Brighton modern metalcore flagmen Architects performed a full-scale production concert at the iconic Royal Albert Hall in London streamed worldwide on Saturday 21 November. Originally planned as their biggest standalone show of the year, the event became a virtual celebration of what is considered “normal” these days – with all unavoidable sadness and awkwardness of missing live audience and energy, but also the magnificence and quality of the immaculate production and band’s performance. As an exclusive one-off event streamed last evening only for ticket holders, the full recording is still available on-demand via Veeps for the next few days until 8pm on Tuesday 24 November.
Kickstarting with the explosive ‘Nihilist‘, the concert lasted more than an hour with uninterrupted performance of seventeen songs in total. The full tracklist covered greatest hits and arena favourites from Architects’ last three records – Holly Hell (2018), All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us (2016) and Lost Forever // Lost Together (2014) including the beautiful intimate acoustic performance of ‘Memento Mori’ and ‘Wasted Hymn‘ and the triumphant grand finale with ‘A Match Made in Heaven‘, ‘Hereafter‘ and ‘Doomsday‘.
Architects at The Royal Albert Hall.
Available to stream until Tuesday 8PM GMT.https://t.co/eGun3FpaEe pic.twitter.com/h11pKUihs2
— Architects (@Architectsuk) November 22, 2020
The Royal Albert Hall concert marked the live premiere of Architects’ monumental latest single ‘Animals‘ that came out a month ago and has already reached almost 6 million stream on Spotify and 3,5 million views on YouTube. The setlist also featured the first ever performance of the brand new tracks ‘Discourse is Dead‘ and ‘Dead Butterflies‘. All three songs are going to feature in Architects’ highly anticipated new album For Those That Wish To Live due out on 26 February 2021 via Epitaph Records.
Aside from the band’s brilliant performance and unstoppable energy in the absence of live audience interraction, huge praise goes to the crew that made the whole event happen and achieved the outstanding quality of the production. Tom Welsh and Taylor Fawcett with their teams were responsible for capturing and broadcasting the entire show, while Zakk Cervini delivered the spectacular live sound mixing. Credit also goest to video director Jeb Hardwick, Paul McAdams for lighting design and production, and the whole event and band crew involved.
So far the initial response has been extreemly positive, with most fans praising the band’s performance and overall production, with particular emphasis on the three new tracks that managed to stand out in a carefully selected setlist packed with established concert anthems. Amongs the hundreds of favourable comments and reviews posted today, one particular article for Wall of Sound perfectly sums up how everyone that joined in the global streaming last night felt:
“Architects are an incredible force that at this point in time, seem unstoppable in everything they put their heart into. This live stream performance was by far the BEST thing that 2020 delivered and just watching it has instantly made me almost forget about the shit we went through.”
Opened in 1871 by Queen Victoria, the Royal Albert Hall is one of UK’s most iconic venues with established cultural and industry status boasting some of the best acoustic qualities among major music institutions worldwide. Traditionally used for orchestral music, the venue is famous for the Royal Chorus Society’s Easter performance and the renowned annual BBC Proms classical music festival. It has recently been used for more and more rock and even metal concerts, usually marking a hallmark moment in a band’s career, as seen with Bring Me The Horizon’s iconic 2016 show and Biffy Clyro’s memorable set in 2018.
Thank you SO much to everyone that joined us. We hope that you guys felt that as much as us! We love you all!
If you missed it you and still buy a ticket to stream it here -https://t.co/eGun3FpaEe
: @edmasonphoto pic.twitter.com/tJPH69sj9b
— Architects (@Architectsuk) November 21, 2020
The full setlist of Architects’ Royal Albert Hall performance is available below:
1. Nihilist
2. Modern Misery
3. Discourse Is Dead
4. Broken Cross
5. Death Is Not Defeat
6. Royal Beggars
7. Gone With The Wind
8. Mortal After All
9. Gravedigger
10. Animals
11. Holy Hell
12. Dead Butterflies
13. Memento Mori
14. A Wasted Hymn
15. A Match Made In Heaven
16. Hereafter
17. Doomsday
