Black Veil Brides + Saint Agnes @ Brighton Concorde 2, 14 June 2026
It is not often that you get the opportunity to see an arena-sized act in a small club, but that was exactly the case on Sunday night. Unsurprisingly, this show had sold out months ago, yet it gave those fans who wanted to see the band up close and personal the perfect opportunity.
This was Black Veil Brides, stripped back and naked. No special effects, minimal lighting, no pyro or stage backdrops; just them, their music, and a sold-out, heaving mass of ecstatic metalheads. This is rock ‘n’ roll as it should be. No holds barred, hot, sweaty and feral.
There was no special intro here. The lights dimmed, and the band wandered on stage to an intro tape of Toccata, yet the atmosphere was charged and expectant, and the Brides did not fail to deliver. With the set split across their whole career, there was something here for everyone.
Unsurprisingly, their recent album Vindicate got a showing, and these songs really demonstrate how far the band have come since the first time I encountered them back in their glam rock days at the Roundhouse. Certainly, the band are now musically showing a much harder edge, with the songs being more cultured metal rather than the glammy, anthemic sing-alongs of the past. This, however, did not faze the fans, who soaked up everything thrown at them.
From a gig perspective, tonight was a little different to their more standard shows. You certainly would not get a Q&A with the fans at Wembley, or a request to break an engagement ring courtesy of a disgruntled young lady. Although I do wonder if the continuous bouts of talking may have been down to behind-the-scenes technical issues. Whatever the reason, frontman Andy Biersack carried all before him without a flinch.
The band started with old-time favourite Knives and Pens, before turning to the new Vindicate album songs, with four played back to back: Bleeders, Hallelujah, Vindicate and Certainty. They then rolled the clock back to Rebel Love Song from the Set the World on Fire album.
Performance-wise, the band were on fire themselves. The stage was small and hot, yet they rose to the occasion, and the intimacy of the show will make this one that those who were there will remember for a long time to come.
With songs like Sweet Blasphemy and The Legacy landing hard, both band and audience seemed to be completely in sync with each other in their intent to have a good time.
The encore saw the clock rolled back to the old anthemic days, with Fallen Angels followed by In the End closing matters out. Yes, we sang, we shouted, and we were the fallen angels for an evening. But all good things have to come to an end. It was short, but sweet. A perfect show for a fantastic venue. If nothing else, it showed that the Brides are as good a rock ‘n’ roll band in a limited environment as they are with all their special effects.
As a footnote, we wish drummer Christian “CC” Coma all the best, as he has had to step away from these dates due to “an unfortunate personal and private matter”. For the purpose of these 2026 shows, the drums were played by Godsmack’s Wade Murff.
Set List
- Knives and Pens
- Bleeders
- Hallelujah
- Vindicate
- Certainty
- Rebel Love Song
- Wake Up
- Saviour
- Sweet Blasphemy
- Faithless
- The Legacy
Encore
- Fallen Angels
- In the End
Saint Agnes
Support for the Brides came in the form of UK four-piece Saint Agnes. A hard-driving, motivated band in the Halestorm vein, but more uncompromising, they are fronted by Kittie A. Austen, who is the perfect feisty frontwoman. She is a tough, mean rock ‘n’ roll machine, and she has the drive to take this band to the end of the earth and back.
This was, quite simply, a perfect opening set, and certainly the sort of warm-up that Black Veil Brides needed. There was no way the Brides could be anything but on top of their game when following this performance.
From the moment they hit the stage, the audience were eating out of the band’s hands. With a new album, Your God Fearing Days Are About To Begin, only released a couple of weeks earlier, they had new material to torment the willing masses with. Opening with the title track from 2023’s Bloodsucker, they tore into the rapidly expanding Concorde 2 audience with a sweet blast of angst and anger, as their face-melting metal onslaught ripped through the speakers.
The music was varied, from punk-attitude-infused glam metal through to a more pounding, dynamic industrial feel. There was something for everyone. This was reinvigorating rock ‘n’ roll at its very best. The set was short, but perfectly intense, and the crowd lapped it up.
WORDS: ADRIAN STONLEY PHOTOS: ROBERT SUTTON
