. I can’t say I often see so many people show up for the opening act. The preceding house music was undeniably strange to say the least, which, from my memory, consisted of three songs by The Cranberries and three songs by Alice in Chains.

But as Static Dress (Leeds, UK) filtered onto the stage, the lethargic energy of the crowd dissipated. I, shamefully, had only briefly listened to Static Dress’ discography beforehand, and was blown away by their groove. I can’t say I feel too strongly about international openers, but Static Dress truly earned their spot on the bill. Their set could be described as fuzzy, ambient alternative rock with strong moments of metalcore wrapped in melodic riffs. Frontman Olli Appleyard had an incredible stage presence, bouncing and kicking around the stage with majesty. Static Dress was a perfect opener for Loathe— their energy sent more excitement rattling through me, and they played just long enough for me to truly enjoy their music without getting exhausted. I would also applaud Lead Guitarist Vincent Weight for hopping down in front of the barrier to chat to the crowd after the other members had left the stage.

In true Loathe fashion, the crowd was left with 30 minutes of droning ambient sound playing over the loudspeakers between sets. After a painful wait, the ambience faded with the lights, and my screams were drowned out by the roar of a thousand others as four individuals ran onto the stage. These were drummer Sean Radcliffe, stand-in keyboardist and bassist Ryan Chan, lead guitarist and vocalist Erik Bickerstaffe and lastly, lead vocalist Kadeem France. The band launched into their first song, ‘Gifted Every Strength’, and the air went from freezing to stiflingly hot in mere seconds. This single was released just over a year ago and will be on Loathe’s upcoming and highly anticipated album A Stranger To You on the 17th of July. It has come to be one of my favourite songs of Loathe’s discography, and this was demonstrated in real time as Erik began the concluding 1.5-minute guitar solo, which brought me to tears. It is rare to have music alone, in the absence of words, bring me such veneration.

The band launched into their first song, ‘Gifted Every Strength’, and the air went from freezing to stiflingly hot in mere seconds.

This touching outro transitioned immediately into the angry, danceable track ‘Screaming’ from Loathe’s most recent album, I Let It In, and It Took Everything (2020). The crowd was comfortably and unceasingly fluid, a sea of hands and heads aggressively shaking. This energy stretched over Loathe’s entire setlist, through the liberatingly devastating ‘Two-Way Mirror’ and the dimorphous, in its striking and receding, ‘Heavy is the head that falls with the weight of a thousand thoughts’. Their newest single, ‘Revenant’, chugging and reminiscent of nu-metal, was preceded by an unreleased instrumental track named ‘ثينا’ (Athena).

Oftentimes, I feel disjointed and distant at concerts––suffocated by the crowd––but in this instance, I felt completely present and fluid through the music. I wasted no time checking the time or looking around; instead, I felt my eyes glued to the stage. Everyone around me was singing along to guitar riffs and yelling incoherently. I felt my frizzy hair grow bigger and bigger with every involuntary headbang and flip. After a few more tracks, including singles ‘Dimorphous Display’ and ‘White Hot’, Loathe left both the stage and a mass of chanting fans before quickly returning to play their simultaneously twinkly and warm hit ‘Is It Really You’. The extended intro left the whole theatre, lit up by phone torches, in an emotional mess. At the soft closure of the song, Loathe bounded conversely into their final song of the night, ‘Gored’, to which the crowd tussled and jolted with more force than ever before. This menacing metalcore number riled up the room one last time before the music was whisked away with each leaving member.

‘Gored’ … riled up the room one last time before the music was whisked away with each leaving member.

Loathe entered the wings and, in their place, left ambient music once again to placate a mourning, shellshocked crowd. Loathe had whirled their way through the theatre and taken control of the building, shifting everyone’s core in just an hour and 15 minutes. Loathe gave me the wonderful gift of a killer three-day bangover, the ability to say “I’ve seen my favourite band live”, an uplifted soul, and finally, this piece of paper that a roadie handed me.