Pierce The Veil have returned after a six year hiatus and have taken over Manchester Academy tonight, on their sold out return tour.  The emos are flooding in and the energy is wild, some of us may be in our late 20s now but the skinny jeans have returned to us, the backcombed hair and the wild eyeliner has been smeared on. With a queue going all the way around the second academy building, you know this sold out show is going to be wild.

Starting off the night to welcome the crowd in are Carolesdaughter, an artist that has recently had their fair share of social media fame after exploding on TikTok and Soundcloud over the past couple of years. These guys are slightly different compared to what was yet to come, they’re a lot slower and toned down but still throwing in the angst that we all love, the performance for me was slightly bland in terms of stage presence, and the set wasn’t long by any means. In terms of sound they sounded pretty good, i got a very light Paramore vibe out of the tracks they performed. I would recommend listening to them yourselves, if you like a bit of a Paramore vibe but with the look of Ashniko. Put the two artists together and you have Carolesdaughter 100%.

Against The Current is next on the support line up, the lights go down and the crowd goes wild. Vocalist Chrissytakes centre stage and everything goes into full gear. If you want crazy pop punk to kick and jump around to, you need to catch an Against The Current set without a doubt. Chrissy’s vocal range shows no limit, holding every note and dragging it out whilst doing her famous ‘BackBend’, the energy on the stage brought it up for the crowd too, everyone was having the time of their lives and it only got better when they covered Taking Back Sunday’s song MakeDamnSure bringing the classic pop punk nostalgia into Manchester Academy. Their set was honestly the perfect way to get everyone ready for a night of remembering your emo days, the memories coming back in one night. Don’t hesitate with giving these guys a go, most of the crowd hadn’t seen or listened to them before, but the room was bouncing and they without a doubt have a new flood of fans coming to their shows from now on, so get there and join them.

With a circus style track playing the crowd begins to cheer as the anticipation starts to unravel! While These Noises Startle You In Your Sleepbegins to play, the crowd gets even louder as the intro to their most popular album Collide With The Sky takes over Manchester Academy we know we’re in for a good show especially if this album is being played first. The last time I was in a Pierce The Veil crowd was on their last tour six years ago, for their last album release, Misadventures, on that show whenever a track from Collide With The Sky begun we all went absolutely nuts.

Bassist Jaime Preciado and guitarist Tony Perryalong with fill in drummer Lionel Robinson, former drummer for Let Live, start to take the stage, standing on their platforms taking in the crowd before frontman Vic Fuentisjoins the rest, confetti shoots out of cannons into the crowd covering everyone in red, as the start to Hell Above kicks into full gear.

Standing here and singing along to every word is just surreal to be able to do this in 2022, when I thought this would never happen again. Pierce The Veil are one of those bands in the ‘Emo scene’ that made music that connected with their audience perfectly, with depressing tones and hard riffs with lyrics that made everything too relatable in every bad way possible.

They connect with their audience perfectly showing those who listen that they aren’t in this spiral alone and they have been through the same feelings and have seen the other side of it, even though their lyrics tend to be sad, but when you put them on a stage and blast everything out for everything to hear a smile spreads across your face as you belt every lyric out.

This is what I’m seeing in a room full of people with smiles plastered on their faces, belting out lyrics if you read them would make you think the smile was fake. But now we’re happy and we’re all healing together in this very room.

The energy Jaimehas as he throws his bass in the air and jumps around like he has no care in the world, with the most wholesome smile plastered across his face.

Next up is one of their latest singles, Pass The Nirvana, a fairly big change from their previous stuff that they’ve put out in the past. This time they’re going for a more edgy sound, throwing away the typical emo punk vibe and instead looking as if they’re taking inspiration from Turnstile. It’s something new and seems like a fresh start for the band.

We have something new so let’s get in with something familiar, Bulls in the Bronxgoes straight into full gear and all of a sudden I’m 15 again and trying not to get emotional, this song has everything that Pierce The Veil is, hard breakdowns, sad song lyrics that capture your heart and even some added Mexican culture thrown in, the music videos have women dancing in traditional Mexican clothes as a soft acoustic guitar comes into the middle, causing the whole band to be up and dancing on the stage reenacting the scene.

d this show is incredible, the connection with the fans and the dedication to everything they put out tonight this is a night to remember.

Many times throughout the set, the band checks on the people at the barrier who have been there for hours to make sure they’re okay and getting enough water throughout their set, showing the true care for their fans.

The night was then followed by a throwback to their previous album, Misadventures, with Circlesand Texas is Forever, giving the night a toned down vibe to their Collide with the Sky days a perfect midsection for their set, keeping the energy high in the crowd but also toning the breakdowns, making the vibe more fun and energetic.

In between each song Vic takes the time to make sure over and over that everyone is safe and comfortable and that everyone is having enough water, before addressing the crowd and saying that the next song is a brand new track that’s going to be on their next album due to be released in February 2023, and that he wrote it when he had to change his Emergency Contactfrom his parents to his now wife. This one is similar to Pass The Nirvana but with a bit of the Pierce The Veil we grew up on, the sad and heartfelt lyrics spread across the crowd and it’s like the audience is swaying linked together. This song is a bit toned down compared to Pass The Nirvana but nonetheless is a beautiful song.

Now the crowd might as well have had some tissues with them because they finish the more upbeat side of the set, right down into the songs that make you want to burst into tears. Hold on Till Maybeing the one to bring on the tears is next up, a slowed down track honestly can make anyone emotional and personally it’s one of my all-time favorites of theirs. Followed by Carapherneliato get you insanely hyped and angry, the band is blowing the roof off Manchester Academy tonight, this is 100% a night that everyone in this room will never forget.

Everything changes with an acoustic version of Stained Glass and Colourful Tears, the rest of the band leave the stage and Vic sits down with an acoustic guitar ready to make everyone in this room sing along with tears streaming down their faces. The amount of times during this set where he didn’t even have to sing the lyrics to his own songs because the crowd took over was insane, every lyric was belted out from the crowd as Vic looked over everyone with the biggest smile on his face.

Of course all good things come to an end but not before King For A Daykicks off as their final song of the night. I honestly went into a state of shock when I heard the screams that surrounded this room as that intro riff started. 100% shows how popular this song has really gotten since it went viral this year. Confetti blasts out showering the crowd for a final time, guitar picks are thrown into the crowd along with drumsticks and the night finishes on a high.

This is honestly the start to an amazing return for Pierce The Veil.

Words & images: Lauren Allard

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