Creeper - Live Review

A few friends had been nudging me to check out Creeper for a while. So when they announced this run of intimate shows, a deliberate step back from the arenas they've been playing, including Wembley Arena, it felt like the right moment to finally do it. O2 Academy2 Oxford holds around 400 people. On a Monday night in April it was sold out, and the crowd filtered in looking like they'd been doing this for years, many with outfits to match the band.

The set is drawn entirely from Sanguivore and Sanguivore II: Mistress of Death, and it opens with exactly that - "Mistress of Death" straight into "Blood Magick (It's a Ritual)". The room went for it immediately. A few songs in, Will Gould checked in with the crowd: "right, you're warmed up? Ready to go?" - easy, casual, the kind of thing that lands differently when a band of this size is bothering to ask.

The crowd was singing loud enough throughout that Will remarked on it: "you're a very f*cking loud crowd." He also mentioned they'd spent a month in America before this run, that it was good to be back on home soil. The way he said it, you believed him.

The whole band were switched on all night, cycling between positions, picking up different instruments as the set moved along. Hannah Greenwood handles keys for most of the show, but steps forward alone for "Razor Wire" - slower, more theatrical, the room going a little quieter just to take it in. It was one of those moments that lands well with the audience.

Later, "More Than Death" brought things almost to a standstill, Will performing it quietly, close to solo, the crowd holding it up for him. He'd been understating it all evening, which made it hit harder when it arrived.

There's something about seeing a band like this in a room this small. Will mentioned it himself from the stage - that this tour was a choice to play venues like this, that they're used to crowds far larger than the one in front of them. Playing with that awareness, and filling every minute of the set anyway, says something.

The encore ran from "Further Than Forever" into "Cry to Heaven" as a closer. Nobody moved early. Nobody looked like they wanted to. Walking out into the Oxford night after, the thought was pretty simple: should've got there sooner. I won't make that mistake again.

Support: The Howling

The Howling were a solid fit for the night. Their set had a dark, punchy edge to it that sat comfortably before the headliners, and a cover of Madonna's "Like a Prayer" that had absolutely no right to work as well as it did - dark, guitar-driven, and completely committed. Frontman Mikey Lord looked at home on the stage from the first song. A good start to the evening.