Bring Me The Horizon‘s Oli Sykes delivered an emotional speech during the band’s headline performance at London’s All Points East festival, one that brought the frontman to tears as he admitted that rock isn’t dead after all.

In January, Bring Me The Horizon sat down with NME for its Big Read. In it, frontman Oli Sykes commented on the current state of rock music, its authenticity and how the band felt disconnected from the scene.

“There are people who listen to music who cut themselves or they’re depressed, so some artists really play up to that,” Sykes said. “It really doesn’t feel genuine. Emotion is a full range of a spectrum, like colours. It’s not just anger. How are you going to get that out with just a guitar and screaming? You need to explore everything else.


“The guitar shouldn’t be a main instrument, it should be a texture. It shouldn’t be important whether it’s there or not. If it’s important to you whether a guitar is there or not, you’re weird. Like ‘why’?”

Continuing, he added: “That’s why we really just feel such a disconnect with the rock scene, because there hasn’t been an icon in the rock scene for 30 years.

“Do you know what I mean? Who was the last great icon?,” he asks. “It’s all Metallica and Black Sabbath. The bands that are headlining are all bands that came out 20 years ago. Rock hasn’t produced a legend in decades, and every other genre has.”

Now seemingly having a change of heart, Sykes last night (May 31) delivered an emotional speech during Bring Me The Horizon’s headline performance at All Points East where, in tears, he proclaimed that “rock is alive.”

“A few months ago I said rock was a load of shite. This festival has shown me I was wrong. I don’t know what I was fucking talking about. Rock is alive,” Sykes admitted to the crowd at Victoria Park, before going into an acoustic rendition of ‘Sleepwalking’.

“Oli Sykes crying on stage before playing an acoustic version of sleepwalking honestly fucked me up for the rest of my life,” one fan said of the performance on Twitter.

Oli Sykes crying on stage before playing an acoustic version of sleepwalking honestly fucked me up for the rest of my life. a band I've loved and supported for 10 years, headlining a show to that many people Nd fucking smashing it. I love you @bmthofficial — hayley ? (@acciohaylxy) June 1, 2019


Watch clips from Bring Me The Horizon’s acoustic performance of ‘Sleepwalking’ below:

https://www.instagram.com/p/ByJUtuzBmp4/?utm_source=ig_web_options_share_sheet

Elsewhere in the show, after Sykes kicked off the 2-hour set by screaming: “It’s time to take the fucking tampon out,” the band ran through an extensive setlist that included the likes of ‘MANTRA’ and ‘Happy Song’, as well a few collaborations with a selection of special guests.

The first guest on stage was Dani Filth, who joined BMTH to perform ‘Wonderful Life’. Then Sykes brought in Sam Carter of the Architects to perform ‘The Sadness Will Never End’, this the first time since 2016.

Later bringing out Lotus Eater frontman Jamie McLees to duet on ‘Antivist’, Sykes told the crowd that he feels like Lotus Eater are “doing heavy music like it should be done.”

Watch clips from the set below, including BMTH keyboardist Jordan Fish’s epic crowd shot.

Bring Me The Horizon’s All Points East setlist:

‘MANTRA’

‘Avalanche’

‘The House of Wolves’

‘Medicine’

‘Wonderful Life’ (with Dani Filth)

‘Intermission’

‘Diamonds Aren’t Forever’

‘Sugar Honey Ice & Tea’

‘Happy Song’

‘The Sadness Will Never End’ (with Sam Carter) ( First time live since 2016 )

‘Sleepwalking’ ( Acoustic version )

‘Pray for Plagues’

‘Can You Feel My Heart’

‘Intermission’

‘Shadow Moses’

‘Nihilist Blues’

‘It Never Ends’

‘Mother Tongue’

‘Activist’ (with Lotus Eater)

‘Follow You’

Encore:

‘Throne’

‘Drown’

Meanwhile, Bring Me The Horizon say that they’re already thinking about their next album only four months after ‘Amo’ was released.

Frontman Oli Sykes says that the band are already looking to the future – and it seems a new record could arrive sooner than anticipated.